The Death Of John Warwick Montgomery

When I was a teenager, shortly before the internet came along, I got a lot of my information about Christianity from television. One of the few individuals on Christian television (and television in general) who spoke highly of the evidence for Christianity and often articulated it well was John Warwick Montgomery. I remember occasionally seeing him on John Ankerberg's program, and I probably saw him elsewhere (maybe on D. James Kennedy's show, for example). Montgomery represented a more intellectual and generally more mature form of Christianity than what you typically encounter in modern Evangelical circles. He had a positive effect on my early thinking about religious issues, and I'm grateful for his influence in my life.

He died last week. Shane Rosenthal posted an article about Montgomery just after his death. In that article, Rosenthal links the audio of a radio program Montgomery appeared on with Rosenthal and others. I recommend listening to it. You can access it here. They interviewed some people at a pastors' conference (pastors, their wives, etc.) and asked the attendees some questions related to apologetics. The large majority wanted to use their conversion testimony or something similar in discussions with non-Christians rather than take an apologetic approach, made derogatory comments about apologetics, etc. Montgomery made a lot of good points in response, and the responses of the hosts of the program are often good. Here are a few examples of Montgomery's comments, but these aren't all of the good ones he made. I recommend listening to the whole program:

J. W. Montgomery on Ehrman

https://issuesetc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/22Responding-to-Bart-Ehrman%E2%80%99s-New-Testament-Forgery-Theory22-Dr.-John-Warwick-Montgomery.pdf

Does the Resurrection entail the deity of Christ?

1. As I recall, John Warwick Montgomery used to mount the following argument for the inspiration of Scripture: 

i) Bracket inspiration. Treat NT documents as 1C primary sources

ii) Sufficient to establish Resurrection

iii) Resurrection proves deity of Christ

iv) Testimony of divine Christ validates the historicity/inspiration of Scripture.

2. A potential weak link in that syllogism is (iii). Some scholars point out that the usual NT formula is that God raised Jesus from dead, not that Jesus raised himself. 

i) A partial exception is Jn 10:18, but even that depends on the Father's authorization.

ii) A more intriguing example is Heb 7:16, which attributes the immortality of Christ to the "power of an indestructible life". That suggests Jesus had the intrinsic ability to raise himself from the dead by virtue of his divine life. He is the "living God" (Heb 3:12; 9:14; 10:31; 12:22) Incarnate (Heb 1-2).

3. In addition, there's the ambiguity of "God". In the NT that's typically used as a proper name for the Father. 

To say the Father did X isn't equivalent to only the Father did X. To say Peter preached the Gospel doesn't mean Paul didn't preach the Gospel. 

An affirmation that someone did X isn't by itself a denial that someone else did X as well. To say someone did X is not an exclusive claim. To say Tom Brady won the Super Bowl doesn't mean no one else ever won the Super Bowl. 

4. The Resurrection may not entail the deity of Christ. There are more direct arguments for the deity of Christ. I think premise (iii) is too weak to yield Montgomery's conclusion. However, premise (iii) isn't demonstrably false–contrary to what some scholars say. It's a defensible claim. 

A Skeptic Of Christianity Complimenting R.C. Sproul

Listen to the first few minutes of Robert Price's latest podcast. He also makes some positive comments about John Warwick Montgomery. Price doesn't believe in the existence of God, he's a Jesus mythicist, and he's debated William Lane Craig, James White, and other Christians.

J. W. Montgomery podcasts

For those of you who like to listen to podcasts, here's four pages of recent podcasts by J. W. Montgomery:

http://issuesetc.org/guest/john-warwick-montgomery/

Montgomery is now in his 80s. He's one of the most erudite Christian apologists of his generation. A Confessional Lutheran.

J. W. Montgomery on Reza Aslan

http://issuesetc.org/2014/01/14/1-responding-to-reza-aslan-author-of-zealot-the-life-and-times-of-jesus-of-nazareth-dr-john-warwick-montgomery-11414/

The law above the law

Bioethicists have opened a new front with "after-birth abortion"

http://jme.bmj.com/content/early/2012/03/01/medethics-2011-100411.full

Atheists resent the Christian allegation that unless you believe in God, anything goes. Yet atheists keep corroborating the allegation.

John Warwick Montgomery wrote a book entitled The Law Above the Law. But in atheism, there is no higher law to protect you. There is only whatever is currently lawful or unlawful. And that can change on a dime. There is no moral law behind statutory law. Nothing to back it up, or constrain it. We're reduced to social contract theory, where humans only have whatever immunities the law happens to stipulate. 

Josef Mengele is numbered among the moral monsters of human history because he experimented on concentration camp prisoners. Traditionally, the reason we experiment on animals rather than humans is both because we consider it unethical to experiment on humans without their consent, and even if they did consent, it would still be unethical to perform certain experiments on humans. 

But if a human being is simply structured protoplasm, just a collection of cells, then what's wrong with experimenting on humans with or without their consent? It comes down to who has more power. 

Montgomery on China and Greece

Two articles from John Warwick Montgomery:

1. "A Critique of Chinese Religious Options"
   
2. "Greek Opposition to Evangelism"