Classic Debate: Is the Quran the word of God? Dr. Jamal Badawi and Dr. Robert morey

This is an old debate, someone recently posted it up.

Robert Morey and Jamal Badawi debate: Is the Quran the Word of God?

 

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Oprah, Christianity and the end of her show

There is no doubt that Oprah has been a woman who has used her popularity to aleviate some of the world’s pain and brought attention to some of the problems in this world.  For that I would say she has earned my respect for her in this regard.  Having said that, what preplex me is how view of Christianity as the following clip indicates:

It’s important to know what Christianity is and why it proposes what it proposes, even if one disagrees with it.

Here is a 27 clip by James White explaining what is Christianity and why he believes it by clicking HERE.

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Messianic Prophecy The Suffering Servant (Isa 52:13-53) Youtube sermon by James White

Two part Youtube Clip

James White on the Messianic Prophecy Isaiah 53

 

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Introduction to Hermeneutics Series: Session Five: Doctrine of Inerrancy and Ramifications for Hermeneutics

GO TO SESSION FOUR

I.                    Relationship between the doctrine of Inerrancy and Biblical Authority

a.       The Bible being authoritative in giving truth

i.      Providing truth is an aspect of the doctrine of Biblical authority[1]

ii.      If the Bible is going to be fully authoritative, it must be without error.

iii.      Therefore, the doctrine of Biblical Authority presupposes the doctrine of Biblical Inerrancy.

II.                 Since the Bible by its own authority gives us truth, studying the Bible will give us truth.

a.       For the Christian, hermeneutics of the Bible is a part of the Christian Epistemology

i.      Definitions

1.      Epistemology- How do you know what you know?

2.      Hermeneutics- How do you interpret a writing

ii.      Everyone consciously or not have a certain epistemology

1.      Stated another way, everybody has a method of knowing things

2.      For example:

NONCHRISTIAN PERSON A    NONCHRISTIAN PERSON B           CHRISTIAN

Five senses                         Five senses                                           Bible

Science                                          Tradition                                               Five senses

Logic/Reason                                 Popular Opinion                                   Logic/Reason

                                                                                                                  Science

3.      The Christian have the Bible as part of his way of knowing, and it is the ultimate authoritative way he knows things.

a.       Since there is no error in the Bible, a proper hermeneutic will discover truths.

III.               Doctrine Of Inerrancy is the standard in testing good or bad Hermeneutical systems

a.       Since the Bible can not be erroneous, one who properly interprets the Bible will not be led to a conclusion where the Bible is in error

i.      Remember what Jesus said about God’s Word: “Your Word is Truth” (John 17:17b)

1.      God’s Word can only be truth, not error.

b.      If an interpretation of Scripture leads to the conclusion that Scripture is in error, then it is an bad interpretation.

c.       All interpretation must stand under the test of affirming the doctrine of Inerrancy.

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[1] See the previous outline, “Doctrine of Biblical Authority: The Self-authorizing Scripture”

GO TO SESSION SIX

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Review: Is Christianity Good for the World?

Purchase: Amazon

This work pits New Atheist Christopher Hitchens against Christian pastor Doug Wilson in a debate on the topic of whether Christianity is good for the world.  There are six rounds in the book, not including each of their introduction.  For such a serious and heavy topic, the book is short and concise and yet readers might enjoy this format over a long drawn out debate.  Both Hitchens and Wilson seem to do a good job in stating  their view in a short and concise matter.  Unlike other books that have a debate format, the two author’s personality are wonderful for tackling this topic especially for those who have seen the documentary “Collision.”  Both writers are great wordsmiths and the illustration given to draw analogies of what they are saying are worth buying the book alone.  If readers want to see the combination of wit, humor and profound observation of what a Presuppositional Apologist in action looks like, this is a work worth reading!  I think Van Til and Greg Bahnsen would be proud.

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May 21st failed…Harold Camping predicts again…he is a false prophet according to Bible framework

According to the news, Harold Camping who was behind the false prophecy of May 21st is still standing by his prophecy and not repentant.

It is tragic.

The Bible’s standard of a prophet is 100% fulfillment, not even 99% or 98%.  If anything has failed, it is false.

Christians need to be reminded of the Biblical criteria of judging a false prophet.

Summary:

Basically gives 2 ways that a believer can check the validity of a prophet: Supreme Test (Duet 19:22) and Test of the Fruit (Duet 12:1-3).

The Test Of A Prophet

      From Dueteronomy 18:18, we can know that a true prophet comes from God.  True prophecies never have it’s origin from man’s creativeness, but from God himself. (Cf. 2Peters 1:21)  By prophecy, we define this to mean any future predictions or alleged special revelation from God spoken or written through a human messenger.

     Unfortunately, as Scriptures tell us, there are also false prophets and false teachers out there.  “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.  They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who brought them–bringing swift destruction on themselves.”(2Peters 2:1) Scriptures also tell us that as the end times approach, more and more false prophets will come and deceive the people. (Cf. Matt. 24:12)

     Jesus himself warn Christians to watch out and be on the alert for false prophets, who come “in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” (Matt. 7:15)  Fortunately, God tells us that there are ways to identify a false prophet. (Cf. Matt 7:16)

     Now, you may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” (Duet. 18:21)

Tests

1. The Supreme Test – If a prophecy fail to be fulfilled or doesn’t come to past, then it is indeed false. (Duet 19:22)  Remember: God’s prophecies would come to pass, and it must have a 0 percent failure rate!
   
2. Tests of the Fruit – The prophecies itself or the prophet’s theology must also be under examination in light of the Bible.  If it goes against God’s Word, it is surely false.  Sometimes God would allow false prophets to have their prophecy fulfilled in order to test the faithfulness of the believer’s heart. (Cf. Duet 13:1-3)

(Note: No prophecies could be more amazing in terms of probability than that of the Bible.   Just the life of Jesus Christ alone has been prophesied in the Bible over 500 times! Compared to any false prophets, the Bible is still a bigger giant)

     Now, what happens when an alleged prophet is found to be false?  Since Matthew 7:18 states, “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.”, we should not even listen to the false prophet’s teachings.  And we definitely should not be afraid of them. (Cf. Duet. 18:22)  Rather, we should come back to the living God and his Word for truth.

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Introduction to Covenantal (Presuppositional) Apologetics by Chris Bolt

Our friend Chris Bolt has done a 45 part series (well, 47 if you add introduction and conclusion) on Covenantal (Presuppositional) Apologetics.

While I’m not covenantal in my theology (I’m more dispensational), I think those who are part of the larger Evangelical landscape can have something to learn from this series.  May I add that I subscribe to Van Til’s Presuppositional Apologetics.

Here’s the links of the series:

• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics – Introduction
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 1 – There are two worldviews.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 2 – Everyone has presuppositions.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 3 – There is no neutrality.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 4 – Evidence that Christianity is true.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 5 – Arguments that Christianity is true.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 6 – Arguments that Christianity is true refuted.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 7 – Moral and intellectual objections of the unbeliever.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 8 – Role of the Holy Spirit and reason.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 9 – Standards of presuppositions.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 10 – Unbeliever’s knowledge of God.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 11 – Unbeliever’s suppression of the truth.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 12 – Transcendental argumentation.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 13 – Sufficiency of the Christian worldview.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 14 – Nature of the transcendental.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 15 – Illustrating necessity by the impossibility of the contrary.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 16 – Internal critique.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 17 – Universal problem of skepticism.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 18 – Starting point of knowledge.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 19 – Religions that share our authority.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 20 – Skepticism as a problem of connection.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 21 – Conceptual map and the external world.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 22 – Severing the senses.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 23 – Subject determined or free.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 24 – Memory, senses, reason, and beliefs.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 25 – Subject dissolved.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 26 – Omniscience and unrelated objects.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 27 – Logic and the external world.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 28 – Unity and diversity.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 29 – Problem of induction.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 30 – Uniformity of nature.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 31 – Is and ought.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 32 – Human dignity.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 33 – Ethics and morality.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 34 – Problem of evil.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 35 – Normative justification and warrant.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 36 – Aesthetics.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 37 – Communication, personhood, meaning, purpose, and other human experience.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 38 – Impossibility of science.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 39 – Impossibility of history.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 40 – Deism.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 41 – Polytheism.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 42 – Atheism.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 43 – Agnosticism.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 44 – Islam.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 45 – Redemption.
• An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics – Conclusion

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