Tuesday, December 14, 2021

5 year anniversary of a non-response from James White and Jeff Durbin

In September 2016, I wrote a response to a popular (though very errant) youtube video against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Jeff Durbin, a James White wannabe, "The Gospel for Mormons":


Refuting Jeff Durbin on "Mormonism" (cf. my article responding to Durbin on the nature of the atonement and the Melchizedek Priesthood: Refuting Jeff Durbin on Mormonism and the Atonement)

The article proved to be very popular, resulting in many LDS sharing it on various posts Durbin made against the Church, so he was forced to respond. Indeed, just over five years ago now (indeed, 9th December was the 5-year anniversary of their video response [see below] being posted on youtube), Jeff Durbin teamed up with James R. White to produce one of the most pathetic attempts at a response I have ever come across:

White & Durbin Respond to a Mormon



Needless to say, if anyone reads my initial response to Durbin and watches this video, one will agree that White and Durbin did not address any of the content of my response, instead just misrepresented LDS theology, the biblical texts, as well as my article. I did respond to some of the more inane comments at:

Jesus' interpretation of the Shema was NOT Trinitarian

Did Jesus ascribe the entire Torah to Moses?

Was Melito of Sardis a Proto-Trinitarian?

I will let the honest individual see which side dealt with the issues in an exegetically-sound manner, and the party which avoided the issues and engaged in deliberate misrepresentation. I am rather confident anyone with a modicum of intellectual integrity will see that Durbin and White lost--BADLY--on all the points they tried to respond to--when examined carefully.

Do note that I am more than willing to put my money where my mouth is and have a public debate with White and/or Dubin on the topic of Sola Scriptura. As I stated in The White/Durbin vs. Kwaku El Debate, there is an open challenge from me to a moderated, public debate with a neutral (e.g., Catholic) moderator on the topic of Sola Scriptura, namely the following debate thesis the Protestant apologist will defend and I will critique (the thesis can be changed accordingly to be more concise):

Sola Scriptura, the formal doctrine of Protestantism, which teaches that the 66 books of the Protestant canon of the Bible is the sole infallible rule of faith to which all other standards of faith are to be subordinated, is taught by the Bible

Opening statements: 30 mins each
Rebuttal: 15 mins each
Cross-ex: 15 mins each
Conclusion: 10 mins each

I will also happily do a similar debate where I defend the thesis: "Baptismal Regeneration is Biblical" (cf. my book, "Born of Water and of the Spirit": The Biblical Evidence for Baptismal Regeneration [2021]). White has never had a debate on this issue, so if he wants to add something new to his debating resumé, I am game.