James White, December 14, 2021December 14, 2021, Christian Worldview, Church History, Debate, Exegesis, Molinism, Persecution, Personal, Post-Evangelicalism, Reformed Apologetics, Reformed Baptist Issues, The Dividing Line, Theology Matters Started off with the great video that came out today, “The Essence of James White,” a wonderfully done little lark from the joke Justin Brierley made during the William Lane Craig discussion. Then we went with all that stuff that you can’t talk about on YouTube, if you know what I mean: you know, the failed vaccines and the Omicron scare, etc. Then we shifted to theology and talked a bit about the discussion on divine simplicity, the role of natural theology, etc., going on in conservative Reformed circles right now. Then we looked at Tim Stratton’s “EDD” argument, the idea that if you believe in “Exhaustive Divine Determinism” then you are left with “a god of deceit” who forces you to believe wrong things and therefore you can never know when you believe true things. We compared this silly philosophical trick with the Biblical perspective. Went just over 90 minutes today!
Tags: 00:00 Essence of James White 09:00 UK Vaccine Passport Legislation 11:00 Omicron Variant 17:00 Natural Immunity 20:45 Dalrymple on Communism 22:00 Will Thomas 33:00 More on the WLC Debate 38:00 Natural Theology and RB’s 42:45 Interacting with Dolezal 54:00 Jordan Cooper Chimes in 63:00 Stratton and James Video

James White, December 9, 2021December 9, 2021, Christian Worldview, Church Fathers, Church History, Debate, Exegesis, General Apologetics, Molinism, Personal, Provisionism, Reformed Apologetics, Reformed Baptist Issues, The Dividing Line Well, I really was not trying to make today’s program a pre-view of what is upcoming for my students when teaching Church History and Apologetics, but, we did cover that area. First portion of the program was a bit “in house,” discussing the rise of Thomism in the midst of Reformed Baptists, so that some are accusing myself and Jeff Johnson and Owen Strachan of “heterodoxy” based upon their extremely narrow positions. Then we moved on to responding to arguments made by Tim Stratton and Tyson James, two Molinist proponents, focusing upon Stratton’s reading of a single paragraph from Calvin and the concept of God as “the author of evil.” Pointed argumentation to be sure. An hour and forty-five minutes in length.
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Tags: 00:00 Molinism and In House Chat 01:00 Reformed Baptists and Aquinas 10:15 Josh Sommer 48:00 Molinism Continued

There is an increasing emphasis today on the primacy of Aristotelian (or Thomistic) Metaphysical Philosophy in the formulation of the Christian Creeds. I have seen some statements such as “like, [Greek philosophy is] the grounding for literally all the creeds.” as well as this from a friend “any time you are teaching the Nicene creed, or any reformed confession with language based on the ancient creeds, you are by necessity teaching a ‘Christian Aristotelianism’”. This from my friend was followed with “I agree that they are wholly Biblical”.Since the Nicene Creed was specifically mentioned as “teaching a ‘Christian Aristotelianism’” and it would be included in “literally all the creeds” for which Greek philosophy is the “grounding”, I would like to take a moment to look at what the grounding for it actually is. I have been wanting to post about this for a while and I have finally put together a table containing the phrases from the Nicene Creed alongside some Scriptural references.Upon even a cursory review, nearly every phrase of the Nicene Creed is found in Special Revelation. As it stands in contrast to Natural Revelation (or as it is sometimes referred to as Natural Theology – grounded in Aristotelian Metaphysical Philosophy which discusses an existence of a Primary Deity), we see that the Nicene Creed (and the Apostles’ Creed, for that matter) are grounded in Scripture – “wholly Biblical”, if you will.This leads me to a brief discussion of some terminology as I would understand it, and as reason would have one understand it. I take words such as “the grounding for” to mean that it is “primary”. If something is “primary”, then it would be the main basis for something. As such, and in the statement above, “Greek philosophy” would be the “primary” means for not only understanding but actually formulating “all the creeds”. This would mean that Scripture is relegated to a secondary place behind the primary grounding. Lest I be accused of exaggeration, we have statements such as this: “some of the most important divine attributes (such as simplicity, immutability, and impassibility) are only known through natural theology, and can only be affirmed through the interaction of natural and biblical theology.” (emphasis mine) This is the same sentiment that we see highlighted above with the Creeds. Certainly the secondary is important, but it begs the question of why someone wouldn’t naturally state, at least for summaries of the Christian faith like the Creeds, that Scripture is the primary grounding for the Creeds.But I digress. I would like to direct you to the table below and would welcome any input. The only phrases that would give us trouble in finding direct citations from Scripture would be “God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God” as well as the general concept of “substance”. However, if we have understood Scripture rightly in its statements regarding Christ being One with the Father (and the preceding sections of the Nicene Creed), then such statements would necessarily follow. Then, secondary means, such as philosophical discussions of being or matter, could aid in how we would explain what we already understand from Special Revelation.Nicene CreedScripture ReferenceI believe in one GodDeuteronomy 6:4 the Father AlmightyRomans 8:15Job 11:7Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.Genesis 1:1Job 38And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God,John 3:161 John 4:9begotten of the Father before all worlds;John 1:14Psalm 2:7Hebrews 1:5God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God;Hebrews 1:3Psalm 27:1, 1 John 1:5, John 8:12John 12:41begotten, not made,John 1:14Psalm 2:7Hebrews 1:5being of one substance with the Father,John 10:30John 17:11, 22by whom all things were madeJohn 1:3Colossians 1:15-17Who, for us men for our salvation, came down from heaven,John 17:22-24and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary,Luke 2:35and was made man;Philippians 2:5-10and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate;John 19:1-13He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures;John 19:1, 16, 38-41John 20:1-18and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father;Acts 1:9-11Acts 2:33and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead;Revelation 11:18Revelation 19:11-16Revelation 20:12-13whose kingdom shall have no end.Luke 1:33And I believe in the Holy Ghost,John 14:16-17the Lord and Giver of Life;John 20:221 Corinthians 12:3Ephesians 2:18-19who proceeds from the Father [and the Son];John 14:16, 26John 15:26who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified;Romans 15:162 Corinthians 13:14Ephesians 4:30who spoke by the prophets.Ephesians 3:5And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church.Ephesians 2:20Ephesians 5:22-24I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins;Ephesians 4:4-6and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.1 Corinthians 15:21, 42Revelation 20:5-6Revelation 21-22

Started off welcoming Dr. Owen Strachan, Provost and Research Professor of Theology at Grace Bible Theological Seminary who announced my appointment as Professor of Church History and Apologetics at the school. I am deeply honored to fulfill this calling in teaching a subject that has been my work for nearly four decades now. I truly pray the Lord will bless GBTS and its work in equipping men to the work of edifying the body of Christ in these challenging times. I had thought we would only have Dr. Strachan on for a few minutes but, I was foolish, and we went a full half hour. So in the last portion I addressed a new paper that appeared today that says what I had predicted weeks ago: the selection pressure that is driving mutations in covid are coming from the leaky, poorly thought out, ineffective “vaccines,” not from the “unvaccinated.”
Tags: 00:00 GBT Seminary 35:30 Fauci’s War on the Unvaccinated

The Dividing Line will be LIVE at 4:00pm EST

Decided to resurrect the old ScreenFlow program (well, ok, had to upgrade it had been so long) and do a quick response to a video posted by Dr. Stratton. Just barely managed to keep it under 30 minutes! Someday I will really do like a five minute video. Really. Trust me. (Said in Fauci’s voice there). Enjoy!
Tags: Molinism Stratton

Revealed Apologetics’ (Post-Debate Interview)

Calvinism and Molinism are two very different ways of understanding God’s sovereignty. But which one best addresses the problem of evil? James White argues that Calvinism – God foreordaining all human behaviour both good and evil – is the more Biblical and coherent view. William (Bill) Lane Craig argues that Molinism – a view which reconciles human freedom and divine sovereignty – is Biblically consistent without making God the author of evil.
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First Program on Odysee: Omicron Variants, Scotus Case, TROnlyism Again, Responding to Tim Stratton

The Dividing Line will be LIVE at 1:00pm EST