Shabir Ally / Thomas Ross Debate: "The New Testament Picture of Jesus: Is it Accurate?"

NOTE: The debate is now live! and Watch the Shabir Ally-Thomas Ross debate on the New Testament Picture of Jesus on my website by clicking here or on YouTube by clicking here.

Lord willing, on Tuesday, March 13, 2018, I will be debating Dr. Shabir Ally, the acclaimed defender of Islam, at the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater.  Shabir Ally does about as good a job defending Islam intellectually as just about anyone can do.  Furthermore, his debates are watched by very large numbers of people, including multitudes in countries closed to the gospel because of the influence of Islam in those nations.  I would appreciate your fervent prayer, and even fasting, for the glorification of the gospel and of God's truth in this debate, for God's blessing and strengthening me in my presentation and in my preparation, for deep conviction on the unconverted both who will attend the debate physically and those who will watch it afterwards, for the details to work out, and for the foolishness of all teaching and teachers of wickedness and lies to be apparent to all.

If you are a Muslim and are reading this blog post, please study carefully The Testimony of the Quran to the Bible (available here as well in Arabic) and consider whether or not your belief system is really the truth.

If you are a member of a like-minded separatist Baptist congregation, and would be interested in sponsoring debates in your area, I would be interested in debating the topics below with prominent advocates of openly non-Christian belief systems.  Depending on the nature of the proposition, I would (obviously) be either in the affirmative or the negative.

1.) The Gospels are historically reliable (affirmative).

2.) Through centuries of corruption, the original message of the Bible has been lost (negative).  For many Muslims this idea is their central reason for rejecting the Bible, and it is also very important for many secular humanists.

3.) The New Testament Picture of Jesus: Is it Accurate? (affirming accuracy).  I would be happy to do this one again with an atheist like Sam Harris as well as debating this topic with a Muslim like Shabir Ally.

4.) Archaeology and prophecy validate the Bible as the Word of God (affirmative).  While I have already debated this topic with the Dan Barker, the President of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, I would like to have a discussion with someone who takes the negative in a manner different from Dan Barker's affirmation of mythicism, since mythicism is horribly unscholarly and intellectually indefensible.

5.) The Old Testament (or the New Testament) is mainly fiction, not fact (negative).  Again, I have already debated this topic for the Old Testament with Dan Barker, but his mythicism is a very weak method of attempting to disprove the Bible, and I would like to do it with an atheist that makes stronger objections.

There are also some others topics that I think would be well worth debating with atheists or Muslims.

I would also be interested in debating leading advocates of non-Christian belief systems in Christendom on topics such as:

1.) Speaking in tongues is essential for salvation (negative; with a Oneness Pentecostal such as David Bernard).

2.) The Bible teaches forensic justification by faith alone (affirmative; with a leading Roman Catholic apologist such as those from Catholic Answers or a leading official of the Roman Catholic religion).

3.)  Jesus Christ is God (affirmative; with a leading advocate of Arian views, such as those in the Watchtower Society and other cults).

4.) The lost must repent of their sins or they will eternally perish, and repentance always results in a changed life (affirmative; with a false "Baptist" of the Hyles-type).

5.) The Hebrew Scriptures predict the suffering of the Divine Messiah, Jesus (affirmative; with a leading advocate of Judaism, Islam, or another religion that denies this fact).

6.) Unless one is baptized, he will be eternally lost (negative; with an important advocate of this position).

7.) The Greek critical New Testament text is consistent with the Biblical promises of preservation (negative; with an advocate of the critical Greek New Testament text such as James White; while denying Scripture's teaching on preservation is very evil, all who hold this position are not unbelievers in the way that all who deny the Deity of Christ are unbelievers).

There also could be some other debates that are worth doing with advocates of non-Biblical "Christian" theology.

While I am interested in debating leading advocates of the positions above, that does not mean that I will necessarily desire to debate every single person who would be willing to debate me, nor that I will necessarily have the time or be able to coordinate such debates with all challengers.  However, I would be willing to debate all the topics above, and others, with the appropriate persons.

Again, if you would be interested in sponsoring such a debate, please contact me and let me know through my church.

TDR