This debate will be helpful to anyone interested in hearing a sound defense of the doctrine of the Tri-unity of God along with a better understanding of the views of those who oppose this wonderful Christian truth about who God is and how He exists.
[HT: James White, here and here]
Arabic Christian Perspective has just started a site for future debates. The first article is a challenge directed to Shabir Ally, Jamal Badawi, and Zakir Naik. The challenge just went up, and ACP will be sending the link to our Muslim friends. Here’s the text:
An Open Debate Challenge to Shabir Ally, Jamal Badawi, and Zakir Naik
Arabic Christian Perspective has hosted a number of debates between Christians and Muslims. However, Muslims have often criticized ACP for not arranging debates with Islam’s top debaters: Shabir Ally, Jamal Badawi, and Zakir Naik. Though we at ACP have attempted to set up debates with some of Islam’s strongest proponents, we’ve found that they are extremely reluctant to debate topics that will place Islam under scrutiny. Hence, it is now time to make our challenge public.
Arabic Christian Perspective hereby challenges Shabir Ally, Jamal Badawi, and Zakir Naik to a series of ten debates to take place next September against Christian debaters James White, David Wood, and Sam Shamoun. The topics (subject to modification pending input from our Muslim guests) will include:
(1) “Did Jesus Die by Crucifixion?â€
(2) “Was Muhammad a Prophet of God?â€
(3) “Has the Qur’an Been Perfectly Preserved?â€
(4) “Did Christians Corrupt the Gospel?â€
(5) “Can We Trust Paul?â€
(6) “Does Science Show that Islam Is True?â€
(7) “Does the Bible Teach that Jesus Is God?â€
(8) “Does the Bible Tell Us about Muhammad?â€
(9) “Is Islam a Religion of Peace?â€
(10) “Is Christianity a Religion of Peace?â€
We issue this challenge nearly a year in advance, so that there is plenty of time to schedule and coordinate the events. We invite Muslims to encourage Shabir Ally, Jamal Badawi, and Zakir Naik to join us for a series that will shed light on the major issues of both faiths, and help the world to see where the evidence points. Since James White, David Wood, and Sam Shamoun have already agreed to the series, we await the response of Islam’s top debaters.
James White has added some commentary here.
Please leave your comments below. I want to know what you think.
One of my friends, Brian, has posted a good article on the case for apologetics. I encourage you all to read it and let me know what you think. Here is a noteworthy portion of the article:
Three Basic Functions of ApologeticsFirst, apologetics is used in a proactive way to prove the truth of Christianity and to persuade unbelievers to believe. This may involve arguments from history, philosophy, science, culture, logic, and testimony, among others. The purpose is simply to build a reasonable case to persuade the unbeliever. Removing intellectual stumbling blocks is a key element. “Apologetic argument may not create belief, but it creates the atmosphere in which belief can come to life.â€3
Second, apologetics is used defensively when criticism or attack comes against the Gospel. Inevitably, Christianity will be attacked. However, apologetics defends the faith by providing a rational and reasonable basis for belief and contending for the truth. Defensive apologetics can guard the Church from false doctrine by refuting error and exposing false teaching. The Church has the opportunity to gain a more robust faith when the Gospel is strongly defended against opposition. Martin Luther noted that when the Gospel is attacked, it has an opportunity to gain strength:
If the devil were wise enough and would stand by in silence and let the gospel be preached, he would suffer less harm. For when there is no battle for the gospel it rusts and it finds no cause and no occasion to show its vigor and power. Therefore, nothing better can befall the gospel than that the world should fight it with force and cunning.4
Third, apologetics strengthens the faith of believers. Just as there are attacks upon the Gospel itself, there are times when the faith of individual believers is tested and tried. This may come from voices of doubt, worldly influences, personal crises, or any number of other sources. However, apologetics can play a key role in anchoring the faith of a Christian when faced with times of doubt. This anchoring also allows for the Christian to be a bolder witness to the world, as he is prepared for all kinds of common objections he may face from unbelievers.
Here’s a link to Sermonaudio.com, where you can find all the lectures from this past weekend’s eschatology conference at Covenant Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Orland Park, IL.
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The Review of Biblical Literature is a publication of the Society of Biblical Literature (http://www.sbl-site.org).
Here are two thought provoking videos from RC Sproul, Jr. regarding Politics and Principles. Please leave your comments if you have any. Enjoy!
Little Devils and Little Devils
Sphere Sovereignty
Justin Taylor of Between Two Worlds has written a powerful and authoritative article for New Attitudes on the the justice of God and the genocide of the Canaanites in the Old Testament. I could not agree more with his seven points. In particular, I think everyone needs to grasp this point, number seven:
7. The destruction of the Canaanites is a picture of the final judgment.
At the end of the age, Christ will come to judge the living and the dead (Acts 10:42; 2 Tim. 4:1; 1 Pet. 4:5), expelling them from the land (the whole earth). That judgment will be just, and it will be complete. That is the day “the Lord Jesus [will be] revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might (2 Thess. 1:8–9). Amazingly enough, Paul asks the Corinthians something they seem to have forgotten, if they once knew it: “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? (1 Cor. 6:2).
How does this work? What will it look like? I really don’t know. But God’s Word tells us that God’s people will be part of God’s judgment against God’s enemies. In that way, God’s command of the Israelites to carry out his moral judgment against the Canaanites becomes a foreshadowing—a preview, if you will—of the final judgment.
Read in this light, the terrible destruction recorded on the pages of Joshua in God’s Holy Word become not a “problem to solve,†but a wake-up call to all of us—to remain “pure and undefiled before God†(James 1:27), seeking him and his ways, and to faithfully share the gospel with our unbelieving neighbors and the unreached nations. Like Job, we must ultimately refrain from calling God’s goodness and justice into question, putting a hand over our mouth (Job 40:4) and marveling instead at the richness and the mystery of God’s great inscrutable mercy (Eph. 2:4). At the end of the day we will join Moses and the Lamb in singing this song of praise:
“Great and amazing are your deeds,
O Lord God the Almighty!
Just and true are your ways,
O King of the nations!
Who will not fear, O Lord,
and glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
and worship you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.†(Rev. 15:3-4)
Jason Button points out that New Horizons, the monthly publication of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, has dedicated the current issue to the life, theology, and legacy of Herman Bavinck. Below are the contents for the October 2008 issue.
[HT: James Grant]
