Reasoning with William Lane Craig

I had the opportunity to listen to James White's webcast from Thursday, May 21, 2009. It was extremely interesting. I think James White summed up the contents of the webcast on his blog. I've pasted it below because I want to make sure readers read it.

We did a Radio Free Geneva today, starting with a few minutes reviewing an example of really bad argumentation (from Monica Dunnington) and then moving on to the serious stuff, that being the comments of William Lane Craig on the topic of man's freedom, Romans 9, Roman Catholicism, etc. Important documentation that "theology matters." Here's the program.
Now here is another gem from the wacky world of those suffering from Calvin Derangement Syndrome. A new book from a Southern Baptist deacon from Florida titled Calvin the Psychopath. Anyone want to take a wild guess as to how fair, and accurate, this scholarly work might be? If you are wondering, here are some whopper quotes from the author's website:

The written history of John Calvin dramatically reveals that he was a premeditated murderer, a heretic, a blasphemer, and a liar. He forced his beliefs by fear, punishment, terrorism, and had his own inquisition. He beheaded children and justified it with an extensive discussion of the Fifth Commandment. (Honor thy father and thy mother.) Calvins temper was described as the wild beast of his wrath. In my opinion Calvinism is a cult. Like all cults it has picked those things they want to believe and eliminated the others. By this they have created their own religion with the usual half-truths. They have reinterpreted the Scriptures in an unorthodox way, and used them in an orthodox way. It is a sinful spiritualizing exegesis.

Calvinists are increasingly coming out in the open. The president of one of our seminaries, who is a Calvinist, has been quoted in Time magazine recently and if true it is absolutely a lie. The seminary president as quoted said, The moment someone begins to define Gods (being or actions) Biblically, that person is drawn to conclusions that are traditionally classified as Calvinist. This statement is Biblically Illiterate! He says when one seeks God they find Calvinism! At the very least this is sacrilegious or gross irreverence. To me this is a dissent from Biblical dogma and is therefore heresy. We need to speak up and out against this man. He is dangerous to the minds of our young people.

Well, there you go! We all stand refuted once again! Truly, Calvin Derangement Syndrome is a sad thing to observe, it truly is.
We will continue with Radio Free Geneva next week!

I have found the presentation by Monica Dennington that White referenced. It's on YouTube just like he said.





The truth is that I think Dr. White's commentary on Dennington's words were way more charitable than they deserve. He laughed...but I think it was to keep from crying. I'm not even sure how to respond because her ideas are so...I almost want to say stupid but that's not right. "Ignorant" is better. As Dr. White points out she could not have obviously studied church history or listened to other viewpoints on what scripture says but instead holds on to her own traditions.

As far as Dr. White's comments on Dr William Lane Craig's presentation I found myself disappointed with Craig's presentation. He seems way more concerned to me about human dignity and free will than just admitting that God is sovereignly in control of all of reality. The truth is that if God did not supercede human will, no one would ever be saved. I really would like to hear more of Craig's presentation but I think I could find the first part. I think Jame White is correct he should debate William Lane Craig.