Sometimes questions by their very nature can contain assumptions. For example, if someone asked, “Have you stopped beating your dog yet?” how would one answer this question? Either way the question is answered, the assumption is that the person is guilty of the action. This form of questioning can be tricky when the assumption of the questioner is not easily detectable. For example, consider this excerpt from the famous British Christian author, C. S. Lewis:
Last night, I watched this sermon by Shane Claiborne of the Simple Way, an intentional community in the “bad lands” of north Philadelphia. He shares his incredible story of how God has led him throughout his life to learn what it means to take Jesus’ words seriously and really follow him. He was born in east Tennessee and was raised as a Methodist. He went to a “get saved” meeting each year and got born again, again and again. Then he went to Eastern in Pennsylvania and found himself reading an article about homeless people who were being evicted from an abandoned Catholic church. He and 100 others got involved by moving into the church with the homeless and suffering with them while sharing the love of Messiah. I won’t give too much away, because it is a beautiful story. He also interned with Mother Theresa in Calcutta and has done some incredible things in Philadelphia since then.
Next week a number of us will be attending the Family Camp held at Silver Bay YMCA on Lake George, NY. The focus for the week will be the book of 1 John. In preparation for this I have been reading the book through repeatedly in order to acquaint myself with it. There is much to be said about the major themes of abiding, love, fellowship, truth, light, antichrist, and righteousness vs. sin. However, one section in particular has been very striking to me. Each time I read through it I get fascinated by its bold and convicting content.
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The Biblical Unitarian Society at the University of Southampton, UK, has hosted a debate on the Trinity. The debate occurred on June 16th, 2008. Representing the trinitarian side were two Anglicans, Prof. Keith Fox and Chris Halls both from Highfield Church. The two biblical unitarians that participated in the debate were Ray Faircloth of Restoration Fellowship and Thomas Gaston, a Christadelphian. The debate lasted nearly three hours and is available now online in both audio and video formats.
Program Timetable
Introduction by Michael Ng [5 min]
Opening Statement by trinitarian Chris Halls [20 min]
Opening Statement by unitarian Thomas Gaston [20 min]
Opening Statement by trinitarian Prof. Keith Fox [20 min]
Opening Statement by unitarian Ray Faircloth [20 min]
The doctrine of the Trinity is a model for understanding who God is. Over the past couple of weeks we have had quite a bit of conversation about whether or not this model is intelligible or biblical. Unfortunately, often times I have found myself struggling to keep up with the conversation because I get busy and then when I come back, twenty more comments have been made. So, I apologize for not being able to answer each question that has come my way. Still, I believe that I have interacted enough with the trinitarian position and in particular with the way in which it is being argued here to become quite concerned.
Last weekend we held an evangelism conference at Living Hope Community Church in upstate NY. During the conference we focused on what the biblical gospel is and how to speak the gospel of the kingdom and the cross to a world in desperate need. The weekend included teachings, an interactive video workshop, role playing, and an evening out at the park. We wanted to provide an opportunity for those who wanted to try out what they had learned while at the same time not forcing anyone who wasn’t ready to do evangelism. Fortunately a good number of people did speak to people at the park and we had a wonderful time discussing these encounters as well as some related questions regarding evangelism in general Saturday night. The teachings from the conference are now available for free download.
I recently listened to an interesting radio show called Unbelievable in which two Jews, a Rabbi and a Messianic Christian discussed their understanding of Jesus. Since I believe Jesus is the Messiah, yet he is not God, I found myself often rooting for both sides! The one who represented Judaism was Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and the Christian was Michael Brown. Both men are high profile leaders in their respective movements and made great points. The host, Justin Brierley did a fine job of bringing out both sides of the argument. If you would like to know to what Jews are saying about Jesus listen to this show online or download it.
Presented by Brant Bosserman and Sean Finnegan at the One God Conference, Seattle WA June 1st 2008, commentary by Sean Finnegan. Click here to listen the entire 2 hour debate or click on one of the parts below.
The debate was over whether God is a single individual (the Father of Jesus) or if he is a Trinity (three persons in one essence). The debate followed this format:
Introduction by Ken Westby and Tom Bosserman [10 min] listen or download
Sean’s Opening Statement [20 min] listen or download
Brant’s Opening Statement [20 min] listen or download
Sean’s Rebuttal [15 min] listen or download
Brant’s Rebuttal [15 min] listen or download
Sean Cross-Examine Brant [10 min] listen or download
Brant Cross-Examine Sean [10 min] listen or download
Presented by John Obelenus at the One God Conference, Seattle WA June 1st 2008, commentary by Sean Finnegan. Click here to listen.
John seeks to deal with two major issues related to Jesus’ death for our sins: (1) the notion that God identifies with us through the incarnation and atonement (2) a flawed understanding of penal substitution.
Dinesh D’Souza was born in Bombay, India; he came to America at the age of 17; and he eventually graduated from Dartmouth. He was a policy adviser in Ronald Reagan’s White House until 1988. His latest book, What’s So Great About Christianity? is a response to many of the new atheists who are traipsing around saying that the greatest problems of the world are caused by religion (in particular Christianity and Islam). Surprisingly, even Michael Shermer, publisher of the magazine, Skeptic, and an ex-Christian, had this to say of D’Souza’s book, What’s So Great About Christianity?: