JAMES WHITE SAYS HE THOUGHT
WE WERE HIS
"ALLY" [04/05/04]
In James White's latest "Blog" posted on his website on 04,/04/04, he refers to me and
remarks, "Bob Ross of Pilgrim Publications, a man I thought was an
'ally' up until just a few days ago."
Permit be to "reflect" just a
little bit concerning what James White says about my being an "ally."
We
have known James for several years. Our good and longtime friend, Larry
Wessels of Dayspring Fellowship in Austin, Texas, who has used me scores of
hours on their Cablevision programs likewise, but on other occasions, used James
White, and I think this is probably how I first became acquainted with his work,
as far as I recall. We never worked with James on the same programs, but we were
acquainted with James due to this common denominator in Austin.
We never
had a single discouraging word to say about James during those years. Indeed, we
viewed him as an "ally." At that time, however, we never heard him promote his
"pre-faith regeneration" theory, so that was not part of our "allyship." Had he
been promoting that theory back then, we probably would have brought it up for
discussion with him.
But then there came a time in the 1990s when we
providentially were placed in a position whereby we felt we should come out in
defense of the Confessional view of the Eternal Sonship of Christ as opposed
to the "incarnational sonship" view of Dr. John MacArthur, a man for whom we
had great respect but with whom we did have a few doctrinal differences.
(Thankfully, MacArthur later changed his view, and affirmed the Creedal or
Confessional view of the Eternal Sonship of Christ).
John is a very
prominent man in conservative, evangelical circles and his advocacy (at that
time) of the "incarnational sonship" view was causing no small concern on
the part of many, including several churches in the Independent Fundamental
Churches of America (IFCA), with which John's church was affiliated. In fact, I
was first made acquainted with the issue on Sonship via contact from a friend in
Beaumont, Texas whose church at the time was being internally divided on the
doctrine, some following the minister who was following MacArthur's views on
"incarnational sonship."
Shortly after we entered the fray and started
critiquing the "incarnational sonship" view of Dr. John MacArthur, who should
come forth to rebuke us but our old "ally," JAMES WHITE! Our old buddy with
whose work we had become acquainted thru our friends in Austin, roundly
scolded us for "attacking" John MacArthur, and he was so up-in-the-air about
it, he demanded to be removed from our email list!
Since
that time, our old "ally" has not so much as said "Hello" to us except for
the one occasion when we dropped by the booth at the CBA Convention for just a
matter of seconds where he was autographing one of his books for a line of
people. If we had not went by that booth, we would not have even seen him, for
as I recall he did not come by our booth -- at least not while I was there.
Here is a letter I wrote to our old "ally," in response to his
rebuking us for opposing the "incarnational sonship" view as advocated that
that time by John MacArthur. {But again please note, since this time MacArthur
has retracted that former view and now advocates the normal Confessional view on
Sonship. See Re-examining
the Eternal Sonship of Christ,
http://www.gty.org.uk/articles/sonship2A.htm].
Here
is an excerpt from the reply I wrote to James at that time {November
1997):
>>
Dear James:
It is clear, from all the
writings of MacArthur, that he holds that the "Son" is a mere "title" of Christ,
assumed at the incarnation.
Have you seen his new Bible [MacArhur Study
Bible by Nelson]? If you will examine the most striking uses of "Son" in
biblical texts, and take note of the comments, you will find him evading the Son
almost like a plague.
For example, the most striking of all statements on
the Sonship of Christ (Matt. 16:16) is met with no comment (p. 1423).
The
great Sonship context of 1 John 5:8-13, where "Son" is used eight times by the
apostle John, is treated with one meager comment by MacArthur, and this is about
the "internal subjective witness to the Son within the believer's heart" (p.
1973).
He also evades Hebrews 7:3 by opting for an alleged "more accurate
translation," which does away with the typology of eternal Sonship via
Melchizedek.
"Son of God" appears once in Revelation (2:18), and
MacArthur has no comment.
These are only a few of the instances. . . I
found it as difficult to find the truth on the Son in his notations as I found
it difficult to find the Gospel in his book, "The Gospel According to Jesus." .
. .
If we follow the teachings of John MacArthur, we will have to dump
the historic creedal view of the Sonship of Christ and the Trinity. -- Bob L.
Ross
>>
Did our old "ally" James White take a stand with
us? Of course not. Instead, he went out to Los Angeles and spoke at
MacArthur's Master's Seminary. In effect, he "allied" himself with MacArthur's
view by this association and by rebuking us for our stand.
When MacArthur
renounced the "Incarnational Sonship" view and endorsed the Creedal or
Confessional view, was our old l "ally" James White among the first to
apologize for his past rebuke? Not at all. We have never heard a
word from him about the matter.
That is type of "allyship" we have
had with James White since he rebuked me in 1997 for standing for the Eternal
Sonship of Christ against the view of "incarnational sonship" as then taught by
John MacArthur. -- Bob L. Ross
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