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Webcasting around the world from the desert metropolis of Phoenix, Arizona. This is the dividing line. The Apostle Peter commanded Christians to be ready to give a defense for the hope that is within us.
Yet to give that answer with gentleness and reverence. Our host is dr. James white director of Alpha Omega ministries and an elder at the Phoenix reformed Baptist Church. This is a live program and we invite your participation.
If you'd like to talk with dr. White call now. It's 602 9 7 3 4 6 0 2 or toll-free across the United States. It's 1 8 7 7 7 5 3 3 3 4 1. And now with today's topic here is James white. I.
Have the foggiest idea what that topic is. We keep saying I have one I don't normally and I was thinking today. I always say good afternoon this is James white, but if you're listening first of all, you already heard the first part and that said that and Secondly you would have had to have been like looking at the archives or listening live and that means you're already in that.
Anyway, so it's sort of a waste of Space and time. Well, not really space. Well server space, I guess but anyway There's really no reason to say that because you already knew that eight seven seven seven five three Three three four one someone in challenges said they missed the dividing line last week.
That's almost inexcusable especially since Thursday night we had Steve camp with us and that's always a lot of fun. And then we had to Frank with us. And that's always fun, too because we you know, I feel sorry for Frank Frank has a tough a tough job out there in the in the Retailing industry and and things like that and and he gets abused a lot in channel especially by certain people from South the Mason-Dixon and So he called in and if you if you didn't listen then, you know You're gonna have to you're gonna have to grab it on on the archive at Aomin org, that's a o min org, which is probably how you're listening to this anyways that's just how it works, but Anyhow, eight seven seven seven five three three three, you know, there's three threes that sort of Trinitarian.
We should send that out we should send our number off to Gail Ripplinger and have her Analyze it and see what it it adds up to okay. Okay. I've got this fixed now.
You can't have a fix and now with no particular topic in particular.
You know that deserves get something over here this work that. Do you think they have that on? Like a like cart or something like that a sound or something like that because that would be really annoying.
No, you really have to go after it there.
All right. Okay, man, you really have to do that. That's not just something you can do just a little bit to sort of straighten the page out. You've really got to go after it. That's something else. But he is the professional I am but a a geeky theologian type guy somewhere in an undisclosed location.
And with no particular time with no particular topic we were playing Star Trek music before we got started. That's how and no particular topic stuff we have. Yeah, we need the stack of stuff. I have a stack of stuff in front of me, but it's really not relevant.
I don't think you really would be concerned about most of the stuff that I have in front of me at the moment. Some interesting books around here things like that, but We still have that. I still have that.
Famous.
Famous Catholic converts around here. But the former former Baptist rapper. Yeah, he was he went to our church. We we rap all the time we rap all the time at our church. Yeah I'm gonna miss that too. I you know.
Go on cruise. Listen to the rapper go on. What do I do? I don't it's really a hard decision to make it really is is very difficult. We're listening to the the theme a suite of songs from the trouble with tribbles and.
The scary thing is that there were people in channel. It knew exactly what that was. And then somebody told me about someone they went to school with who had memory memories. That's good memorized the dialogue of all like 78 episodes of the original Star Trek now that.
That's frightening that that's in fact. I think that is probably sick. And probably should be that person needed help and probably did not get any help because we don't see That portion of our society.
I think I should let John Kerry know about this. We can start a new health care crisis. The health care crisis that has been prompted by people memorizing all of Star Trek. I'll bet shit. You know I asked the guy in channel.
I said did you lose did you have you kept in touch with him? He said no. I lost track with him after school. I think I know where he went. I just realized where he went. He's working in Las Vegas as a Ferengi.
I ran into him. Because I'm absolutely positively serious about this while we're waiting for the all the calls to come flooding in. We went up to the Star Trek experience once me and my family my wife my two kids, and they were much younger then and We went to the to Cork's cafe.
Where you go through the ride thing it's one of those virtual reality ride type things it was really neat you get on the you know the bridge of the Enterprise D, and and That was really cool, and and ready for a break.
I Forgot that he who is in control of the board is not a Star Trek guy, but I'm gonna finish my story anyways and. So you know after you get out of this thing they of course? Dump you right out in the middle of Cork's cafe, so they're hoping that by then you'll be hungry, and you'll sit down and pay out Outrageous amounts of money, and I do mean Outrageous amounts of money.
I mean for the family of four well I guess it wasn't too bad as I don't know 65 bucks or something like that for four of us. That's about 12 bucks. Not 12 times 448 no you the tip and all the rest that stuff anyway.
And it was a lot of fun I mean your burgers came in this in the shape of the start of the end of the Federation thing and and all the all the Foods were named after Federation stuff and Star Trek stuff what was really funny was they had people in full dress, and we're talking they had Ferengi and Klingons walking around the restaurant, and I'm not talking about just walking around sort of waving and being stupid.
They were not only in complete makeup. Just like they just walk up step the set of Star Trek Authentic stuff and we're not talking about the original Klingons here we're talking about the later ones with all the all the stuff and.
But they're in character completely in character and so The first the Ferengi come by and this one Ferengi offers to buy my wife. He offered to buy my wife, and I tried to bargain with him, but he wouldn't move and so I wouldn't do it and Okay, I will finish the story then we'll move on to important things, but Then the Klingons came by and all that was fun I mean they the guy had a glass of Blood wine you know and he was talking about how he liked it just a little bit coagulated, and I mean these guys we asked him about the first time they ate gach and He goes into this whole long story about it biting all the way down.
And I mean they knew everything they were completely in character. They they knew this stuff, and that's why I say this guy from the university must have been Must have gone to Las Vegas and gone to work there.
I have just been given permission to change the topic as long as I use my British accent. It's great, but I'm just gonna finish this story, then we'll take the calls. Okay. Just just stop whining about it there's there's three or four people that find this interesting and this one Ferengi walked up to me, so I thought I'd be cute and I threw a question out at him, and I said so what's the 39th law of acquisition and if you watched deep space 9, and you know what the Ferengi and the laws of acquisition all the rest of stuff and He gives me this odd look.
And he says he says well There's some confusion about that. There are various Terran books. That's us human people. That lists the 38th law as such-and-so in the 39th law as such-and-so. And then there are some that listed the other way, and I'm sort of like oh boy that was smooth.
I mean you don't know the answer so you make it sound you know and I was I was pretty impressed by that. That was that was pretty good, but as we're leaving much poorer than when we came in I run into him in the hallway over next to the Places where you can buy all sorts of Star Trek memorabilia and things like that, and he said and he remembers me and He he takes me in he says let me show you so I'm like okay.
He's good. He's gonna keep this show up. He takes me over to the book rack and he pulls these two books off, and he opens them up. I mean it didn't even have to look for him. They'd have to look in the index or something opens them up and shows them to me and they're two different lists of the laws of acquisition identical except for 38 and 39.
He knew it he had him he had memorized him. But knew that there were two conflicting lists. And I just happened to pick the one place where there was a difference, and he knew it. So that's why I say I think the guy who went to university with the guy and memorized all the stuff in the original I think he's I think that was him.
I think that was the Ferengi. I really do and I'm not sure if he's the one who tried to buy my wife or not, but Like I said, I did I did not he wouldn't he wouldn't go high enough, so I didn't do that so okay.
Goodness it is lined up on a blog somewhere. What do you bet? What do you bet someone will blog about you know it doesn't matter what I do. They'll find a place. You know if you if you call someone by their last name if I you know if I'm not happy with someone I'm not gonna call him by their first name like we're buddy buddy.
Especially when they're busily slashing my face with razors or something, and then they'll they'll get on me about that. And it doesn't matter though. They'll find a way of finding some way to do it. Eight seven seven seven five three three three four one.
What's the Ferengi equivalent of a King James only advocate I? Don't know all right. Let's you know what I forgot to open a window mr. A ailment type person because I was I was talking about Star Trek and and things like that so I know that we have a call and and I know that I know that it's on Mormonism so who am I with whom doth I speak?
Hello hello Eric. Hello, Eric. I can hear you now. Hey.
Maybe a quick question. How did you stop them? Well? They were walking through the neighborhood, and I. Okay? Yeah, I didn't trip them up right. Well.
Say well the funniest things I ever see in my life is when I was I had that for a little while. I had this yellow Nissan pickup truck and it's it's Transmission went out in about three months, but anyways I had this pickup truck.
And and I had put behind the front seat my tracks and my Bible and stuff like that because it wasn't the King Cab or Something then you know how trucks are is not a lot of place planning. And I saw he's two more missionaries riding down the road up around Shea and Tatum.
On their on their bikes, and so I hung a geely. I pulled in front of them and. And I pulled over the side of the road and I got out as they rode by. I said hey guys wait a second. So you just got a picture this we're on a sort of lonely road.
They pull about 10 feet in front of me. They stop they're still on their bikes. But they've they've stopped and they're looking back at me. And I'm pulling the seat down in my truck. And I'm reaching behind the seat in my truck for something and when I pop out of the cab with my Bible and tracks.
They look like they are there is white as sheets, and they're expecting that. I'm pulling a 12-gauge. That and I'm just about to make the martyrs and you know what that conversation was very short. It was it really didn't go anywhere.
So I was just wondering if maybe you would use the same type of really bad tactic or if you just stopped him and were Nice to him. So anyway, I felt sorry for those guys. I didn't realize what I was doing until it was all over with.
Yes, they do so you were talking with some missionaries they during the conversation.
I was trying to make a point. They were talking about their burning bosom. And and they have these feelings and I could not is just frustrating as can be. Felt like they were right, and I couldn't get them to accept or admit.
So I started it. I was trying to the one guy said look have you written all you know ABC type book on. Yeah. Would you say that's even a waste of time. No no it's not.
It's not a waste of time the books called letters to a Mormon elder and and we still have it available through the ministry. And it's available online as well, and it starts off with exactly what you're talking about the the Mormon testimony and and how to get them to Step on to objective ground if it all possible, but it is interesting.
You know I wrote that book in 1990 and Here we are Almost a decade and a half later now 14 years specifically I wrote over the summer of 90 so That while I had encountered some missionaries Like that at that time the vast majority had not yet become that Utterly subjective and wishy-washy as far as their thinking is concerned and hence you could You could quote some materials to them even from their own Prophets and Apostles.
Certainly obviously Mormonism up until the last couple of generations Did not believe like they believed they did believe there was such thing as false religion and pretty much everybody else was in it and You could you could get them you can still talk to missionaries who really really believed What They believed was true, and that what I believed was demonstrably not true and It's a whole lot easier to deal with someone in that situation than it is to deal with someone like who you were talking about but You the only way you really could go with someone who who would actually go to the point of saying we will not discuss verses.
Even when you could say well, you know I'll use your translation if you'd like to you know so on so forth. A couple things you could do a you could say so are you saying that no one can really know what?
The Bible says if that's the case and why did Brigham Young say? Receive the truth no matter who presents it to you take up the Bible and compare it with the religion of Latter-day Saints. See if it'll stand the test drill discourses volume 16 page 46.
Why would he invite us to take up the Bible and compare with what you're saying if I can't look at the Bible and know? What it actually is saying so that I can compare with what you're saying you you seem to have a different view Than Brigham Young did would be one one direction to go but the the fact the matter is the the Mormon scriptures just don't simply Present that kind of worldview.
I mean in the Doctrine and Covenants. You have a section about Refuting those who who disagree with Mormonism and God would make their shame manifest and you can't do that Without engaging them in some form of dialogue and discussion and so that's really much more a modern Problem that that you face in dealing with with LDS people today and to be honest with you I think it's also one of the reasons why the numbers on Mormonism are Going down and not in the sense of you know Mormonism isn't shrinking.
But the the massive growth numbers aren't there anymore instead what you have is what would be called natural growth you have the children of Mormons Being baptized in the Mormon Church, but you don't see this this huge growth that you had During the late 80s and into the into the middle and late 90s that has really changed, and I think that part of it Really does have to do with you know something that I think some politicians need to learn.
And that is when you when you start trying to go just for the middle of the road. When you when you start going for only the undecided's. You don't excite your base anymore, and that's what's going on in Mormonism as well.
You don't have you know when you're when you're basically saying well your religion is good for you My religion is good for me. That doesn't really excite anybody. I mean, that's just that's not an overly attractive way of presenting things and So I think that may be related to what's what's going on there I think there's it's there's multiple a multiple number of reasons obviously as to What's going on as far as growth goes the Mormonism, but yeah, it's it is important.
I think to try to reason with such a person and bring them to a point where they Are are forced to deal with the fact that God has revealed his truth and Mormons have always had a subjective foundation for dealing with truth, but it's become much more pronounced over the past number of years and And we're encountering more and more it's but it would be pretty rare To run into missionaries who wouldn't even look at a passage of the Bible the old saying used to be well We don't Bible bash.
That's the terminology that they they use we don't Bible bash. But the very idea of even looking at text of Scripture as if it was just a complete waste of time. That that really is more of a modern type of situation and really at that point You're you you have to approach them as you would pretty much almost any Pagan who has been convinced that God has not spoken with clarity in in the Word of God and So you you know with a Mormon one really profitable direction is to go well you believe in the Holy Spirit, right?
Well, of course.
Do you believe that the Holy Spirit is a spirit of truth? Isn't he describes the spirit of truth in the Gospel of John? Well, yes. He's describes the spirit of truth. So the Holy Spirit will not testify of that which is untrue.
Well, yeah, okay. So now we can now we can define truth. Can we not is there is the will the Holy Spirit testify to you? That Joseph Smith was a prophet but testify to me that Joseph Smith was not a prophet well, no, I guess I guess he couldn't do that because Joseph whether Joseph it was it was not a prophet is a is a fact that exists it's a true or false statement and it was true or false for you and I were ever born and so what I feel about or you feel about doesn't change whether it's true or false, right and.
Then you know move on from there. So there there are different directions that you can go and try to get into a gospel presentation with them that point. But it does require establishing that we can know what the truth is.
I think I'll download this for an a peg and just play it off my iPod. To a quick question on the sovereignty of God and love. Sure what is I've heard him I'm confused over he. If I understand correctly, I've heard him multiple times talking about that.
God doesn't Love the name. Mm-hmm. Well, you know, I don't want to be number one. Mm-hmm, and what is the wanting it when after they receive it they love it and they want it. I don't I mean what is driving that?
Well the answer to the. To the second question what is driving that is a philosophical commitment to libertarian free will. It is a term that's in years past Hank did not use but it is a term that now is is determinative of his of his philosophy and hence of his theology which is built upon that philosophy and libertarian free will requires Certain elements to exist.
It is ironic. I mentioned I think last week I played a cut from the Bible. Answer man were The accusation of ice of Jesus and John 6 was being made so on so forth.
And.
In the process, I don't know if I Remembered to mention that that was toward the beginning of the show. You've got libertarian freedom so so then toward the end of a show a guy calls in and he was going through a tragedy in His life and it was ironic that that Hank defaulted back to his own upbringing within the Reformed camp.
In answering and talking about God's purpose and and and no meaningless suffering. I'm sorry those two positions don't happen to go together. You can't fit them together. They one comes from a completely different perspective than the other.
But very frequently our prayers and especially how we we respond to tragedy are significantly better than our state of theology. And that's that's the case and in that that situation as well. So what drives it and what is is offensive?
To the libertarian is the is their commitment to. That that centrality of free will if I am dependent upon God making me alive. If I am dependent upon God for resurrection to spiritual life. Then I as an individual Cannot hold to libertarianism and so it's offensive to me when I hear someone saying that and so you have the misrepresentations.
Those are caricatures when you talk about someone being dragged kicking and screaming into heaven. That that is that is a complete caricature of of the Reformed position. And yet those kinds of caricatures are very common and you'll hear them repeated very often.
I mean all you got to do is I can start down the list here with the Adrian Rogers and Johnny Hunt and and pretty Much a number of the major leaders in the Southern Bapst Convention, for example. Use that very same terminology all the time and it sounds good and it illustrates your libertarianism.
But it doesn't actually represent what Reformed people believe because none of us believe that anyone is dragged kicking and screaming into heaven. What we do believe is in something called spiritual resurrection and it's it's so odd for me to listen and and just you know when I say odd, it's just I wish I could could Try to get through this kind of thinking but all the time when people call in they're talking about witnessing Situations and trying to be faithful and trying to you know, hang on and and keep sharing with someone Hank will talk about well.
You know, it's God that changes the heart. Well, wait a minute. How why isn't that offensive? Why isn't that the very same thing as kicking and screaming into heaven and everything else if God has to change the heart the very?
Center of man. Then doesn't that tell us something about man's need beforehand that he doesn't have this this libertarian freedom and and and if. Does God change everyone's heart. Does God only change certain person's hearts it when God changes the heart?
Well that sometimes fail and sometimes succeed. That was what we were trying to get into the very last hour of the debate that we had on the Bible Answer Man. And We didn't unfortunately get very far because a ran out of time and be George Bryson was taking a very different position than Hank was on it because I was trying to point this out.
I was trying to point out Hank's own usage of that that phrase God has to change the heart and and George goes well, well, of course he does and I said so everyone whose heart is changed is going to come to Christ.
Well, no, no, no and seen that there that's where they ended up splitting company. But that didn't really come out very clearly. I could tell in the studio that was the case, but I was trying to bring that out.
But we we sort of ran out of time and it went off in another another direction. Anyway, so I'm not did I answer both your questions? No, no, believe me I've been I've been the receiving end of it it's anger.
No, I I didn't. They it was very obvious it the as I mentioned in the in the discussion of it afterwards it was. How do I how do I put it it was a sad experience for me and I had seen. How those experiences how those encounters went at least a dozen times before I had been the Bible Answer Man and I had never seen anyone treated in that same fashion and so it had been fairly intense during the breaks and.
It was very obvious to me that you know, there was a particular perspective that was going to be promoted it didn't work. But it was very obvious to me and and you know, what can I do in that type of situation?
I'm not going to make a fool of myself. I'm just going to try to stick to the issues and that's exactly what happened when the caller started calling in. The truth came out. I mean you know you had a caller call in and ask about John 6 and one side was able to go directly to the text and let The text speak for itself and the other side.
I mean just you know.
I.
Went off on on on a tangent someplace and and left everybody going hey. Wow one side keeps touching the Bible and one side doesn't and We're actually gonna be making that debate available. We'll be purchasing them from CRI and then making them available to folks would like to have them.
So.
Anyway, don't just tell people not to listen to it before they go to sleep.
Yeah.
Eight seven seven seven five three three three four one is the phone number and If you would like to talk about more theological issues Then you can give that number a call if you don't call during the upcoming break.
That means that is that is the the the audience's way of saying to me That you want to hear more about my Star Trek recollections in a British accent. What's that ailmen. We're going off the air. Power failure.
I didn't say a power failure. Eight seven seven seven five three three three four one. We're gonna take a break and we'll be back right after this.
It's all In a manufactured grace myself some religious place by weeping. At the heart of the controversy between Roman Catholic and Reformation theology is the nature of justification itself. It is a debate not merely about how or when or by what means a person is justified.
But about the very meaning of justification and the gospel of Jesus Christ. What's a debate reserved for Roman Catholics and the Reformers. The doctrine of justification? Is now being challenged from within the walls of Reformed evangelicalism itself.
Join Alpha and Omega ministries as we embark on our first national conference and confront this very issue. Justification the heart of the gospel. With pastor and co-author of Holy Scripture our pillar and foundation of truth David King the president of the Southern Baptist Conventions founders conference Tom Askell New Testament Research Ministries founder and author of evangelical answers Eric Svensson the founder of the Spurgeon archives and president of grace to you Philip Johnson Nationally renowned reformed Christian artist Steve camp and the founder of Alpha Omega ministries and author.
Dr James White. Join us at the Los Angeles, California LAX Sheraton ballroom on November 6 2004 beginning at 845 a .m. Seating is limited. So order your tickets now at a omen org. That's www .aomin .org.
Org.
Answering those who claim that only the King James Version is the Word of God James White in his book the King James only controversy examines allegations that modern translators Conspired to corrupt scripture and lead believers away from true Christian faith.
In a readable and responsible style author James White traces the development of Bible translations old and new and Investigates the differences between new versions and the authorized version of 1611.
You can order your copy of James White's book the King James only controversy by going to our website at www .aomin .org.
Convictions once held and died for among Bible-believing Protestants are now being reconsidered with the advent of the recent Auburn Avenue movement. Is there currently a common basis for dialogue between Roman Catholics and Protestants?
Were the signers of ECT correct in their ecumenical efforts and all of the reformed scholars who opposed them in error. Does Trinitarian baptism make one a member of the New Covenant our Roman Catholics our brothers and sisters in Christ?
Join us in Los Angeles, California on November 5th 2004 for a full three hours of moderated debate between dr. James White of Alpha and Omega Ministries and Douglas Wilson of the Auburn Avenue movement and new st Andrews College as these topics are debated between two of the most respected representatives of the opposing viewpoints.
Additional information and tickets can be ordered at a o min org. That's www .aomin .org. And I'll go back to the dividing line, my name is James White and we're taking your phone calls. We had a number of.
Suggestions during the break for topics in the second half including. One fellow in in, Louisiana Who had a how about a John Teshien version of John Denver's lost tapes written by Manilow? sung by you as you imitate Captain Kirk in Britain and.
As I thought about what it would be like to try to do that. I realized that it was far far beyond my abilities and So I I'm sorry, but that is a request I could be able to fulfill and I would sort of like to hear a tape of someone Fulfilling that request it would be rather odd.
Um. Hmm let's go ahead and talk with Frank in in San Jose. Hi Frank. How are you good? How you doing? And I just wanna make sure everybody knows you are not the Frank who called last week.
No, I this is actually my first time listening to your program live. I listened to a number of your programs on on the archive, but first I'm calling in that's it's much worse live, isn't it? No.
See Frank last week was a bookstore owner and so I just don't want anybody getting mad at you. You know, like you're a bookstore owner and being upset that you're selling TD Jake's or something.
I said look I work at a bookstore to sell TD Jake's. I try to hide those books.
That's sort of hard to do when you have to put on the end caps or on the top ten bestseller thing. It's terrible. But anyway, what can we do for you Frank?
I was knowing your debate. I listen to debates all the time on the Internet and I Wasn't a debate you did a number of years ago on justification with Mitch Pacwa.
I'm the you got a chance to answer one of the things he said about Matthew 18 about the parable of the forgiven death. Where he said, you know where one of the services forgiven by his master. Then he doesn't forget someone so the master like throws him in jail.
Mm-hmm and so Mitch Pacwa was trying to Show that your justification basically depends upon upon your actions. How would you how do you answer in referring to that parable?
Well obviously the in dealing with any parable the the issue is the context of what is being communicated and and Jesus is not communicating there anything about the nature of Justification and with all these parables is sort of like the you know in Matthew 25 did you the ones who enter into his glory and into his presence are the ones who visited the sick and and did all these things and so we didn't mean that by doing those things we obtain our justification or.
The whole thing goes back to the same Same thing I've mentioned many times before and that is when we look at passages like this are we talking about something that is Prescriptive like you write a prescription for someone as to what to go do it's a prescription as to how one becomes right with God by doing X Y or Z and then you have the Descriptive understanding and that is this is a description of someone who is right with God.
This is this is what a person who is right with God does this is how they behave. This is how they act. And so when Jesus is talking about forgiveness and The the great forgiveness that the king gives to the individual.
Well, what's what's the result in the individual? Does he does he show any evidence of? True thankfulness does he show any evidence of even understanding the extent of the forgiveness that has been extended to him?
No, and so Jesus's conclusion for that from that is not to mention justification. It's not to mention Therefore you can be in the New Covenant and come under the curses of the New Covenant or anything like that.
His his conclusion to to the issue is if you don't forgive others you yourself. You're not gonna be forgiven. So is that a prescription? Is that how if I just go around being a Gandhi forgiving everybody?
Is that how I is that how I'm gonna gain forgiveness? Is that what Paul taught is that what James taught that what John taught that what the people who knew Jesus taught? No, it's not. But if I have been forgiven then we go to Colossians and what does Paul tell me well I'm to I'm to forgive my brother in light of the recognition that I myself have been forgiven my understanding of my being forgiven.
Then becomes the ground and source of my forgiving and that's one of the biggest problems just on a very basic leaving the theological realm for a moment the uber theological realm the high level theological realm and entering into Where theology interfaces with life?
It's very difficult for people especially in personal relationships within the church within marriage within families. To forgive when they themselves are that are not forgiven when they themselves do not understand what it means To truly be forgiven and I saw that as a hospital chaplain over and over and over again.
Especially with people who were grieving who could not forgive because they had no knowledge of the gospel or anything like that and it was a Terrible thing to observe and so that's how if I mean, you know, you can't really get into that in a debate.
But if I had the time to respond to it, I would have just discussed the prescriptive descriptive Issue that comes up when you're dealing with any passage in the Gospels any parables anything like that and would have said well here again we have the the difference between a Man-centered religion and a God-centered religion a religion that says if you do these things you will live which is what the law said and then the faith of Jesus Christ where he did those things and he did those things perfectly and he gave his life for his People and all honor and glory goes to him and not any part of it to me.
So that's what I would have tried to have have gotten to but to very very rarely. Do you get an opportunity of doing all of that in the course of a debate?
All right. Well, thanks for answering my question. Okay. Well, I have one more question. Sure. Just when's that when's the latest we can we can buy the the tickets online for the debate in Los Angeles?
Oh.
Don't know maybe mr. Mr. Person on the other side of the wall if he's listening. Well, we'll let me know. I haven't a clue what the last weekend is that we can buy tickets online. I'm waiting for the silence to be broken by the voice of of someone and.
Okay, I see October 31st, I believe. All right, I just saw that in the channel so that wasn't must be it.
Thanks a lot. We're looking forward to seeing you down there. We have a group of about 15 of us coming from from Biola. We'll be there watching you. Excellent. So then I think I got us better.
Eight seven seven seven five three three three. I've got two questions here and I don't know how to answer you the one on one of them I don't understand the other ones gonna take the rest of the show.
So Let's go ahead and and try to answer Johnny's question here. Hi, Johnny. How are you? Um, I was fine until I read your question. I Used to like you Johnny. I'm sending all the Mormons. I know to your house Johnny.
All right. I'm putting your address in those. Please visit me. I want to join the church things. I'm sending in dozens of them. All right, make sure you get there the name spelling. Okay, Zorro. Okay.
Yeah, they'll be. Is Zorro here. He wants to become a Mormon and then just put don't Diego de la Vega. There you go. Okay, whatever. Okay, here's the thing. Um,.
My question has an eschatological background, but it's not an eschatological question. I gotta be careful with that. Yeah. Yeah you do.
Okay, but could I explain a little bit? It's probably not gonna do a good for me, but go ahead.
Okay.
In in full preterism the idea that all prophecy has been fulfilled that the atonement of Christ following the Old Covenant typology Was not finished until Christ at work. Well, let me put it this way.
The John Noe, of course in this book beyond the end times says that Christ's atonement was not finished until he came back In 70 AD, of course of the typology because they say that under the Old Covenant they say that the the Atonement was not finished until the priest of the temple to signal that the sacrifice had been accepted.
Yeah I've not. I had not studied the doctrine of the atonement as as thorough as you have and I didn't know as much about it but when I first read that in knowing as I do now and I decided to look at to some resources ask some theologians about this and I consulted the exposition on the book of Hebrews by Arthur pink and On one of the pages and I mentioned this to you in channel, but you haven't really read pink book but the point is that He mentions in one page that the atonement was not completed until the priest went into the mercy seat and so forth and That that's when the atonement was completed and then of course the priest came out to signal at the sacrifice has been accepted in the same book.
Bob He I guess he gives me the implication that the atonement was finished outside on the altar and Basically what I want to know because I do believe that the full preterists are completely wrong in saying that the atonement wasn't finished.
Oh for under the Old Covenant. Let's not talk about the new for a second under the Old Covenant. It was not finished until the priest came out and was God's wrath appeased. When when was it? Okay, the sacrifice has been accepted.
Now we just got to let the people know. I mean was it on the altar outside or was it in the Holy of Holies when he sprinkled the blood?
Well, the Bible doesn't say that's. That's the problem with the question is you're asking a temporal question that that begs a number of different a number of different questions and I think that's what's coming out and in what pink said.
And and that is a the the atoning sacrifice Itself obviously is completed upon the cross of Calvary in regards to Christ. But the act of atonement Included in the Old Testament law the work of the high priest in Presenting the blood in the Holy of Holies upon the altar.
And so I think if I recall correctly you said at one point he was talking about The the the priest bring the blood in and sprinkled upon the altar. That's where the covering takes place because that's where the the blood covered the mercy seat.
And that's where you have actually what I said.
Was that he sacrifices it on the altar if I understand it correctly and then when he went into the holy on the mercy seat.
And so forth right and that's where the cut the term kafar comes from Yom Kippur the day of covering or atonement and so you have the sacrifice and you have the presentation in the Holy of Holies and the the asking of the when question Doesn't really leave room for the fact that the high priest was under The the necessity of presenting that finished sacrifice thereupon the altar under the Old Covenant it was yearly and Under the New Covenant it is once for all a finished and completed thing.
And so you have to to allow the the biblical text to define for itself the atoning Sacrifice is one time. There is only one giving of life. There is only one cross it is the the focal point of history and then we have this work of Christ as our intercessor is our as our mediator and it's not a a Different work as if you could have the one without the other you could not have Intermediate you could not have mediation.
You could not have an intercession without The the cross and you could not have the cross Without then the mediation and the intercession. It's not two separate works that you can differentiate from one another and pull them apart and say this is this over here this is there you can you can recognize their their differences in the sense of of You know the writer of Hebrews says we have one who appears in the presence of the Father in our place and That we can then experience that in our lives but you can't cut them apart and say this over here does this and this over here does that as the perfect high priest and sacrifice then there are certain things that Christ of necessity as the perfect high priest is going to do and One of the things he is of necessity going to do is he's going to present himself as the lamb Standing as if slain and that's where the that's unfortunately where I think Event back.
I would suggest to you. This is where the real weakness in that hyperpreteristic argument is is it does not see. It sort of follows along some common errors of not seeing the betterness of the new covenant.
That's we've got a better mediator better promises better guarantee so on and so forth. Because in the new covenant Christ fulfills and expands what's seen in the old in the sense that you have him as Both the sacrifice and the high priest.
And you have this concept of of he who died Living forevermore, and so the old covenant types are just insufficient to to picture The fullness of what you have in Christ, and that's where they're missing the boat is Is they're attempting to take just the types the shadows and force the greater reality of the new covenant?
Into.
That that that shadow box rather than seeing that the shadows are pointing to a much greater Reality and that greater reality can transcend that. And the same thing is true in regards to you know some I say well.
You know it sounds like you have two different works here, or you've got two different things going on here. But the absolute certitude that the perfect high priest who is the God man? Would his sacrifice would be accepted and that he would forever live to make an accession for those that are given to him those?
Here.
If we've lost everybody if everybody who isn't really concerned about this stuff has has wandered off someplace. Tune in here for just a moment because I think this is an important point when you realize who we're talking about in Christ as our perfect high priest and you remember the Incarnation and the deity of Christ and who we're talking about here.
Here's how all of theology ties together. Here's why you can't just you know jettison the deity of Christ. Here's why you can't be a oneness person and have the Sun as a created being in Bethlehem. And it's actually the father in the Sun.
This whole atonement thing doesn't work for oneness folks remember last week everybody Phillips Craig and Dean oneness theology does it really matter? Folks try to figure out what Johnny and I are talking about about the Sun as a Divine person as the perfect sacrifice standing as if slain the presence of the father if you don't believe.
That the second person in Trinity has eternally been God. It doesn't work. It makes no sense. It's it's it's totally torn apart at this point. That's where that's why some of us You know end up having people getting really mad at us because we push issues like the doctrine of Trinity.
You can't understand what Hebrews is saying you can't understand about Christ standing before the father as the lamb that is slain see it in Revelation see it in Hebrews and The intercessory work if you don't see that the Sun is an eternal person.
It doesn't work so it all comes together. So it sounds to me like you're a you're hyper preterist folks are missing the boat because they're trying to force the New Covenant Into Old Covenant parameters that are not big enough to hold all of it.
And secondly the issue of of when? Well, you can understand it. Abraham was called the friend of God long before the actual act took place in time that would give God the grounds of righteousness by which to do that and.
Yet because of its certainty in the future Romans 3 tells us God overlooked those those times of sin in light of the fact that the demonstration of his righteousness in Christ was absolutely certain and so The the whole issue is a matter of perspective.
Are you are you asking? You know when is wrath appeased temporally in regards to whom in regards to Israel? The Israel of God.
No, the just the nation of Israel. I believe I mean see but again.
See I wouldn't even go there because as I've said they've they've completely missed the boat in. Trying to force the New Covenant reality into smaller Old Covenant categories, so I I don't know how to answer that the high priest Was supposed to do what the high priest was supposed to do.
The covering of the mercy seat was central to the propitiation of wrath and so I would not believe that it would be when the high priest would come out. Even if you're going to argue those things I think it would be in the offering of the blood on the on the altar, but again Irrelevant to the New Covenant reality.
Completely irrelevant. Wrong categories wrong argument. These folks Hyper-preterists couldn't couldn't put an argument in the proper in the proper context. Their life depended on it.
Okay, well if I can add one thing on. One thing I've noticed is that and I believe I mentioned this to you online. Could not do with interest and one of the things I see in in the full preterist atonement isn't finished in that area.
I I don't I don't doubt it, but you know the the problem is once you start with all of the false assumptions and and the the the the whole hyper preteristic system There's there's no end to the arguments once once you start there, I just The Hebrews and Romans wasn't meant to be read in that light.
That's like that's like granting some of the starting assumptions of Mormonism and trying to read the Bible. It doesn't work. It's there's no end to it and if you're trying to find a way You know the magic bullet for for a hyper preterist it's magical for hyper preterist is the Holy Spirit of God convicting them of Of their errors.
That I have come to conclusion after after many years of fighting it that there are simply some arguments that you can't Defeat because they start on the wrong basis. They're going the wrong direction.
They are moving farther and farther away from truth, and there's nothing you can do about it. There's nothing you there. You can't there you you cannot come up with a with a silver bullet for every argument that someone's going to present because They start on the wrong premises you start the wrong place.
Hey, then you're just gonna wander off from there. There's there's nothing you can do about it. If you if you're constantly looking for the silver bullet argument It's not out there, and and you'll become very frustrated looking for it.
Well. I was and I'll keep that in mind.
I was speaking to an ordained minister not too long ago, and he told me a different spin. But it seems that you would not want to use this kind of language in regard where he was basically stating that in He sees the Old Covenant as being begun at the altar and then finished in the Holy of Holies, but I guess you you feel that the I.
Guess it may be off on that because of the trying to split it up or well.
I still see it's relevant to anything about us today. It's it's it's it's saying well if this is how it was in the Old Covenant. This is the way it is for Christ. I disagree Christ how we're in the Old Covenant.
Do you have a high priest who is the victim where do you have a resurrected victim? Where do you have a lamb standing as a slain? It's not there it can't be there because that's part of the uniqueness of Christ so by trying to take those Old Covenant Paradigms and force the entirety of the New Covenant into it.
It's like it's like going you know Paul says in Romans 5 the gift is not like the transgression. That's that's one of the errors of Jehovah's Witnesses make when they've got the picture of Jesus standing on the scales with Adam and they Say see it's got to be a corresponding ransom.
It has to be exact one-to-one correspondence.
No.
It does not the gift that comes through Christ is greater than what was lost in Adam and so to try to take the Shadows and the and the the pictures this the earthly tabernacle and say the heavenly tabernacle can't be any different than this.
It can't be any greater. It can't be more glorious. You you end up destroying the old the whole thing and the writer of Hebrews doesn't do that. He only brings certain elements of that tabernacle into play.
He doesn't say it's an absolute everything. We've got here on on earth. Encompasses the entirety actually he says just the opposite. These are just shadows. These are just pictures. They're taking the pictures and shadows and saying this is a one-to-one correspondence, and it doesn't work.
That's just all there is to it so it's it's irrelevant to AD 70. It's irrelevant to the sacrifice of Christ. It's just simply irrelevant. The New Testament writers had no concept of it and these folks are just off doing their own thing and and Drawing away followers after them and Paul warned us about him a long time ago, and you just.
You know eventually you just get really really tired of dealing with folks like that. Thank you very much, okay, thanks for coming. All right. God bless. Bye. Bye real quickly. Let's run off to.
Steve in New Jersey real quick. Hi Steve. Hi, dr. White. How are you doing? All right, good you mentioned before about the response to reform position being one of anger. It can be yeah, I've experienced some of that.
Usually I find my way of thinking there are two things one is a lack of understanding of what reform theology is mm-hmm and and also how much of that do you think is really the the the Result of postmodern man in the way postmodern man tends to argue these days.
We're in a soundbite type of Environment. Look at the political campaign how nasty they've gotten.
Well, and how surface level they've gotten this there's not a whole lot of thought going on and in most that stuff. But I think what what you hear that the the postmodernism you hear in that particular debate is when is when people Say no look you know you're you're you're basically saying I have to be a theologian.
Or I have to know Greek and Hebrew. Once you get past just you know One or two definitions one or two facts about the language or something else all of a sudden you get these screams about well. You're saying I have to be a theologian.
You're saying I have to know Hebrew. You're saying I have to be a seminary trained person so on so forth. And that's simply not the case. That's not what we're saying, but they their experience within Evangelicalism is such that basically in most churches what you get is a in essence a a warmed over version of the four spiritual laws with nice stories and music each Sunday and people find encountering anything beyond that to be somewhat strange and Unusual and hence easy to dismiss and so I encounter that all the time people saying oh well.
You know you can't really you can't really believe that because it's it's not simple enough for a child. Well my children got it. My children got it, but you know we we had to train them. And we had to have a catechism books.
And we had to talk about things and explain stuff and we had a deal with the doctrine of the Trinity to him for some odd Reason they don't seem to connection there. Hello yeah, yeah.
Okay, okay, I've I've encountered people that have even accused me of not even having New Testament theology.
Yeah, I know I know I know sir. Well anyhow you had a question about Star Trek as well.
Well actually I was calling to to to to avoid any more stuff. Oh.
Okay, I see I see. Well. You know that caller took care of it. Yeah, I took care of it very. Care of it big time. And I have to almost wonder if a omen wasn't involved in that in some way because I could tell That he really was down on the on the Star Trek theme at the beginning of the program.
Today I could tell that was just not his thing. I. Problem is he grew up in a city that didn't really have like television and so he probably didn't see it and things like that.
So anyways hey, thanks for a call and Steve. I hope I get out of my office in one piece today. Talk to you later. God bless you take care. All right. Bye. Bye all right. Thursday evening four o 'clock my time.
That's seven o 'clock for those of you on the East Coast and eventually here in a couple months. That'll all change again, and you all get all confused, and it'll still be four o 'clock for me. But for now anyways seven o 'clock seven p .m.. Eastern Daylight Time the dividing line and taking your phone calls.
And probably not talking about Star Trek at all. I bet you will not mention it once on Thursday evening. But we did today, and hey, that's okay. We'll talk to you then. God bless. Bye bye.
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