The following is a compilation of stuff I posted Facebook in response to Jesse Morrell’s 9:12:00 video response to Dr James White. Minor edits have been made (substituting proper names for pronouns), as this blog addresses a different audience than my comments on Facebook. Otherwise, what follows is what I wrote:
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I’m biting the bullet and listening to the whole 9 hours of Jesse Morrell today, if I can make it through.
First quote I’m going to share, from 11:39: “It was painful to watch -I’d rather have a root canal- and so this response video that you’re watching now, it was really an act of self-sacrifice for you guys. This is for the benefit of you.”
35 minutes in, and he hasn’t stopped agreeing with all the errors in the RFG theme.
An hour and 20 minutes in, and I’m questioning the merits of listening to things I’ve already heard rebutted a thousand times.
It’s just mischaracterization, combined with straw men, and a complete lack of desire to actually engage the Word of God. I think I’ve heard about 10 proof texts thrown out, but 0 exegesis.
The comparisons of Jesse Morrell with Jesus are just nauseating.
The only useful thing I’ve learned is that Jesse Morrell defines sinless perfectionism as the inability to sin, whereas he believes a saved man always *can* choose not to sin. It’s the difference between can and must.
His bit about how Calvinism is man centered is HILARIOUS and will have you laughing at him, not with him. Unfortunately, much of his argumentation can be summed up as “no u”. And it really doesn’t get any deeper than that.
2:14:25 And there’s Matthew 23:37!
2:24:12 “Calvinism is like a mental disorder.”
So… What is a 9 hour long “response” video, then?
2:23:52 “This guy rambles and rambles on rabbit trails.”
Yeah, I’m just going to leave this one here.
It should be noted that around the 3:30:00 mark, he takes a break, then comes back on and says “day two!”
There is a section of the video, from about 3:37:30 to 4:03:00, where he tries to argue from Scripture for his idea of open theism.
At 4:50:28 and going on for about 5 minutes, he explains what he means by living sinless. That should be useful for showing how Morrell has redefined sin.
At 5:40:00, Dr White’s question about him being KJVO is answered, although Jesse accuses him of making accusations. Answer: he claims to read the NT in Greek. He says he doesn’t like the Alexandrian texts and the KJV is the only English translation he reads.
At about 6:25:00, his response to the claim that he’s ripping verses out of context is to point out that he quoted two verses in a row.
I’m not making this up.
At 6:29:16, he makes the claim that Calvinists blame the law for their sin, rather than their free will. Make sure to listen through to 6:37:00 so you can hear his proclamation of what the good news is, and how God’s grace is tacked on.
I’m nearing the 7 hour mark, and there’s a lot in here about his ideas of living sinless. I don’t have a clip I can give you which states everything concisely. However, an explanation of the role of the law, especially as explained in the book of Romans, would be a perfect response to this material.
At 7:05:00, he claims synergism is in the Greek of 1 Cor. 3:9. (He misspoke and said verse 19)
What’s interesting to me is how his beliefs destroy justification. I don’t see how he could walk through Romans 4.
While I remember it, he claims to have dealt with John 6. I believe this is the blog post he’s talking about: https://biblicaltruthresources.wordpress.com/2013/08/07/john-63744-a-calvinist-proof-text-exegetically-explained-by-jesse-morrell/
7:17:08 to 7:21:19, he quotes from church fathers to support free will.
One good reason for Dr White not to listen to the whole 9 hours: he says “Revelations” and “Psalms”.
7:29:00 to 7:30:15, very concise little snippet explaining his little variation of open theism.
7:31:54 to 7:37:10, arguments for why God is inside time.
7:43:30, “if God has free will, that means the future is open to him”
7:47:00, claims that Romans 6:13 proves man’s bondage to sin is a question of free will
7:56:20 to 7:58:40, he cuts Dr White off right before he says “but”, then claims Dr White agreed with him. He then disputes what BDAG says about lombano (SP?, Sorry, I’m not a Greek grammar).
Immediately after this, he claims Dr White should have said “participle” rather than “participial”.
And continuing through 8:06:37, he challenges Dr White on the Greek grammar of John 1:12 & 1:14.
8:32:20 to 8:35:44, he tries to deal with John 6:44-45, doesn’t touch “and I will raise him up”.
8:38:34, claims monergists cannot explain Ezekiel 24:13
8:42:33, he claims Dr White gets the order of John 6 backward. That is, it is not the case that everyone who is drawn will come. It’s saying everyone who comes is drawn.
Aaaaand there’s John 12:32.
8:52:00, twelve thrones means Judas had a throne in heaven for the judgement day. Obviously, what he’s claiming here is Judas had salvation but lost it.
8:57:17 to 8:59:59 Mentions Psalm 41:9, but says Luke 13:19 is referring to it. (And if you read Luke 13:19, you’ll say “huh?” I think Morrell is exhausted at this point and is making mistakes.) He then claims Scripture doesn’t have any prophecy about Judas.
9:08:40, he responds to “I’m tired of God being portrayed as a weak beggar” with 2 Cor 5:20, claiming the Greek word for “beseech” means to beg.
9:09:15 Tons of fun little quotes coming up.
“Looks like James White needs to learn his Greek New Testament a little bit better!”
“…he had no substance, no content, actual refutations… And if this is the best Calvinism has, I think they’re in big trouble. If he’s the best apologist for the Calvinist faith, it’s pretty pathetic. Honestly, I think he must have a huge following of idiots who can’t think for themselves, who can’t study the Scriptures for themselves. Calvinism is a Gnostic cult built on eisegesis.”
9:11:13 “So I actually think there might be some hope for James White. I think maybe I’ll be able to persuade him out of his eisegetical heresy, his logical contradictory, inconsistent theology. I genuinely believe that God might be able to use me to get him out of his heresy. So let’s all pray for that.”
And that’s the end of that video.
I noticed Morrell had produced another video, titled “Funny Remix!”, so I listened to it. I didn’t make it to the 8 minute mark. It’s a childish attempt at humor. It’s just slander. He chops up tiny little quotes and rearranges so he has Dr White saying “Well, OK, …I don’t know if that’s all that bad a thing” in response to “You think pedophilia is God’s will!” (7:23 in that video, if you have to look)
Kaleb's Thoughts 