James White Crashes Out Over My Meme

It’s not a new revelation that James White does not like me. However, he would amazingly crash out over a meme that I made while proving it’s exact point. The Doug Wilson fiasco at AmFest has Wilson taking the untenable position of defending the Jewish Talmud as having “exegetical gold” for Christian edification. In a banger meme, I point out that the Antioch Declaration was the first step in how we got to this point.

The meme did the numbers in the niche Reformed world and got some love from Calvin Robinson as well. But it somehow caught the attention of James White who had me in his sights last week.

James White chimes in:

So, I just, when Evangelical Dark Web, who has a very long history of being wrong about pretty much everything, when Evangelical Dark Web put up a graphic, um and how could I, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da,

Well, I’ll just describe it to you. It’s the more you know thing from the PBS stuff. Remember years ago? ah It says the more you know that it has the star of David.

And the comment is the Antioch Declaration was the first step to embracing the Talmud.

That’s one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard in my life. And we’re talking low IQ here, very low. We’re dumber than a wet shoelace IQ here. What? I would love to see someone try. I said, ah well, Doug Wilson said there’s things in the Talmud that are good. There’s a whole lot of quotation of the Old Testament in the Talmud, you… brilliant… person.

And Jesus never said that every single thing that the Jewish leader said was wrong, did he? I mean, this is the same shallow echo chamber thinking that made people go nuts when I had a dialogue with Yasser Khadi, which I’m doing again in January, by the way. They lost their mind. You can’t do that. He’s a Muslim.

And we don’t like who he’s associated with. And so we can’t hear anything and we don’t want to hear anything and we don’t want to learn and we don’t want to know. We don’t want to be able to communicate with people. We just we just want to live in our little caves and and throw rocks at each other. Wow, amazing. It truly is amazing. The Antioch Declaration has something to do with the Talmud. Who are you, Candace Owens? I mean, seriously.

Haven’t you seen her just floating off into Nuttyville? She can take any 12 facts from the Wendy’s menu and come up with a conspiracy theory about space aliens in Brazil. And so can you people. It’s just like what?

A Scriptural Reponse

Traditions Around Ritual Purity (e.g., Hand-Washing)

• Mark 7:1-13: The Pharisees and scribes question Jesus about why His disciples eat without washing their hands according to tradition. Jesus responds by calling them hypocrites, quoting Isaiah 29:13, and accusing them of setting aside God’s commands for human traditions, such as the practice of Corban (dedicating goods to God to avoid supporting parents). (Parallel in Matthew 15:1-9.)

Sabbath Observance Traditions

• Matthew 12:1-8: Jesus’ disciples pluck grain on the Sabbath, and the Pharisees accuse them of breaking the law. Jesus defends them by referencing David eating the showbread and priests working on the Sabbath, declaring Himself “Lord of the Sabbath” and emphasizing mercy over rigid rules. (Parallels in Mark 2:23-28 and Luke 6:1-5.)
• Matthew 12:9-14: Jesus heals a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath in a synagogue. The Pharisees plot against Him for violating their no-work traditions, but Jesus challenges them by asking if it’s lawful to do good on the Sabbath, comparing it to rescuing a sheep from a pit. (Parallels in Mark 3:1-6 and Luke 6:6-11.)
• Luke 13:10-17: Jesus heals a woman bent over for 18 years on the Sabbath. The synagogue ruler criticizes Him for “working,” but Jesus rebukes the hypocrisy, noting they untie oxen to water them on the Sabbath yet oppose freeing a daughter of Abraham from bondage.
• Luke 14:1-6: At a Pharisee’s house on the Sabbath, Jesus heals a man with dropsy and challenges them: “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” They remain silent, exposing their inconsistent traditions.

Warnings About the “Leaven” (Corrupting Influence) of the Pharisees

• Matthew 16:5-12: After crossing the Sea of Galilee, the disciples realize they’ve forgotten bread. Jesus says, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.” They initially misunderstand it as literal advice about bread, but Jesus clarifies it’s about avoiding the false doctrines of these groups, which spread like leaven and corrupt. (This follows Jesus refusing a sign to the Pharisees and Sadducees in Matthew 16:1-4.)
• Mark 8:14-21: Similar setting—disciples forget bread on the boat. Jesus warns, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” Again, they think it’s about literal bread, but Jesus reminds them of His miracles (feeding the multitudes) to emphasize the spiritual warning against political and religious corruption.
• Luke 12:1-3: Amid a large crowd, Jesus tells His disciples first, “Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” He explains that hidden things will be revealed, underscoring how their hypocritical traditions (e.g., outward piety masking inner greed) will be exposed.

This example is the most relevant as Talmudic Judaism claims to be the successor to the Pharisees and therefore Moses. In fact, Oral Tradition, which the Talmud is based is erroneously claimed to have been passed down since Moses on Sinai.

That Modern Jews, in rejecting Christ, have added canon that solidifies their disbelief, makes their leaven that much more ridiculous to indulge. Beware the leaven of the Pharisees, in a modern application, is rightly seen as a warning against the burgeoning Talmudic tradition in Jesus’s day, as well as its tentacles in the modern church.

Broader Rebukes of Hypocrisy and Legalism

• Matthew 23:1-36: In a series of “woes,” Jesus publicly denounces the scribes and Pharisees for their burdensome traditions, hypocrisy, and focus on outward appearances (e.g., tithing mint and cumin while neglecting justice, mercy, and faith; cleaning the outside of the cup while inside is full of greed). He calls them “blind guides” and “whitewashed tombs.”
• Luke 11:37-52: While dining with a Pharisee, Jesus doesn’t wash before the meal, prompting criticism. He responds with woes similar to Matthew 23, accusing them of tithing herbs but ignoring love for God, loving seats of honor, and loading people with burdens they won’t lift themselves.

So, in short, the leaven of the Pharisees is defensible because they cite Scripture, but Thomas Aquinas, Aristotle, and Stephen Wolfe are not.

On Yasir Qadhi

James White appeals to his interfaith dialogue with Yasir Qadhi, a big deal in the Muslim community in the United States. But having seen a clip from the “dialogue,” it struck me less as a full throated gospel presentation and far more like an ego stroking session whereby James White was hailed as a “student of Islam.”

Egos aside, James White is willing to show an enormous amount of charity for a subversive creature like Yasir Qadhi, but to fellow Christians with whom he minorly disagrees, the communications are closed, insults thrown, and the excuses for his unwillingness to dialogue are lame. James White might be demonstrating a consistent pattern, but it’s biblically untenable.