Dr. Ben Witherington III (BW3) is a prominent evangelical scholar who serves as the Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary. He has written over thirty books, has done many radio interviews, and has appeared on quite a few mainstream TV shows as an expert on matters related to the New Testament. Furthermore, Dr. Witherington frequently writes on his blog and is often among the first to respond when challenges to Christianity emerge (i.e. the Talpiot tomb, the DaVinci Code, books by Ehrman, etc.).
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the following post was written by Joshua from Taiwan:
Recently, while encountering Buddhists and Mormons, I’ve concluded that I must know something about their religious beliefs in order to be effective (in my opinion). Both are heavy on the “afterlife” (an unscriptural term) and both stress works for increased positions.
What is a good way of sharing the good news of Christ and His Kingdom with people of other religions?
Should we spend time reading their “sacred” books?
Is reading their “sacred” books prohibited for us Christians?
I ran across another good ol’ Conditional Immortality paper, so I thought why not keep the theme of my post from last week going? However since this paper has a natural break with two main areas, I will separate it into two posts – a Part I and a Part II. Here’s Part I.
Last month on both Saturday 6/13 and Sunday 6/14, I attended the 2009 One God Seminars put on by the ACD (Association for Christian Development). This was the first such conference I went to in person though I’ve read a lot about previous years conferences from this site (Sean has attended many), Anthony Buzzard’s Restoration Fellowship website & monthly newsletter (Focus on the Kingdom), and even the ACD Seminar organizer – Ken Westby’s website: http://www.godward.org/. I’ve always wanted to attend one, but for one reason or another never was never able to make the journey to the host location. However this year’s chosen location happened to be in my home turf of Dallas-Ft. Worth. And even more convenient was that the actual meeting location was a whole 15-20 minute drive from my house. What could be more perfect? I was very ecstatic about it and even more so when I learned that Sir Anthony Buzzard was going to be a presenter. I had always wanted to hear him speak in person and to have the chance to meet him and possibly have a discussion or two on our mutual biblical interests.
I have often heard fellow biblical unitarians say regarding trinitarians things like:
“it doesn’t matter; they won’t listen to me anyhow”
“we should not speak about this issue because it is divisive”
“let’s not advertise the fact (that we don’t believe in the Trinity) because we don’t want to deal with being called a cult or heretics”
“we should just focus on the things we have in common with other Christians, like loving God and one another”
“the Bible does not teach anything about the Trinity, so why should I teach that it is true or false? There are more important things to talk about like pornography and drug addiction
After all, isn’t “Jesus Loves Me This I Know” all we really need to know for a quality ministry? No – resoundingly not. – Jesus Creed
A few facts, Christianity has always existed in a pluralistic society, a society that has a choice about religion. Christianity is not a personal religion, it has something to say (“Jesus is Lord”) to the world around it. That Gospel message is seen both in talk and action. The world is increasingly casting Christians into a position where they are not allowed to engage in the public sphere. What that means is that Christianity will fail to be able to preach the Gospel (not even that it won’t be “successful”, or convert people, but that our words won’t be allowed to have influence in the wider world). Why? One reason is education.
Most of us have surely heard someone make the comment that Religion (most often with the finger pointed squarely at Christianity) is the primary cause of the majority of death and suffering that come about through wars and human against human conflicts. Perhaps even we ourselves have bought into the modern popularity of such a broad statement. But is it fact? Is it really the case that religion causes the most wars and death? Sure anyone can bring up the famous Crusades of the Middle Ages – and they certainly caused a huge loss of human life. But when looking at human history and examining the total body count and what caused the biggest loss of human life, religion (especially Christianity and her monotheistic siblings of Judaism & Islam) must be placed much, MUCH further down on the list.
Christopher Hitchens, who is by far the most vitriolic atheist debater, is scheduled to debate William Lane Craig, who is one of the most capable Christian debaters on God’s existence of our time.
Saturday, April 4
7:30 pm
Chase Gymnasium
Biola University
Witness one of the great debates of the new millennium. Devoted atheist, Christopher Hitchens, author of the bestselling God is Not Great, squares off with one of the most formidable debaters in the Christian world, Dr. William Lane Craig, on the topic: Does God Exist?
I’m not sure how many of you have heard of Justin Brierley’s radio show called Unbelievable, but I’ve really enjoyed it for some time now. Each week he has a Christian and a non-Christian on the show to have discussion on critical issues. He’s had some pretty big name Christian thinkers on, and since the show is an hour and twenty minutes long, often the conversation is quite detailed.
As a year end special he pulled together a show where he deviated from his normal format in order to bring together some of the best interviews from 2008. Here is the description:
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Dr. Ben Witherington III (BW3) is a prominent evangelical scholar who serves as the Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary. He has written over thirty books, has done many radio interviews, and has appeared on quite a few mainstream TV shows as an expert on matters related to the New Testament. Furthermore, Dr. Witherington frequently writes on his blog and is often among the first to respond when challenges to Christianity emerge (i.e. the Talpiot tomb, the DaVinci Code, books by Ehrman, etc.). 
Recently, while encountering Buddhists and Mormons, I’ve concluded that I must know something about their religious beliefs in order to be effective (in my opinion). Both are heavy on the “afterlife” (an unscriptural term) and both stress works for increased positions.
I have often heard fellow biblical unitarians say regarding trinitarians things like: 
