Dr. Claude Mariottini - Professor of Old Testament: Rahab: A Prostitute or an Innkeeper?

Dr. Mariottini has posted a great article expounding on the story of Rahab. He covers who she was, what she did, and why she is so very important! This is a must read!

Dr. Claude Mariottini - Professor of Old Testament: Rahab: A Prostitute or an Innkeeper?

Line of Fire » Blog Archive » March 18, 2010

I've been listening to Dr. Michael Brown's radio broadcast over the internet for a while. He is a Jewish scholar who is a Christian. He does excellent scholarship. A few weeks ago he had James White on his broadcast and they debated Calvinism. At the end of this month, he will be on Dr. James White's webcast for 2 days and they are going to be exegeting specific scripture(read announcement at the bottom). I can't wait. Brown describes himself as a noncalvinist and a nonarminian - he is however definitely a Christian. I linked to this particular recording of Brown's because he specifically describes what he considers right about Calvinism. He is the most balanced noncalvinist I've ever listened to. He also answered some questions that his ministry received in E-mail. I agreed with all the answers he gave except the one about tithing. He was asked does God want us to tithe on net or on gross earnings? He said he believed in the principle of tithing but did not believe it was mandated anymore. I don't agree, but I agree with everything else he said subsequently. He said he tithed on the gross. He said he heard a preacher answer question with a question: "Do you want God to bless your net or gross?" This is the same way my own pastor answers this question.

Dr Brown also has several great debates coming up in addition to the one with Dr. White.
He's debating Anthony Buzzard soon.
And He is debating Bart Ehrman on April 15, 2010.

I'm looking forward to these!

Line of Fire » Blog Archive » March 18, 2010

Iron Sharpens Iron: R.C. Sproul, Jr.: Believing God: 12 Biblical Promises Christians Struggle to Accept

This was an amazing interview. R.C. Sproul Jr was interviewed on his new book "Believing God: 12 Biblical Promises Christians Struggle to Accept". I can't believe the insight he brought. I mean I thought: "I'm a Christian! I believe everything the Bible says!" Truth is I listened to the interview because I wanted to see how much like his father he is and didn't really expect to be as blown away as I was. He said he wrote the book because when he honestly looks at scripture he came to the realization that there were something that God promises that he did not literally interpret the statement as it  is stated. Two examples he brought up, I've got to share.

⁵If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. ⁶But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. James 1:5-6

He said one day, he looked at that and thought, no way is it saying that God will just give me wisdom if I ask...there has got to be more to it than that so he went on a mission to find out what the passage is truly saying. and came back to his first interpretation. I heard myself in his words. i realized that i too did not take that promise at face value. I'm still repenting! I was struck. Often times i feel at a loss for what to do. I pray but I don't really expect God to show me what to do. 

Dr. Sproul then went on to identify 12 such promises in the Bible. He didn't cover them all but hbe did talk about a few. another one that caught my attention is the point he made that many of us don't give God's forgiveness of our sin it's proper weight. We readily accept that God has forgiven our past crap but sometimes falter in believing the same as for the present and future issues we wrestle to overcome. Jesus' righteousness is imputed to us. 


If you can't say "Amen", say "ouch"!!!


Iron Sharpens Iron: R.C. Sproul, Jr.: Believing God: 12 Biblical Promises Christians Struggle to Accept

Truthbomb Apologetics: Helpful Resources dealing with Mormonism

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 On a recent Reasonable Faith podcast, William Lane Craig "discussed the Mormon doctrine of creation and highlighted an exciting movement that is currently going on among a small number of Mormon scholars." I got this post from Truthbomb Apologetics. This was posted a couple of days ago and today on the Dividing Line, James White Discussed Craig's comments. Unfortunately, I was not able to listen today but I will be listening to the recording later one. You can hear Craig's interview by going to the post at Truthbomb Apologetics link below.

Truthbomb Apologetics: Helpful Resources dealing with Mormonism

Debunking Christianity: Why Do My Arguments Not Convince Devout Believers to Leave Their Faith?

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Recenlty, John Loftus  posted an answer to the question " Why Do My Arguments Not Convince Devout Believers to Leave Their Faith?"  He wrote the following:

I merely offer up good arguments against their faith. That's all I can do. Devout believers (my target audience) won't seriously consider them until such time as they have some sort of crisis in their lives that cannot be adequately explained by a good God. They'll seriously consider them at that time. My arguments are like seeds of doubt ready to sprout if and when they experience that crisis. Since many believers do experience some kind of crisis in their lives there will be a certain percentage of believers who, having been previously exposed to my arguments, will leave their faith at that time. It's a waiting game.

I've got a couple of problems with his answer. I've watched 3 of his debates and he lost each of them.the description of "good" is not what I would use to describe the arguments he used. Based on those arguments alone, he deserved to loose. I agree that loosing a debate, (in Lofuts'  case - several debates) does not invalidate a person's ideas nor means that they are stupid. I think it takes a great deal of gut to expose your self to public scrutiny of your ideas and worldview. Not for the faint-of-heart.  However, it's silly to think that you can argue anyone into or out of faith. It really is bigger than any of us, When I see an apsotate and listen to their arguments, it does not move me in the slightest because I know that they were never truly a Christian. No one becomes "un-born again".

 ²²Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, ²³and Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon's Colonnade. ²⁴The Jews gathered around him, saying, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly."
 ²⁵Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me, ²⁶but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. ²⁷My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. ³⁰I and the Father are one."- John 10:22-30

and

They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

- 1 John 2:19

and

⁹Do your best to come to me quickly, ¹⁰for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. ¹¹Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry. - 2 Timothy 4:9-11

One more thing: 

⁸For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. - 2 Corinthians 13:8

Debunking Christianity: Why Do My Arguments Not Convince Devout Believers to Leave Their Faith?

Apologetics 315: Resurrection Interview with William Lane Craig MP3

Apologetics 315 has posted a great audio interview with William Lane Craig responding to specific questions regarding Jesus' Resurrection. These are g great summary for defending the Resurrection. Not only that, the post has link to many other Resurrection resources.

Apologetics 315: Resurrection Interview with William Lane Craig MP3

John Piippo: Paul Copan's Essay "Are Old Testament Laws Evil?"

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Here is a great review of Paul Copan's essay  regarding the ethics of the Old Testament. I got turned to this article by Brian Auten from Apologetics 315. We can clearly see that it's not the Bible that is immoral or unethical. It is the critics of the Bible that are unethical.

John Piippo: Paul Copan's Essay "Are Old Testament Laws Evil?"

Debunking Christianity: David Wood vs John W. Loftus: Does God Exist?

I was kind of very disappointed with John Loftus' performance. He didn't use any new arguments when he recently debated Dinesh D'Souza, and it didn't work any better against David Wood than it did against D'Souza. Loftus said that neither he nor David could not completely refute each other, but it sure would be nice to have heard some real interaction with David's arguments. It was good to see David really press John on morality and John's worldview. I wanted to see some newer arguments from John Loftus that has not been used by him or anyone else before. And it was not there. Loftus did not answer anything.










Debunking Christianity: David Wood vs John W. Loftus: Does God Exist?

Unbelievable? 6 Mar 2010 - Debate: Which is more trustworthy - The Bible or Koran?

James White had a very debate with Muslim Adnan Rashid. They debated which is more reliable: the Bible or the Qur'an? James White did a great job summarizing textual transmission of the Bible. Rashid disagreed on how White talked about how the Qur'an came to us. I've heard other scholars agree with White's presentation. Rashid seemed to lean heavily on the work and conclusions of Bart Ehrman and he never really did refute White's explanation about why Ehrman's conclusions is wrong. In fact he used the same defense White used for the Bible to defend the textual integrity of the Qur'an.

I find it interesting that Rashid ends up seeming to put the Gospel of Thomas as more authoritative than the four gospels. White explains how different the Gospel of Thomas is from the rest of the Gospels. It does not belong with the rest of the Gospels. Adnan seems more than willing to agree with the Qur'an that Jesus did not die because of crucifixion yet agree that history says that Jesus did die by crucifixion. He also tried to make it seem like Bruce M. Metzger agreed that the New Testament is unreliable. The man did not believe that. This is a great discussion.

Here is the information about the podcast containing the discussion.

James White of Alpha and Omega Ministries is on the show this week and next defending the Christian faith.  Today he argues the Bible is historically more reliable than the Koran.
Adnan Rashid of the Hittin Institute argues for the Koran and criticises the transmission of Biblical writings.
How were both scriptures written and passed on?  Among other things the Koran and Bible disagree on an important event - Jesus' crucifixion.  So which should we trust?
For James White visit http://www.aomin.org/
For Adnan Rashid visit http://www.hittininstitute.com/
For more Christian and non-Christian debate visit http://www.premier.org.uk/unbelievable get the MP3 podcast http://ondemand.premier.org.uk/unbelievable/AudioFeed.aspx or Via Itunes http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=267142101

You can listen to the podcast here



Here is a video James White made regarding Adnan Rashid arguments against the New Testament.

Why Apologetics Has a Bad Name | conversantlife.com

Sean McDowell has written a great post for why apologists are not more successful. I think he brings up great and solid points. Like all aspects of ministry, we must allow God to lead us as to how to minister. We must depend on God to know when to be gentle and when to be forceful. I'd call Elijah's apologetic on top of Mt Carmel successful, but it most certainly was not gentle. Sometimes sarcasm is needed I'd expect most of time it's not. Love is always necessary.

Why Apologetics Has a Bad Name | conversantlife.com

FCC Unveils Plan To Beef Up Broadband

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I just heard good news that the US Government is planning to make our information infrastructure better and more accessible to everyone! Awesome! Now if we can only get affordable health care to every single American too!

Obviously the United States is the most awesome, super-special nation in the world, but one way in which we are not number one is our internet. Sure, we have the greatest percentage of YouTube superstars and websites devoted to naked pictures of people's ex-girlfriends, but compared to other nations, our internets are slow. Very slow -- We're number 26 in the world according to a report by the Communications Workers of America.

But fear not: Our government is on the case. The FCC yesterday unveiled its plan to bring us into competition with internet speed demon nations like Japan and Sweden, laying out six goals to make America more cyber-y. Here they are:

* 100 million homes should have affordable access to download speeds of at least 100Mbps and upload speeds of 50 Mbps.
* The U.S. should lead the world in mobile innovation.
* Every American should have affordable access to robust broadband service.
* Every American community should have access to at least 1 Gbps broadband service to anchor schools, hospitals and government buildings.
* First responders should have access to a nationwide wireless public safety network.
* Ensure that America leads in the clean energy economy.

Wait a minute, FCC, you want every American to have fast internet? Even the ones I don't like? How is that patriotic? I say, it's a socialist plot cooked up by Freemasons and reverse-vampires to get our kids hooked on Hulu videos and crack.

Okay, not really. I think speeds of 100Mbps would be freakin' amazing in terms of downloading apps, playing online and quick reading of Harry Potter fan fiction. The gaming implications of faster more stable connections are obvious. Sure it'll be expensive (estimates range from $20 and $350 billion) but it's worth it when tax-payers support the things I am interested in.

If you'd like to read the entire National Broadband Plan, here's a link to the document. Thank you, The Government, for (finally) putting this is in place. Not to be all preachy, but we actually do need to be competitive with other nations in terms of our information infrastructure.

Read more: http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/703247/FCC-Unveils-Plan-To-Beef-Up-Broadband.html?utm_source=g4tv&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=TheFeed#ixzz0iPAlvkjr



FCC Unveils Plan To Beef Up Broadband

Apologetics 315: Terminology Tuesday: Gnosticism

A great article defining "Gnosticism" has been posted on Apologetics 315!
Apologetics 315: Terminology Tuesday: Gnosticism

Dr. Claude Mariottini - Professor of Old Testament: Forsaking Their “Hesed”

Dr. Mariottini has posted a great article about how to understand Jonah 2:9.

שַׁמְּרִ֖ים הַבְלֵי־שָׁ֑וְא חַסְדָּ֖ם יַעֲזֹֽבוּ׃

Mariottini shows us how the verse is rendered in several English translations and then breaks down each word to make it clear before giving his own best translation into English. His line of reasoning makes a lot of sense to me! This is an awesome article!

Dr. Claude Mariottini - Professor of Old Testament: Forsaking Their “Hesed”

Apologetics 315: Apologist Interview: Peter S. Williams of Damaris.org

Here is another great interview from Apologetics 315. It's interesting to hear Dr. Williams' take on Apologetics and Christianity. Follow the link hear it.

Apologetics 315: Apologist Interview: Peter S. Williams of Damaris.org

Iron Sharpens Iron: Thomas McGovern: The Failed Prophecies of the Jehovah's Witnesses & Their Alleged "New Light" Now Revealed

Iron Sharpen Iron is a great show. I found out that this session holds great resources for talking to Jehovah Witnesses.

Iron Sharpens Iron: Thomas McGovern: The Failed Prophecies of the Jehovah's Witnesses & Their Alleged "New Light" Now Revealed

Debate: Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? - William Lane Craig vs Marcus Borg

I'm not sure if I posted this before but here is a debate from 2001 in which William Lane Craig debates Marcus Borg regarding the Resurrection. I don't consider Borg a Christian because he denies the physical, bodily resurrection of Jesus and Jesus' deity. He uses much the same language as Christians but means someth8ing entirely different. I do hold that the Bible is literally true, but it does have symbols and metaphors. Jesus Resurrection and the empty tomb are not examples of metaphor.



Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?

Debunking Christianity: Either the Garden of Eden Test Was a Sham or a Myth

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On his blog, John W. Loftus has written an interesting post based on one of his previous posts.

John Loftus wrote:

In a previous post of mine I argued that the "supposed" test in the Garden of Eden was a sham. Then along comes my friend Dr. Dan Lambert who argued that we atheists have it wrong because "The Garden story is a myth invented to explain why people sin. Simple. End of story." At least Dan understands it for what it is. But if he's correct then how does this save his faith from refutation? Whether it's a sham test or a myth it doesn't matter. Why should any intelligent person base his faith on ancient myths? And there are lots of them in the Bible.

The previous post in question says:

If under the same initial test conditions in the supposed Garden of Eden every human being would fail that test, then either, 1) God created us faulty in some way, or 2) The test was a sham. And since a fair test would mean some of us would not have sinned, then some human beings are being punished in this world for something they never would have done in the first place. This is just one of many problems that keeps me from believing.

I think I see Mr. Loftus' point but it is based on a poor assumption. Loftus is arguing that not every single person would have failed in the Garden. He raises the objection that we are being unfairly punished. I can relate to this. When I was a child, I was angry with Adam....I thought that he messed everything up for me and all of us. However I had an epiphany - a moment of clarity.I realized that while Adam disobeyed God in the the Garden, I had to realize that I would have failed in the Garden myself. None of us would have passed. I realized that I disobeyed my parents so why should I expect Adam to be better than I? Adam represented all of us...just like Jesus is our representative. God can do what God wants. If God wants to judge us based on Jesus that is God's sovereign right. However all of us are sinners deserving death. Therefore God is being fair.

 ¹²Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned— ¹³for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. ¹⁴Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.
 ¹⁵But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! ¹⁶Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. ¹⁷For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
 ¹⁸Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. ¹⁹For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
 ²⁰The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, ²¹so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. - Romans 5:12-21

And

¹³For Adam was formed first, then Eve. ¹⁴And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. - 1 Timothy 2:13-14

Adam knew exactly what he was doing...Eve was tricked. The fault was Adams. 

Eden was not a sham.  We know that it was not a myth with all due respect to Dr. Lambert.. Romans 5 shows that  Paul did indeed believe that Adam was a historical person and his failure in Eden a historical event. More importantly Jesus taught that Adam was a real person and taught that Genesis was true.

 ⁴"Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' ⁵and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? ⁶So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." - Matthew 19:4-6

Debunking Christianity: Either the Garden of Eden Test Was a Sham or a Myth

Celebrating Pi

Today I found all kinds of  videos celebrating the number Pi. Why is Pi so important? It is the ratio of any circle's circumference to its diameter!  It does not matter how large or small a circle is you get Pi. The number appears in almost every single formula describing the physical world we use. The number is special because it is irrational ( can't be written as a fraction) and goes on forever.

Salvation By Grace: Dr Skepple Defining Sovereign Grace

Here is a video in which Dr. Roger Skepple defines what Reformed theology is. I really like the way he breaks it down and explains that it's more than just the 5 points we usually point out in Reformed Theology. He also points out that it's about the 5 "solas" or the 5 "onlies" (ie only faith, only Christ, ect). Check him out.





Salvation By Grace: Dr Skepple Defining Sovereign Grace

Racism, Stereotypes and Comic Books Part 2: The Blackquel

I read an interesting article. I liked it however I did not agree with all of it. It is about racism and stereotypes in comic books. I think the writer is correct that racism is a part of the fabric of American society including comic books. This quote is very telling from the article.

Some people might say: What about Black Panther and Spawn? The argument for that is simple: The characters are covered from head to toe to hide who they truly are. Anyone could be under the that costume. In fact, when Spawn was created everybody thought he was white. Don't lie, you thought he was white. I did too, and the big gimmick became that he's black. Not that it matters, cause his face looks like rotten flesh. He doesn't look black, which shows you that white people would rather take an ugly monster looking creature as their savior than a black person. The Legion of Superheroes have a bunch of characters that are monster-like and up until recently, did not have any black heroes in it. This can be parallel to Star Trek. who has all kind of monster-looking creatures on their show, just so they can avoid putting blacks on TV. My friend and I used to laugh at the fact that Captain Kirk screws every known creature in the galaxy from purple to green to blue, but never a black chick. Yes, I'm aware that Kirk and Uhura was the first interracial kiss on television. Though if you've seen the episode, you'd realize that it only happened because Parmen forced them to kiss. As if no white man would ever want to be with a black woman unless if he was forced. They tried to fix that argument in the new movie by showing Kirk drooling over Uhara. Comic books need to do something of that kind to fix the damage they have done. The best way they can do this is to make some of the more prominent characters white in the comic movie. Just another example that every industry has to hold the black man down one way or another. While I am no fan of Will Smith, I think he would be the perfect man to play Steve Rogers. After all, you did promise black people forty acres and a mule, but since you have renege on your promise, we will take Captain America instead.

I admit it. I thought Spawn was white. And he has the point about Star Trek, and the fact that Spawn does not look black and makes it easier for Spawn to be accepted by white people. However, I think that it's not true that Black Panther is not identifiably black because he is covered from head to toe. I would say that Black Panther cannot be anything else other than a black man. I also don't think it makes sense to change the race of characters that are already established. This makes no sense. Will Smith should not play Captain America and Beyonce should not be Wonder Woman. Not because they are black but because the characters are not black. We have black characters that could be adapted for movies and television.

Racism, Stereotypes and Comic Books Part 2: The Blackquel