Unbelievable Radio Discussion

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 nine seven three four six zero two or toll-free across the United States. It's one eight seven seven seven five. Three three three four one and now with today's topic.

Here is James white.

Debate Preparation in Fort Lauderdale and the Textual Commentary on Hebrews, Mark, and Luke

And good afternoon, welcome to the dividing line, my name is James white. I am unfortunately hearing myself coming back at me very badly. I'm not sure why that's not happened before maybe ah, there we go Fix that Not hearing it anymore, so that's a good thing.

I am currently in Fort Lauderdale, Florida Where tomorrow evening I will be debating. Dr. Bart Ehrman. Does the Bible misquote Jesus. I have a book open next to me. I've been. It's funny. I Have talked about the Philip Comfort New Testament text and translation commentary But I I wasn't It's still new enough in my library that I'm not accustomed to going to it first and I had worked through the presentation.

I'll be doing at one o 'clock tomorrow Where I will be Discussing Hebrews 2 9 mark 1 41 and Luke 22 19 and I had already worked through the variance on my own and had looked at some commentaries some major commentaries, but had worked through the variance on my own and it come to particular conclusions, especially concerning mark 1 41 and I looked up at Sort of the shelf that contains my textual critical material and I said, you know I don't think I looked in the commentary on that and so I pulled it down and Opened it up and Lo and behold right there on the page were all the conclusions.

I had come to on my own with pretty much the exact same argumentation and So the more I've been looking through it the more I've really been enjoying This New Testament text and translation commentary.

It truly is a goldmine and I'm sure that rich is very happy that I'm talking about that right now because I know there are Still a few left on the shelf when I left. So if you really want to have a very valuable edition One of the things that really bugged me when I was studying these texts is even I'm not really big on commentaries myself most pastors have a larger commentary library than I do but Even when I did have what would be considered one of the major modern critical Commentaries they rarely had much about the text and much about variance and So here's one volume you can get especially if you put together with the NET any 27 diglot that Would I in my opinion? Tremendously strengthen all the commentaries you have because it fills in a gap that honestly just Really does exist there and so I was just Sitting here reading.

I just opened it up and It was talking about I'm looking at the the commentary on Acts 16 13, and I'll just read you the the options here. It's laid out so well. It really is you have the Westcott Horton and Nessie Alland United Bible Society has the reading we suppose there was a place of prayer.

The variant 2 found the TR prayer was customarily made and Variant 3 found only in D. Was prayer was thought to be made now. Especially in Acts when you find anything that has D alone it It's well D is just D you is.

It's not really a copy of Acts. It is a reinterpretation. But anyways comfort rights. It is difficult to judge which reading is original because the manuscripts not clearly line up with one reading against another.

The Westcott Hortz Nessie Allen United Bible Society reading and the first variant However yield a similar sense. Paul and his companions went to the place in Philippi Where they supposed people would be praying.

The D reading is a variation of this the majority reading is slightly different in that it points to a place where prayer was customarily made and this would most naturally be a Synagogue, but there was not a synagogue in Phil in Philippi.

Which required the gathering of at least ten adult Jewish males rather Paul found a group of women praying beside a river. Just excellent background information and it's it's clearly laid out. It's it's an excellent resource to have and so to be honest with you over the past couple of hours here on January 20th 2009 I have not By purpose had a television on even though in the very nice suite that I'm in right now.

There is a very large television over there. I have not turned it on. I Instead was doing two things. I really enjoyed doing first of all is listening to Beethoven and I think Beethoven just makes you feel smarter.

There's just something about Beethoven's music. The guy himself was a bit of a scoundrel, but the music Absolutely incredible so I was listening to Beethoven and I was working on my presentation. If you've been hearing me talk about working on my debate presentation for a long time now I have been working on it for a long time.

I have never put as much time into a presentation as I have put into this presentation and Last night I was firing Graphics off to Hasim son of Ramallah king of graphics. So he could pull some backgrounds out.

So you didn't have that, you know white square. I Had upgraded my keynote version a couple days ago and it has some new transitions that are really really excellent. They're gonna be extremely helpful.

I now have the ability to take a section of like a papyri manuscript and Then outline that section and then blow it up and bring it out to another area just in one smooth Graphic it's it's just great.

It makes it much more readable really really neat stuff. I'm very excited about this this presentation. It's only 30 minutes long. But I'm gonna I'm gonna get everything into that 30 minutes. I can possibly get in there and So I was working on that while listening to Beethoven and Very specifically not watching the television.

I did not watch the moment and One of the reasons was I I went to breakfast this morning here in the hotel and unfortunately had CNN on and I have especially avoided CNN since November 4th of 2008. The few times I have been exposed to it in in airports Has honestly not only made me feel like I now live in a foreign country But has Repeatedly brought up the the mud the the phrase in my mind man worship.

There is it is frightening to me that issues of What a man's worldview is what his experience is What his policies are are irrelevant in this nation right now, I just feel like I have been dropped into the middle of of a foreign country Because the the nation that I grew up in was so very different and I really feel like a foreigner today in in my own land I Look out and it looks the same Though I'm not I've only been to Fort Lauderdale a couple times I probably couldn't tell the difference especially in Florida I can't tell what city I'm in because they all look the same no offense to my my the lovely Floridians, but you're missing one Important ingredient around here.

It's called a mountain Just I can't I can't deal with flat flat flat. So But it still looks like my country but Listening this morning. I couldn't get out of the Of the room fast enough I had to take at least a few moments to chew my food and one of the reporterettes on the on television Made this comment.

Honestly, I heard this we could go back and prove this but I heard this one of the reporterettes said Every time Obama speaks The collective blood pressure of the nation goes down ten points and I almost choked on my Cheerios, I I've just never heard anything like this before and it is frightening to me.

There is such a massive lack of discernment amongst the American people that Someone who is is is being viewed in this way. I I don't know what to say The the fact that you have this this sticky pluralism That has been promoted today where you have Gene Robinson praying and You know to the God of all of our faiths Is you know, how long honestly how how long?

Before that kind of an attitude becomes Very much not only a part of the fabric of the culture, but this this frightening specter of hate crimes Comes before I I truly as I as I look around and go Lord have mercy be with your people and give them guidance and Yesterday somebody was telling me About A World Net Daily article they saw where someone was talking about praying for Obama's failure and Immediately I said failure in what?

Failure as president or failure to damage the nation by promoting Ungodliness, I think we have to be very very very careful. If you've been watching the blogosphere You have undoubtedly seen Numerous prayers for the president-elect posted everybody has posted a prayer for the president-elect.

I even thought about doing it but decided that I would let that pass but There's there's a hard edge to some folks That Really does not reflect. Well, I think upon any of us If you just simply say well, I hope he fails without expressing what you mean by that then you're not really communicating with any clarity When it comes to the murder of unborn children when it comes to the subversion of What's left of the moral fiber of the nation when it comes to the?

Profanity of God's institution of marriage and the family when it comes to the promotion of the life-destroying behavior of homosexuality. Then obviously in all of those I would pray that anyone Barney Frank or Pelosi or anybody would fail in promoting Godlessness in our nation.

It should be our prayer. It's always been our prayer at our church that God would bring repentance To this people that the gospel would go out with power and that God would bless the preaching of the gospel would bless those who who proclaim the gospel with clarity and That that's always our prayer and so we always pray that there will be Repentance we still use that word despite its impopularity amongst the populace that there would be repentance toward God and That obviously repentance would bring about with it a change In the lives of those who by God's grace recognize their own sin.

Some of you will remember how politically incorrect I was on September 12th When I on the this very program Discussed the issue concerning how we are to respond to a national attack as we experienced on September 11th and And one of the things I said was, you know, we hear a lot of people saying God bless America.

But what are they saying? God bless America with what we need is For God to bless America with a soul-shattering experience of repentance a recognition of his holiness and the depth of our depravity and sin that's that's what we need for to have America blessed with but as was borne out as I rather Cynically predicted at the time all this God bless America stuff was not going to in any way shape or form have an impact upon what Hollywood was was Pouring out the filth that it pours out and its hatred of God and None of this was actually connected to any kind of repentance whatsoever and so That really is what our nation needs as well.

And it's certainly from my perspective as We see these false teachers Who have great access now to the person in the White House Being put on the same level with you know, all religious opinions are now equal.

That's where our society has been going, but it has lurched very quickly At an amazing speed that direction people in their middle age like I am Must be waking up and going, you know Things are changing a whole lot faster than they used to.

And I think there's a number of reasons for that, but we have certainly seen that in the context of events within the United States, so I Have not turned television on. I have no intentions of doing so I'm a little bit focused on other things.

But part of the reason for that is that I do experience frustration when I when I hear people Worshipping a man and Doing so for no particular reason whatsoever. In fact, I must admit I have heard so much open racism in our nation of late that it that it makes me ill and I know there are people who feel that only certain kinds of people can be racists.

That's frightening to me. I Know that there's not a lot of literature read and in modern schooling and the young people might might not be familiar with this but I can't help but think of 1984 and This this idea that we all have to think in a particular way.

And if you don't think in a particular way, then you know, the government finds you to be a danger. It's frightening to me to hear this kind of thing going on and that's why again I say I feel much more like a pilgrim these days then Then I ever had before even in in my own my own nation and so yes I am focused on tomorrow evening.

In fact, I believe that Dr. Ehrman will be arriving here within an hour or two after the program is over and So I'm very much looking forward to tomorrow there will be a conference going on starting I believe at 11 o 'clock in the morning Here at At the Sheraton Airport in Fort Lauderdale.

I speak at one o 'clock on Mark 141 Hebrews 2 9 and Luke 22 19 and Then the debate begins at 7 o 'clock. We're basically going to be using the conference to sort of shake everything out make sure that the projection systems are working and Recording systems are working.

The last thing I would want to have happen is For this debate not to be properly recorded. That would be indeed a tragedy because we have been saying for a long long time That's the main reason that we have been doing, you know putting out this kind of effort and I've spent the time type of time I've spent To be prepared for this particular Encounter so people are starting to come in.

The vans are starting to run to the airport as people are coming in picking them up Bringing them here to this this location So that tomorrow the conference can begin and the debate will take place so I have received many notes from people saying that you you are praying and That you certainly hope that What is going to take place is Going to have value Beyond just this time period that is our desire.

That is the whole reason we've been doing this. It is my desire that this will be a DVD and mp3 That we can send to people for a long period of time. That will be of use to the the young college student who has run into a dr. Carter type of Person who is brandishing the the weapons of Bart Ehrman's Presentations and that they will be able to hear that there is another side.

There is a there is a rest of the story that needs to be understood and needs to be told and maybe leave and ask Themselves a question. Why isn't the whole story? Being told that that is hopefully something they will begin to consider as well.

And so I do appreciate those prayers. Especially tomorrow evening as the debate takes place that the Lord would bless not only the people that are here But especially in the recording of it so that that will be made available for Many years to come that is I think very very important.

And so with that I have queued up some some audio If there are folks who had some questions about the debate or something like that eight seven seven seven five three three three four one eight seven seven seven five three three three four one.

We have been successful in having Folks on the phone with me before even when I am NOT in the studio there in Phoenix and so possibly maybe there will be that kind of Call today. So just let me know eight seven seven seven five three three three four one what I have queued up is a section of The unbelievable radio program with Justin Briarley on premier radio over in London, you may recall that I was on with Justin Briarley back in November and Abdul on the Lucy on The subject of does belief in the Trinity necessitate shirk that was on the Thursday morning that I was there.

At least that's what we recorded. It of course is played on the following Saturday. But they at the time Justin told me that he was going to have Bart Ehrman on and I am very thankful that it was a good discussion because he had Pete Williams the warden of Tyndall house at Cambridge on as well and They had a very good discussion About the subject of the text and so what I have queued up here in my iTunes is a portion of that discussion where actually starting with Pete Williams making I think an important point you made a number of excellent points, I thought and I thought we would start there and work our way through the program today.

So I'm hoping that this will sound clear it has in the past. Anyway, and I hope it will as we listen here as well let's pick up with the unbelievable radio program and This is a Pete Williams talking with Justin Briarley.

Sure. And so.

What do you stand on now as it were for Bart's his? Studies and his research led to a complete abandonment of the idea that the birth of the Word of God was divine. Was some way authoritative. And we've used the word already inerrant now.

It depends. I think to some extent different people may have different understanding of what that means. But but what would you if you were trying to encapsulate how you view the Bible now? Well, what is your belief about the New Testament specifically?

Well, I believe that the New Testament, but I'd also say this for the old is the Word of God. Bart's position is that we don't have the original writings of the New Testament. I would say that we do. We don't have the original copies, but we do have the original.

Writings now. Let me just stop it right there because I think that is an exceptionally Vital point and if you're going to be attending the conference listening to the debate I think you you might want to zero in on on what Pete Williams just said.

It is very important to be recognized that you can have the original writings without possessing the original copies. That's exactly what he just asserted and that that is exactly the case now. How could that be?

Well, it can be because the manuscript tradition continues to to contain within it all the original readings themselves in a Interview that so Dan Wallace did with Rob Bowman, which is on the I think it's for truth .com website they were discussing this issue and and Dan Wallace raised the the citation of Kurt Ollins of the Nestle Ollin text and His assertion that the New Testament text illustrates what is called tenacity.

That is once a reading enters into manuscript tradition, that's all the manuscript tradition just simply means all the manuscripts. Once that reading enters in it stays there. This is why it's called tenacious and It is because of this tenacity That we have confidence that the originals are likewise there and that we do not have to then Default to conjecture to come up with a Reading but that the readings even when there is a variant Wilkin one of those readings is the original and so what he's asserting is no, we don't have the originals.

No one claims that we do. But that does not mean that the originals have passed away in their readings and the words that they contain that the New Testament Manuscript tradition is so rich so full so wide That there the original readings continue to be there that will be in my opinion the key issue because Bart Ehrman Continually says over and over again.

We don't know what the New Testament originally said. I will be graphically demonstrating I I have asked my computer my lovely Mac here to Produce for me ironically in a Windows program. I use Bible works for this because I still know how to use by works best but a Number of graphics and what I mean by I don't mean by a graph, but I took screenshots of the Greek text and I've asked the computer to mark The differences because the Bible works has the ability to compare different texts and a mark where the two texts differentiate from one another and I Have I've put these into the presentation and some at least one of the of the graphics I've inserted Has nothing marked and this is a comparison between the two extremes of the manuscript tradition it's comparing the Byzantine with the Alexandria and there are places where there's Absolutely, you can go for verse verse verse verse.

There is no difference between the widest Portion of this spectrum. And in fact when you compare the modern critical text with the majority text There are less than 6 ,600 differences across the entire New Testament.

That's an agreement of 95 plus and that's taking the two extremes and So I'm going to be not just saying that that's the one disadvantage of attempting to discuss this Is When you try to discuss it with voice only as we're doing on the dividing line Very very hard even remember when we back when we did the textual critical series I posted a bunch of stuff on the website because If you can't see this stuff, it's very hard to describe it.

I Think one of the things that's going to be helpful for folks tomorrow evening is that? My presentation has a lot of graphs and graphics in it that will help to illustrate What's actually going on and I think it'll be more understandable at that particular point.

And of course by the way for those of you who are worried We will be inserting the keynote presentation Into the video itself. So when I make points That will be there that will be illustrated at least the graphics will be maybe sometimes when I'm just reading Text from the screen and there was a number of times especially when I'm quoting her.

Dr. Herman. That's the case. Maybe they won't cut to it then but especially when there are graphics Then that will be a part of what is going to be presented. So that that should be useful to everybody so anyways important point that was just made was We may not possess the originals that Paul the original letter that Paul pens to the Galatians or something like that but we do possess what was contained in that letter and as Rob Bowman said to Dan Wallace Dan brought up what What Kurt Allen said and then Rob?

Provided an interesting illustration. He said well it what I like to liken it to is a large puzzle and It's not that we're missing any of the pieces of the puzzle. It's that we have some extra pieces that have accrued over the years Textual variants and that our job is to determine what the original was.

It's not that anything's lost, but we have to do work To determine the original and that's a I think an excellent Illustration everyday illustration of what the textual critic is up against. I did include that in in the in the presentation, I Don't have any PMS that I can see.

I was just told that I should be looking at a PM. But there are no PMS that I see so there's nothing I can do about that. So I'm hoping we're going to be able to take a break maybe hopefully and So we will do so and be right back right after this.

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Bart Ehrman, Manuscript Variants, and the Authority of Scripture

And welcome back to the dividing line. My name is James White. I am in Fort Lauderdale, Florida at the airport Sheraton Hotel normally don't tell you where I am. You know. That's where the debate will be taking place tomorrow evening between myself and dr. Bart Ehrman of the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

Does the Bible misquote Jesus. And I have been informed by the superpower of? computer technology. I've noticed that my internet connection speed here is questionable at times. So if I go in and out a little bit, that's probably why.

But be that as it may that Mike in Columbus, Ohio is a new listener and.

He is going to join us here on the dividing line. Hi Mike. Hello. Dr. White. Thank you for taking my call. Yes, sir I'm somewhat new to To what Bart Ehrman is saying now from what I can pick up he's saying that there's a problem with with some of the variants of the copies of the New Testament and I was listening while I was on hold and I think you kind of answered my question as far as with you know addressing a textual variance, but I'm just kind of curious.

Do any of those textual variants that that Ehrman is talking about do they really touch on any central? doctrines or beliefs that hope that Christianity holds to.

Well, he actually would admit That the textual variants do not impact the central doctrines of the Christian faith. Here's here's what he said. I don't think we'll get this part in the London program today.

But here's here's a quote what he said At the end of the program. He said my book isn't questioning at all whether God is true or not. The question is whether the New Testament can give us access to this truth of God.

And my question is how can it do so if we don't know what words were in the scriptures? And the reality is there are places where we don't know what the New Testament books originally said. So if we don't know what they said, how can they be authoritative.

That strikes me as a pressing question one. That eventually led me away from my beliefs in the inspiration of scripture into viewing the Bible is still a terrifically important and valuable book but not as delivering the words of God and then in the Program where he was on with the infidel guy.

He said I thought at one time that God had inspired the very words the Bible. We actually have thousands of manuscripts the New Testament the original Greek language. But most of the copies are hundreds of years after the originals and they all have differences in.

These thousands of manuscripts have hundreds of thousands of differences among them and after a while I started thinking that it didn't make much sense to say that God had inspired the words the text.

Since it was pretty obvious to me that he hadn't preserved the words the text because there are places We don't know what the text originally said so it started making less sense to me to think that God had inspired the words because if he had done the miracle of Inspiring the words in the first place.

Then it seemed like he would have performed the miracle of preserving the words after he'd inspired them. He obviously hadn't preserved them because we didn't have them and that made me then doubt the doctrine of inspiration.

And so there you have his own words. In fact, I just read about five or six slides from the debate presentation right there and His it needs to be understood that what he's saying is that when he when he makes the assertion, we don't know What the New Testament originally said that needs to be translated into a way that is helpful to people.

And that is what he's saying is there are textual variants in the New Testament. Where scholars differ over the original what the original reading should be. Therefore we don't know with absolute Photographic certainty a lot of people hear him saying well the original has been lost.

But that's not actually what he's saying. He's simply saying that since Scholars can disagree over the readings then we don't know and what he means is we don't have perfect Absolute knowledge, which would come from having a photocopy of the original.

Now, of course, we don't have that for anything in history and so his level of skepticism results inevitably in a Recognition that we don't basically know anything about history at all. Until the most modern period of time and that everything we think we know about Julius Caesar.

And and all these other things are nothing but guesses. But they cannot be authoritative beyond the level of certainty we have of those of those guesses that we've taken and.

It sounds like he has a problem with knowledge in general, how do we know anything?

Yeah, well, he he does understand that there are certain philosophical presuppositions coming to play here. And he says that basically the historian can only speak about probabilities. This has been his argument when he debated William Lane Craig and Michael Icona.

Is that he when dealing with the issue of the resurrection? He says look I'm a historian historians cannot deal in Theology they cannot presuppose the existence of God which in and of itself is a major presupposition.

In other words you have to have atheistic history, but he over and over again says we can only talk about probabilities and on the level of probability anything that is a miracle in and of itself is the least probable explanation and so that.

Clearly is his assertion now one of the things I'm going to point out. Is that very clearly? Many men like Constantine von Tischendorf or Benjamin Breckenridge Warfield or or Dan Wallace or Gordon fee or Don Carson?

All these people well know what the manuscript tradition looks like. They know the extent of variation. They know the kinds of variation. And yet they do not follow airmen into this radical skepticism.

Why is that what what is it possible that the radical skeptic is setting up a standard that Absolutely impossible that he is presupposition. Lee precluding the possibility of God revealing himself in Scripture prior to I would the number I use is 1949 because I looked it up in 1949 is when the invention of the photo mechanical photocopier took place and.

That really would would be what would be required to fulfill a dr. Ehrman's Standard and that is that if there's any variation whatsoever because even printing even when Gutenberg developed printing press printing in the old style required typesetting and.

In the process of typesetting mistakes were often made there's all sorts of funny stories about the adulterous Bible. Where when typesetting thou shalt not commit adultery the word not fell out. So there was actually a Bible printed it said thou shalt commit adultery.

Well, we chuckle about that, but it reflects the reality of printing so I would argue that his standard requires that he that Basically, there could not have been a written revelation of God until 1949.

I've even seen the.

Photocopies. Successive generations where the the letters get blurred he's become sees. There are probably other examples. Yeah.

Yeah, I remember the old-style photocopiers. It didn't take too many generations until you couldn't see anything. So You know, the the point is that he has a standard that's simply unrealistic. And and it needs to be challenged and someone needs to say to him.

Why why do you think? That God is under some obligation. To function in the way that you've determined. He's going to function. So what I've got to do in this first half hour at that presentation, I'm going to make is in essence Not only lay out those questions, but also lay out what I believe is the mechanism that God has used to preserve the scriptures that is consistent with his purposes consistent with the nature of the church the Evangelistic mandate that the church has to proclaim the Lordship of Christ and the cross of Christ and so on and so forth.

It's not easy to cram all that into half an hour, but I'm going to do my best and then we have 15 minute Responses and it's the responses that will Really? I think give an indication of what direction the debates going to go in.

And then each one of us has 20 minutes to ask the other questions. In the cross-examination period and that's of course for people who have listened to the debates in the past know that it's cross-axis where basically the debate is either takes place or it doesn't either the wheels fall off there or You know cross-examination is where the rubber meets the road.

So I'm very much looking forward to that that period of time.

Okay, well, thanks for taking the the question of a humble channel rat doc and all. Right, thank you very much.

I'm bye. Okay. Bye. Bye. 877 -753 -3341 is the phone number and actually, I think if I continue on with the Material here. You're going to see. Exactly what how airmen presents that. So let's go back to the unbelievable radio program Pete Williams is about to finish up and then Justin Brierley is going to go back to Bart Ehrman and ask him about the basic thesis of his book and.

Certainly, it's not necessary to have the original writings in Greek in that it would be perfectly possible to Accept the authority of scripture and not believe you had access to it in the original languages.

The Reformers at the time of the Reformation Believed that the Bible had been authoritative in the Middle Ages, even though people hadn't had access to it in its original languages. So that's not a necessary Thing so I think the Bible is true.