Nightline is at it again with it's Thurs. night program featuring a segment entitled "Does Satan exist?"-Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill church Seattle had asked for Zacharias or Carson to assist him and for whatever reason could not get them His side will be debating two men one of whom is Deepak Chopra,I'm sorry I dont have more details but I will let the link speak for itself

Nightline Face-Off - ABC News

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Brian
Grace Bible Church;E.Bridgewater
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http://www.gracebiblehome.org

eye-yi-yi...

...leave it alone Mike...step away from the keyboard, the fruit of the Spirit is...self control. OK I got er reigned in

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Michael P Doyle
Waukesha WI
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Well look who Reverend Driscoll got on his side now:

Nice job, Pastor. Glad you could get such a reputable apologist. (I wonder why he couldn't get Carson, or Zacharias, or Dever, or Mohler, or... hmm... I wonder why?)

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Todd K. Pedlar
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"As God did not at first choose you because you were high, He will not now forsake you because you are low."
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Their arguments are so poorly reasoned and flawed that a child with the Word could defeat them,and I also wonder why he didnt get one of the men you mentioned of which actually respect him-yes it's true

As far as Miss Lobert goes she's engaged to a friend of ours and we wish her well as God uses her life for His Glory,would we have chosen her for a debate partner,no,I would have chosen one of the men you mentioned,Mohler was an excellent choice and would have been mine also,If ABC would let me and I believe the network constrained Pastor Mark from choosing who he wanted

I am sorry I cant continue to respond gracefully to your post sir,I am sorry you feel the way you do

They should have asked a liberal from my denomination! They work for the Prince of Darkness...

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Jefferson Center Presbyterian Church--in, but not of, the PC(USA)
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A Classical Presbyterian
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Ouch!

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Wayne Whitmer
Member, Rio Rancho OPC
Albuquerque, NM

I don't know if I should laugh or weep on that comment...

Theognome

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Bill Cunningham
Covenant Reformed Church, URC
Kansas City
There are three kinds of people- those who can count, and those who can't.

Probably because they were all busy with something else already. Carson recently spent a weekend lecturing and preaching at Driscoll's church, FYI.

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Deepak's glasses are just fabulous.

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Calvinistic Baptist
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To follow Christ was the best decision God made for me!

Looks like he got them from Jan Crouch.

Driscoll was definitely the voice of sanity in this discussion. The ex-hooker gal was...touching I guess...but I think she said a lot of things that put the blame on Satan and not on her own depravity. Having someone more scholarly would have helped Driscoll out a bit.

And Deepak is crazy.

-----Added 3/27/2009 at 12:48:50 EST-----

AND HEY! Didn't I say that Driscoll would do something like punch a crazy like Deepak? He practically threatened Pearson with that!!

A snippet - mods feel free to remove if problematic

Orlando Sentinel - ABC's "Nightline" asks in Thursday show, "Does Satan Exist?" by Hal Boedeker

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Meg
Blog
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I wished the blonde girl wouldn't have teared up so much and I wish she would have just stuck to whether or not satan exists and not how much trouble he was drumming up on the street corner.

Chopra was....inconsistent. He said religious views have been causing all the evil in the world lately, then towards the end he quoted his religious book (gasp..you evil man!). He pointed at the bible at one point and accused Driscoll of having "your faith in that book", then toward the end of the show he quoted his own book (thanks for trying to play the reason game Deepak, but JV practice is over - get off the court). Chopra seemed to think that if you define God you limit him; I wonder how he came by that information.

Pearson mostly talked from experience (like the blonde girl did). In an attempt to demonstrate that you can't really know things about God (such as the creation of satan), he did say you can "experience infinity; you can't know infinity"....oh, really? You know that 'Bishop'? He also brough up the age of the bible books and objected to not having the originals.

Driscoll did about the only thing you can do in the topic "Does Satan Exist"; he stuck by the bible and Jesus. Ultimately Driscoll and the blondie believe Satan exists because they believe in the God as revealed in the scriptures, so just stick to what you believe. I wish he would have pointed out the inconsistencies and arbitrariness on the other side to go along with it, but at least he just stuck to the Book and stuck to Jesus.


ABC "debates" drive me crazy. This one wasn't near as painful to me as Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort vs. the Rational Response Squad though.

I thought that Mark did a good job.. I am interested in watching all of the debate though.

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Scott Shahan
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Better is the sin which humbles me, than that duty which makes me proud.
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Todd, was this post really necessary ?

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The debate in its entirety is much better than what was aired. Driscoll pretty much schooled his opponents (particularly Pearson) regarding history, theology, etc.

Yeah, I was very relieved that he did so well despite his "debate partner."

What I would have LOVED to remove from the debate, though, was the Q&A blond girl who argued with Deepak about how he was on a higher level than her and blah blah blah. She looked like a total goof "in the name of Jesus." Sigh. The parting comments were sad too. Deepak, "I have written two books about Jesus--you should read them!" Blond girl, while trying to sound tough, "Well maybe I will!" Then she storms away.

What I found very interesting about Pearson was his experience with Pentecostalism!!! They are always seeking after signs, religious experiences, etc., and he was a perfect example of it.

I loved this question from the audience:

"You stated that all belief is a cover up for insecutity.. do you believe that?" Deepack answered "Yes I do". The man in red said "Thank you."

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Rev. Andrew J. Barnes
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What can I say, I like blogs!

Casting pearls before swine, IMHO.

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It is God that multiplies our sorrows.... God, as a righteous Judge, does it, which ought to silence us under all our sorrows; as many as they are, we have deserved them all, and more: nay, God, as a tender Father, does it for our necessary correction, that we may be humbled for sin, and weaned from the world by all our sorrows; and the good we get by them, with the comfort we have under them, will abundantly balance our sorrows, how greatly soever they are multiplied. - Matthew Henry

[Insert Indian accent] Josh, that is because you let your shadow break the great balance between evolution and creativity. [/]

Doesn't Deepak's concept of God sound like Star Wars, though? His concept of God or a High Power is just like "the force." Anything that is viewed negatively comes from our shadow (basically depravity), much like "the dark side." Unbeknownst to Deepak, but knownst to us , Deepak summed up the mind of the reprobate very well when he talked about how he can't trust his mind, he contradicts himself, he confuses himself with both good and evil, etc. He lost it when he said that the only thing he can trust is his "soul," but up until then it was just he's actually right about this!?

Does Satan Exist? Debate

Deepak = His irrationalism hurt my head.

Pearson = huh? What did he say?

Driscoll = Cool, calm and did a good job.

Lobert = Too emotional.

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Joshua, this was my impression as well.

I think it was good, Mark D. did a great job, I pray for the black guy, you can tell he just bought into the whole scientifically enlightened *rap Yoda was spitting out.

People are emotional, she's been on an emotional journey, nothing wrong with that in my opinion.

As far as casting pearls, I don't think so, Mark presented the gospel, clearly, to a live audience as well as television viewers, let those who have ears to listen, listen.

I watched the full version on-line.

Oh, I do agree, the question from the audience, was classic, on the believe...and also classic in a bad sense, with the woman.

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Trevor
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Bethany Church
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Driscol did a great job! I had underestimated him.

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Jonathan
College Student
Grace Family Fellowship {SBC}
Kentucky

... yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.

1 Corinthians 8:6

One thing I did not like, in the context Driscoll was in (some were saying Jesus died or is the Savior of all the people in the room), He continued to say that Jesus died for all or Jesus is the Savior of all. Just a thought. Could have clarified. I think he did once, but it was hard to understand.

Amyraldism? I've heard that about him before, yet, I bought Charnock's "Christ Crucified: a puritan's view of the atonement" after finding it on his recommended reading list...hummm....

He holds to unlimited limited atonement. So, in his view, Jesus died for everyone, but certain redemptive qualities only apply to the elect. He talks about it in his latest(?) book in a chapter titled something like "My Daddy, the Preacher."


He also did a sermon series called Unlimited Limited Atonement that you may want to listen to if you want to know more.