Sunday, September 25, 2011

Debate between Calvin Smith and Stephen Sizer on Israel - November 9

Conor O'Riordan submitted a comment (to an old post of mine) about an interesting debate coming up on November 9 in the UK.
Live televised Debate: Israel and The Church: Replacement or fulfillment?
Place: Revelation TV London UK in front of a studio audience
Date: November 9th 2011
Time: 9 pm to 10:30 pm UK time (please adjust for local time) broadcast live via SKY TV in Europe and live streaming worldwide at this link: http://www.revelationtv.com/watch_now

Participants: Calvin L Smith and Stephen Sizer

Defending the position that the nation of Israel as it exists since 1948 still has a place in end time Biblical prophecy will be Calvin Smith, principal of Kings Evangelical Divinity School.

Opposing this and giving a different Biblical view on Israel and the Church will be Stephen Sizer ,who is vicar of Christ Church Virginia Water Surrey UK and founding member of the Institute for the Study of Christian Zionism.

E-mails and texts will be intermittently read out and tallied to ascertain which position garners most support from the public.

Note: Viewers in USA with a ROKU BOX can now watch Revelation TV and so view the debate through this medium.

Revelation TV is the most popular UK Christian television station www.revelationtv.com

Dr Calvin L. Smith

Dr Calvin L Smith is principal of Kings Evangelical Divinity School, editor of the Evangelical Review of Society and Politics, author of numerous books including The Jews, Modern Israel and The New Supercessionism. He lectures in theology and hermeneutics. He is an academic researcher conference and Church speaker.

Stephen Sizer

Stephen Sizer is senior pastor of Christ Church, the community church of Virginia Water in Surrey UK. He is a founding member of (ISCZ) Institute for the study of Christian Zionism. He is a member of the advisory council of Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding. He co-authored the Jerusalem Declaration on Christian Zionism signed by the heads of Churches in Jerusalem. He has an extensive international ministry teaching regularly in Churches, seminaries, and universities in the USA, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.
Update - Dr. Smith has posted about the upcoming debate on his blog.

8 comments:

  1. You might read this, with reference to Rev. Sizer and his notions about Jews - http://c4rpme.org/bin/articles.cgi?Cat=activist-roadblock&Subcat=sabeel&ID=195

    I am not always a fan of Prof. Bostom. However, he is an excellent scholar and, on this point, I think he is more right than not. His two book, long and windy as they may be, are extraordinary sources of materials about their various topics. I do not think that Sizer is a topic of his books, but, in any event, the noted article is a rather interesting one.

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  2. I am not a fan of Mr Bostom either. I have never called for the liquidation of Israel as he libellously claims. My views on the relationship between Israel and the Church are easily accessible at www.stephensizer.com

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  3. Reverend Sizer,

    I am glad to hear your view that you do not want to liquidate Israel. I wonder, though, whether you would comment on what Dr. Bostom quotes you as saying, which, it seems to me, is not much different. Is the following false:

    'For example, he [Sizer] states that “a return to Jewish nationalism…would seem incompatible with this New Testament perspective of the international community of Jesus."'

    '"The covenant between Jews and God was conditional on their respect for human rights. The reason they were expelled from the land was that they were more interested in money and power and treated the poor and aliens with contempt…In the United States, politicians dare not criticize Israel because half the funding for both the Democrats and the Republicans comes from Jewish sources."'

    I quote, this time from a third party who has reviewed your book. Does this author misrepresent your views?

    'God's Promise of the Land

    Sizer's thesis stands or falls at this point. Since he believes God's promises of the land, ha eretz, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their descendants are always conditional --based on Israel's obedience or disobedience -- he concludes that Israel has no biblical right to the land since Israel has been repeatedly disobedient, (Sizer pp. 80, 82). He goes on to cite numerous biblical passages indicating the obvious: Israel lost residence in the land because it was disobedient! Granted! Here, however, Sizer makes a serious error: he thinks that disobedience and loss of residence means that God is no longer obligated to keep his covenant oath regarding Israel's continuing possession of the land. Nothing could be further from the truth.'

    Source: http://www.tedloywritings.com/ZionsChristianSoldiers.html

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  4. Rev. Sizer is the guy who tried to sic the police on a blogger who called him anti-Semitic, yes? Certainly, the threat of arrest if things start to go awry adds a sense of drama and liveliness to any public debate.

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  5. I look forward to raising these and other issues with Revd Sizer in what I expect will likely be a lively and robust debate.

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  6. I suspect it will be too polite for the rest of us, I doubt Rev. Sizer will be asked about his bullying attitudes or questionable views.

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  7. I only recently heard about this debate from a friend and I wholeheartedly look forward to hearing it. I live in Australia so I'll be doing my best to adjust my working hours to be able to take this in.

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  8. Hi, this debate is now available online on my blog site here: http://www.calvinlsmith.com/2011/11/tv-debate-has-church-replaced-israel.html. Dr Sizer has also posted it on his own blog.

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