White Dissects Emir Caner's Sermon

James White does a great job of showing why most arguments against the Doctrine of Election fall flat (stream it here).

I am continuously amazed by what great lengths folks will go to deny this doctrine. There are some pretty good alternatives to the traditional Calvinistic teachings on this subject, but I rarely hear the better arguments put forward.

What Emir Caner and Jack Graham argue for here goes against the very basics of the Bible. I don't mean to be condescending towards them, but their arguments are so weak that I can barely believe that they have studied basic theology. When I hear comments like, "God doesn't send people to hell for their sins...just for refusing the Gospel" then I simply can't believe that have seriously thought through the subject--let alone actually engaging others who hold to the Reformed position.

Colts Still Undefeated!

The Colts have started yet another season with a 7-0 record. That's only been done one other time in NFL history. I was amazed by how easy it was for Peyton Manning to march down the field against the Denver Broncos on Sunday. Even though their defense looked pretty bad in the game (as it has looked all season), I was encouraged to see their offense dominate a good defense like that.

If the Colts can go into New England and beat the Patriots on their home-field next week, then there may be talk of an undefeated season again.

Let's just hope that they can peak at the right time this season.

The Unpopular Doctrine of Hell

A good blog post, on the unpopular doctrine of hell, can be found here. It's interesting to see how people can try to smooth over the doctrines that they don't either like or understand fully. This furthers the case (and need) for systematic theology. It's important to understand how all of the doctrines of the Bible fit together.

I would argue for the "necessity" of hell as it relates to fallen humanity, God's glory, and justice. Without the Doctrine of Hell, the entire Bible becomes unnecessary. Christ's death on the cross becomes unnecessary. It's a necessary part, to the broader picture, of redemptive history. Without it, the Gospel makes absolutely no sense.

Great Tim Keller Resources

I want to highly recommend a great teaching by Tim Keller. You can download it here. It deals with our religious affections and how we always give ourselves to something--even when we don't give our passions to Christ. The Lord spoke to me in a powerful way through this rather short, but meaty, sermon on Colossions 3:1-14.

Keller continues to amaze me. He has a rather unique style of delivering Biblical truth. He delivers his messages in a conversational style that feels like you are just sitting and chatting with him. I've been very impressed with his insights and faithfulness to the word. Here's another link to more teachings (link here). Enjoy!

Colts On A Roll...Kind Of

Well the Colts go into their "bye" week undefeated and without many significant injuries. There is only one problem--they are not even close to playing good football. Winning games-yes, playing good solid football, no! They almost lost to a very sad team last Sunday. The Tennessee Titans are far from being a good team. But the Colts managed to almost get beat at home!

The best team in the league right now, is by far, the Chicago Bears. They are playing some unbelievable football right now! They aren't just winning games--they are killing teams. I would love to see the Colts play them in the Superbowl. It would be what dreams are made of. Except for the fact that the Colts would probably lose. They've got a long way to go before they can win at that level.

The Debate That Never Was

As if I needed another reason not to like Jerry Falwell and the "fightin fundies" at Liberty University. The much anticipated, but never expected, debate on Calvinism has been officially cancelled. Ergun and Emil Caner were supposed to debate James White and Tom Ascol at Thomas Road Baptist Church on October 16, 2006. White had warned his listeners not to book any flights or make travel plans for it--he had a bad feeling about the whole thing to begin with. After reading some of Ergun's childish comments earlier in the year, I was not surprised at all.

You can download the full email exchange between Ergun Caner and James White. It is available in a PDF download. I have been carefully following the exchanges and I can honestly say that I am shocked. Ergun Caner has to be one of the most immature and thoughtless persons that I have run across in a long time. To think that he is a President of a major Southern Baptist Seminary is scarey to say the least.

James White has a long history of scholarly debates to his credit. Every debate that I have heard him do has been done carefully, thoughtfully, and with respect. I don't always agree with him, but I respect him for how he handles himself in debate situations. He's the best debater that I have ever heard. It's the "content" of what he says that so impresses me, not so much in his ability to persuade.

Oh well, perhaps we'll finally get that indepth Romans 9 debate some other day. I have yet to hear a good or even semi-exegetical argument against the traditional Reformed understanding of it. We'll have to continue to wait for that one!

Piper and Driscoll Exchange a Few Emails

In an attempt to keep the bloggers from going nuts over John Piper's remarks concerning Mark Driscoll (during the panel discussion at the 2006 Desiring God Conference, Piper shared some concerns that he had about Driscoll), they have decided to release a series of email exchanges between themselves to the public. You can read the exchanges here. People love controversy--unfortunately, there isn't much red meat here. Sorry bloggers!

2006 Desiring God Conference

The 2006 Desiring God Conference has concluded. I thoroughly enjoyed the conference and thought that they did an excellent job of putting it on. You can download the free audio teachings here.

It's hard to say what the highlights were. The worship times were great and so were all of the speakers. Tim Keller and David Wells really stood out for me. Though the other speakers were great, their messages probably connected with me more. John Piper was excellent as always, but I had already heard him speak on his topic many times before. I really like Keller's conversational style of teaching and how he used some of Martyn Lloyd Jone's insights into our present culture. Wells did a great job of relating the truth of scripture with where the church is now in our society.

Mark Driscoll was also impressive. There was a lot of buzz about him being there. Piper even made the comment that no other speaker had ever gotten him into more trouble than Driscoll. People were somewhat concerned about Piper inviting him to his conference. If you have ever read any of Driscoll's books, or heard him speak, then you might understand why. I just got done reading his new book, "Confessions of a Reformission Rev." I personally don't have any problem with Driscoll's style, though I did disagree with some things in his book. I'll try and post a review of it later. Overall, it was a pretty inspirational book, especially being apart of a new church plant myself.

Colts Win Their Fourth Straight

It ended up being a crazy game, but the Colts pulled off another victory on the road. They are now in first place in the AFC South and one of only 3 teams left who are undefeated.

As their coach said afterwards, they are not where they want to be in many areas. If they want to win a superbowl, then they have much to improve on. But it doesn't hurt to start the season with 4 straight wins. Go Colts!!!