Gospel Living

I've finally finished watching the recent debate between Dr. James White and Joe Ventilacion of Iglesia Ni Cristo.  If you haven't seen the debate, South Dakota Apologetics has the entire debate (including intermissions) in the video below: Description: Dr. James White of Alpha & Omega Ministries debates Bro. Joe Ventilacion of Iglesia ni Cristo, moderated by Dale Bartcher of Family Heritage Alliance. Dr. White defends the affirmative: “The Bible teaches that within the one Being that is God there exists eternally three coequal and coeternal persons, namely, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” Bro. Joe Ventilacion argues the negative. This event is held in Rapid City, SD, in the Best Western Ramkota Convention Center at 6PM MST, on April 21st, 2017. This event was arranged and coordinated by the ministry of South Dakota Apologetics. Some of my own, brief observations: Different name, same story.   I, like many of you, haven't encountered any INC befo...

28  So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” Remember the Pharisees’ sanctimonious question in verse 25.  They turn and interject—“Look!”—and accuse (in the form of a question) the disciples of breaking the holy commandment (v. 24).  While some Pharisees seem to have honest inquiries for the Lord (cf. Jn 3:1–2), these, with the previous ones about dining with sinners (v. 16) and fasting (v. 18), amount to a systematic attack upon the Lord from their perch on high.  They form a line of reasoning that lead most of them to reject Jesus as their Messiah. The Law (nor Sabbath-keeping) can’t bring life.   Our Lord highlights how they misread and misuse the Law.  They believed they were holy because they fasted twice a week (Lk 18:12), tithed even the leaves on spice plants (Mt 23:23), and avoided all appearances of working on the Sabbath.  Indeed, the Law is holy (Rm 7:12), but because of the sin within us, it produces death (v. 13).  Th...

By now, many of you have heard of the staggering amount of textual material surrounding the NT text compared to other Greek works of antiquity (Plato, Homer, etc.).  No other work can boast of extant copies within a century of the originals, nor of the sheer volume of copies available.  This does not prove that the Bible is inspired, but it does evidence the simple fact that it is trustworthy -- no one can claim that we don't know what the original said. Here is a graphical representation of the data: click to enlarge ( HT )

James White and IV Connerly explain why 33 Greek words are a better answer for our Muslim friends than those 40 Arabic words keeping them from Christ. (HT: TurretinFan ) From the video description: The Qur'an denies, in a single ayah (verse), that Jesus the Messiah was crucified. By denying this historical reality, the Qur'an forces its followers to not only reject one of the most certain events of history itself, but by so doing it separates them from the life-giving message of the cross of Jesus Christ.   In this video we compare the 40 Arabic words of Surah 4:157 with the 33 Greek words of Galatians 2:20. Here are the texts (as translated by the co-author of the lyrics, James White):   Surah 4:157: And in reference to the Jews who said, "We killed the Messiah, Jesus the Son of Mariam, the apostle of God," they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, but it was made to appear to them. And indeed those who differ in the matter are surely in doub...