Is God three persons and one being?
This debate on the Trinity was noted in a comment by Woody Lordless.
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Part 2:
Cool. I am pleased to see a Jewish teacher get up there and slug it out with our guys.
Was Jesus the Messiah?
Here’s a debate on the question of whether Jesus was the Messiah. I recognize both of these names and have heard them both speak. These are the top guys, unless you go and get Jewish historians like Geza Vermes or Paula Fredriksen.
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I want to see a full-length formal debate on the identity of Jesus with some Jewish scholars and some Christian scholars. We should organize a conference and let each side pick their best guys and have it out so everyone else will learn what the arguments are on either side. We should hold the conference at a university, and broadcast it n the Internet, then make the videos available for download after the event.
WINTERY KNIGHT 
If he’s going to debate the Trinity, Craig would do well to familiarize himself better with verses like these:
“The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old; I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began. When there were no oceans, I was given birth, when there were no springs abounding with water; before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was given birth, before he made the earth or its fields or any of the dust of the world. I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep, when he established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep, when he gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep his command, and when he marked out the foundations of the earth. Then I was the craftsman at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind.” (Proverbs 8:22-31)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (John 1:1-3)
In the beginning God [FATHER] created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God [SPIRIT] was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light” [WORD], and there was light. (Genesis 1:1-3)
When the angel of the LORD did not show himself again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it was the angel of the LORD. “We are doomed to die!” he said to his wife. “We have seen God!” (Judges 13:21-22)
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)
The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion; you will rule in the midst of your enemies. Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. . . . The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” (Psalm 110:1-4)
In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13-14)
I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. 26 And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God (Job 19:25)
Regarding the second debate, the “Christian” unfortunately seems to teach a mild form of works-salvation.
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Wow, I’m thinking that you should have been debating the Rabbi. But it was a bit of a short debate, so maybe he couldn’t fit all of these in. I notice that your verses are mostly from the Old Testament, too. The Isaiah 9:6 one seems decisive.
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To complement this verse:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (John 1:1-3)
Shortly after in John 1:16 it says:
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
So the word was WITH God, and the word WAS God…and then the word BECAME FLESH.
Sounds pretty clear to me!
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Proverbs 8:22-31:
Context? It ch 8 is talking about wisdom. What nonsense you write!!
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Thanks for these Wintery.
I find Rabbi Shmuley’s arguments rather odd. He uses an odd mix of Modern relativism with Jewish fundamentalism to arrive at a couple flawed ideas:
First, Jesus is the Messiah to the gentiles, but Jews don’t need a mediator (who then were the priests and high priests?).
Second, people just have to be good to get to heaven (wasn’t the whole purpose of the laws to show it was impossible to be good enough and to be deliberately and innately incapable of producing salvation and the peace that comes with the assurance thereof?).
Regarding the second point I could postulate that Rabbi Shmuley has no peace in his heart and his combative and point avoiding methods of argumentation and debate are due to his own soul pining for real and satisfactory truth.
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In general though, isn’t it fun to learn about what Jews believe? I think it’s fun because you can start a lot of conversations with Jewish people if you can say “hey what about Rabbi Schmuley Boteach and Rabbi Tovia Singer? What do you think about their views about this?” By the way I listen to three Jewish talk show hosts on and off, Dennis Prager, Michael Medved and Mark Levin. Medved has Rabbi Boteach on quite a bit, so I know how to pronounce his name: BOH-TAY-ACK. Don’t say BOW-TEACH, because that’s not how he says it on the air.
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“…so I know how to pronounce his name: BOH-TAY-ACK. Don’t say BOW-TEACH, because that’s not how he says it on the air.”
Um, whoops. I’ve been pronouncing it incorrectly for a couple of years now. *embarrassed*
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Wow! You know who Rabbi Schmuley Boteach is! Cool! I’m impressed. There’s another lady in my office who can actually pronounce Hebrew words. She also listens to Prager and Medved, and teaches classes on Christian theology and literature in her church.
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I’ve listened to Medved before, and heard of Prager. I’ll confess- I often listen to AM radio. I know I am a huge nerd, lol. I grew up listening to 970AM (NYC) because of my mom, and as I got older, began listening to 570AM as well. I’m sorry to everyone outside the tri-state area who don’t have the foggiest idea of these stations. Currently, 570 is for Christian instruction and 970 is conservative talk. Listening to these stations is how I heard of (and from) the three.
It’s funny because politically, I’m a moderate. But I believe in being well-rounded and hearing from many different sides and views. So sometimes I’m NPR, sometimes Conservative Talk. But total nerd!
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Dennis Prager is my second favorite talk show host, behind Hugh Hewitt. It’s a serious pity his show is late nights here on Chicago, from 9pm to midnight.
And Michael Medved is the one I listen to the most as he’s on during early afternoon commute.
A workmate of mine I’ve gotten rather close to is a Jew and we’ve had several discussions, progressively deeper, regarding philosophy and religion.
An analogy I gave him to illustrate our perspective of each other is that, looking forward, if he were to recognize a Messiah as such and follow that Messiah’s teachings, he’d consider himself to be continuing in the correct and natural progression of Judaism and any who rejected that Messiah and maintained the previous and now-defunct traditions he would consider to be the ones who’d faltered and fallen off the true path even if they were the ones still most closely following the actions of the old ways.
I was frank with my friend telling him that apart from him accepting Christ as his Messiah he was not going to make it to heaven.
It has been very enlightening hearing him describe the mystical beliefs of Jews regarding the afterlife, punishment, and such.
They have a very Catholic-like belief in a purgatory-esque place where all good people go to experience their final cleansing prior to be accepted into heaven.
They believe that all good people eventually get to heaven, and they believe that evil people like the Nazis and various contemporary serial killers will not get to heaven at all. But they are very unwilling to say where the line is between the unforgivable evil and the possibly cleanable good.
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