Defining and Defending Biblical Apologetics

There's so much that I want to say about this video from James White. But every time I set my hand to write, I recognize that what I want to say is exactly what he's said in the video. (You might also check out this post, which is best read in the context of this entire series.)

But just for some context, James White is president of Alpha and Omega Ministries, a Christian apologetics ministry based in Phoenix, Arizona, and is an elder at Phoenix Reformed Baptist Church. He hosts a weekly radio program called The Dividing Line, and this segment is taken from the show on June 24th, 2010. White is entirely devoted to a presuppositional approach to defending the Christian faith, and in the below video he explains how the theology of the Bible itself requires that one be a presuppositional apologist if one is to be consistently Biblical.

I know 42 minutes is a long time, but I promise you it is well worth your time.

But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him. … For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, "He has blinded their eyes and he hardened their heart, so that they would not see him with their eyes and perceive with their heart, and be converted and I heal them."

- John 12:37, 39-40 -

The God-Centered Gospel vs. a Man-Centered Gospel

In the following video, James White interacts with a Roman Catholic and discusses how the Gospel of Roman Catholicism is man-centered. As he himself mentions, though, it's interesting (and actually extremely sad) how much the man-centered gospel of Roman Catholicism sounds like the theology of some evangelicals.

Anyway, I found the video extremely helpful. It was disappointing, in one sense, to see the similarities between Rome and evangelicalism's man-centeredness. But in another sense it was refreshing to hear the Biblical Gospel proclaimed and defended -- one in which the glory of God is the center and the goal. It's worth the 23-minute listen.

I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions
for My own sake.
- Isaiah 43:25 -

For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act;
For how can My name be profaned?
And My glory I will not give to another.
- Isaiah 48:11 -

...I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in th earth.
- Psalm 46:10 -

I am writing to you, little children,
because your sins have been forgiven you
for His name's sake.
- 1 John 2:12 -

In love He predestined us
to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ
to Himself,
according to the kind intention of His will,
to the praise of the glory of His grace,
which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
- Ephesians 1:5-6 -