The Way of the Master Radio Interview
I
am a Ph.D. student at the University of Manchester in the UK, studying
the Dead Sea Scrolls and the history of Jewish sacred literature from
the Second Temple period. I just listened to Dan Mages dialogue with
Todd Friel on WayoftheMasterRadio, which was originally broadcasted on
11 October. I only wanted to write a note to say God bless you and God
speed. I can only imagine how frustratingly difficult it must be to
attempt to have an intellectual discussion with people who are so
wooden in their understanding of God, faith and religion. I was
impressed with your candor, your authoritative manner, and your ability
to contend reasonably, honestly, and logically in the face of such
intransigent ignorance. I just wanted to send you a note, and let you
know that I find your work and your ministry refreshing and practically
relevant. Way to go, Dan. Your Christian brother,
Patrick
Langley, Canada
What a stitch up! Mr. Friel consistently cut you off, admitted that he wasn't listening, ignored your previous associations with their organization, insulted your character (ad hominem attack), accused you of idolatry, heresy, murder, a lying lifestyle, and denied that the Scriptures might become more clear and understandable when put in their original social context. Perhaps one of the more absurd moments of the meeting was that in spite of the absolute clarity of John 17:3, Friel nonetheless, and in contradiction to his own claims that he reads the bible as it is written, could not articulate his agreement with Jesus on this point. Pathetically, when you used his own "trick" on him that if you do something once that it defines your character, he squirmed and out-talked you until you—perhaps out of the realization that his mic was in fact louder than yours—simply let him talk again.
Starting around 22'35" when trying to show that Abraham was question God, he teased you with: "Dude, what's your hermeneutic?" He did this to attack the outer witness, in this case you, and instead of critically approaching the text, he say that Abraham rather "pleaded with God"—to which I have no idea what he meant by this. I am
encouraged each time I hear you talk to these various people and are
able to remain on topic—even when being diverted off topic by the host
in the amount of four or five minutes. How you stay focussed, ignoring
would-be personal attacks, suggests to me to that you have an
understanding of the kinds of tricks people will try to play on you to
get you flustered with the hopes that be they successful, they might
gain an upper-hand by showing that you can't control yourself. Yet
this never happens. Jesus was like this in this regard. I appreciate
how you used comprehension checks and confirmation checks with Friel to
assess whether or not he was listening to you, which when you stated,
"you're not listening to me" he agreed. Your overall character was
minimized before you ever came on. Friel, talking to the woman, said,
"where you do you find these guys?" This was to depreciate your
self-worth; in essence he was judging you self righteously. He sneered
about your education, and then, having the advantage of being able to
talk about you without your response, was able to assure his listeners
that you were for certain off the mark. But, he has a GM that needs him to keep the show punchy so that advertisers will pay, and listeners will listen.
Thomas
Pasadena, CA
I just got through listening to your (Dan's) interview on Sirius 'way
of the master radio'. And I had to run back to work and email you
because I am respecting of your opinions and your quest for truth
wherever it may be. I agree that Jesus is the Son of God and are
separate beings but are united in purpose for the salvation of all of
God's children. The concept of the Trinity is just plain confusing and
God does not want to confuse us, His truths are plain and precious...I believe that all faiths have some truth and if you are
truly hungering for truth and humble enough to accept it... Again, I enjoyed your
interview, at least your side of it. Please let me know why you have
to believe in the 'Trinity' to be considered a Christian?
Bob
Queen Creek, AZ
My wife Bonnie and I listened last night to the radio interview
you did on Way of the Master radio. I just wanted to tell you that I
think you ARE a good guy! That host acted pretty rudely in my opinion. Had I been in your shoes . . . I would have been eaten alive by
that guy. You did really well at fending off his attacks
and insinuations that you're not saved. I'm sure it's one of those
things where, in hindsight, there were other responses to things that
may have been given - but the pressure you're under in that situation
is absolutely brutal. Keep it up Dan. You're an influence in the movement of seeking
truth. And you're participating in the fellowship of the sufferings of
Christ - who also was mocked publicly. Congratulations for being
counted worthy.
Matthew 5:11 "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute
you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me."
David
Albuquerque, NM
Heard the podcast - I wish it could have focused more on the trinity issue. Unfortunately he cornered you and "guilt by association" you (i.e. "if you don't agree with me about this one issue, your wrong on every issue"). I definitely think he is ignorant on certain facts though. I thought your comment about that during our time we have the most information available concerning the biblical times than we ever have - so in that respect we do know more than those in the middle ages using the latin vulgate. But in his radio world none of that matters.
John
This Todd Friel guy is an idiot! He started right off into trying to
trap Dan into a non-Christian corner by semantically trying to direct
Dan's answers. Dan's status before God does NOT depend on whether he
gives Todd Friel the answers to questions that Todd Friel expects. He
was not the least interested in hearing Dan's position, but only in
trying to humiliate Dan in front of the listening audience. No, this discussion doesn't annoy me, it makes me angry! I'm
about 3/4 of the way through it and I'm not sure if I can stand to
finish it.
Bev
What I did not like about the debate was that BOTH of you were fluffing
and pumping your own perspective selves and not allowing the other to
listen and then respond (I admit that doing such during a specific
frame of time – on radio - is very difficult). Frankly, I think you
both had good points.
Gordon
Northhampton, MA
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