Evaluating Horn and White’s Debate

A while ago I posted the video of the debate between Dr. James White and Trent Horn on the issue of whether or not it is possible for a Christian to lose his salvation.

The broad response that I’ve seen on the Internet (from both Catholic and Protestant alike) is that Trent put forward the significantly stronger case, and I would agree with this assessment. I’m a fan of Dr. White in many areas and I’ve seen him more successful in other debates debating Catholics, but in this case, I think his position was shown to be very weak.

Dr. White recently put out a video in response to this consensus, explaining how it is that he thinks we should evaluate debates. I literally just came across the following YouTube video which examines this video. It’s a little bit polemic, but if you’ve seen the debate, I think it’s well worth a watch…

Debate: Can you lose your salvation?

A few weeks ago I mentioned that Trent Horn was going to be debating James White on the subject of whether or not it is possible to lose one’s salvation. The video of the entire debate is now up and freely available for viewing:

I’ve seen many of Dr. White’s previous debates. He’s done copious amounts of debates and I’ve seen him debate Catholics and beat them, but I think that, in this case, Trent’s presentation was the far more robust and convincing.

Live Debate Tonight!

In case you didn’t know, Trent Horn from Catholic Answers will be debating James White from Alpha & Omega ministries on the subjection of whether or not Christians can lose their salvation. The rather exciting news this morning is that the debate is going to be streamed live on the Internet at 7pm EST (4pm PST):
LosingSalvation

OSAS & Three Cups of Tea: Cup 3

In the last two blog posts I critiqued the Scripture interpretations of Mack, a commentator on my Once Saved, Always Saved post. Mack had responded to my article, claiming that I had been misapplying Scripture passages to support my argument that it is possible to lose your salvation. If you would like to read my two previous replies, they are available here and here.

We have nearly finished looking at Mack’s commentary, so please pour yourself one last cup of tea and we’ll take a look at the final two passages…

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OSAS & Three Cups of Tea: Cup 2

In the last post I began to examine the responses of Mack, a recent commentator on my Once Saved, Always Saved post who offered some constructive criticism concerning the Scripture passages I presented.

I previously looked at Mack’s commentary of 1 John 5:16-17 and 2 Peter 2:20-22. I will now look at his analysis of several other passages which I offered in defense of the idea that it is possible to lose one’s salvation. Mack basically attempted to disqualify these texts since they were drawn from letters addressed to groups of people.

So, grab another cup of tea and we’ll look at what he had to say…

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OSAS & Three Cups of Tea: Cup 1

I recently had some comments on my Once Saved, Always Saved post by a chap called MackQuigley. In that post I presented several passages as evidence that it is possible to lose one’s salvation. Mack disagreed with my article and said that I had misapplied these passages and that they did not, in fact, support my case.

In his final comment, Mack went through each of the passages I quoted and gave a brief summary of his own interpretation in an attempt to prove that it is not possible to lose one’s salvation. Since he graciously took the time to explain his position and challenged my post in a charitable manner, I would like to return the favour and offer a reply.

I’m going to break up my response into a few different posts, collecting together the passages where Mack used similar argumentation to disqualify the texts. For each passage, I’m going to quote the Scripture under examination, append Mack’s comments and finally offer my own rebuttal.

There are quite a few Scripture passages to address here –  seven in total – so this’ll take a little bit of time. It’s probably a good idea to put on the kettle and brew up a nice cup of tea before we continue…

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Sunday Lectionary: Remain In Me

Continuing my attempts to produce these Lectionary Notes in under four hours…

Fifth Sunday of Easter: 6th May, 2012

The Readings this week focus around life in Christ.

We begin with an account of St. Paul’s failed attempts in Jerusalem to commune with Christ’s Body, the Church. Strangely enough, it turns out that people tend to be a bit stand-offish if you’ve previously tried to kill them! In our Gospel Reading, Jesus teaches his disciples using the metaphor of the vine, showing us that union with Him is essential if we are to live. He gives us a warning too, that if we do not produce fruit, we will be cut off from Him and deprived of His Divine life. St. John restates this sentiment in the Second Reading, exhorting his readers to love not in word…but in deed”

Let us come to Mass this week thirsty for the grace of Christ which is communicated through His Church. Let us drink deeply, returning to the world refreshed, ready to share the life of Christ and to bear fruit which will last.

Through Him, and with Him, and in Him…

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