Apologetics to the Glory of God

Month: December 2010

  • The Comma Johanneum: A Critical Evaluation of the Text of 1 John 5.7-8

    The Comma Johanneum as a Textual Problem

    Introduction

    The phrase “Comma Johanneum” is the name given to a short clause of a sentence found in 1 John 5.7-8 which has become a famous problem in textual criticism. The word “comma” as it is used here just means a short clause of a sentence and “Johanneum” refers to the writings of the Apostle John.[i] The phrase “Comma Johanneum” thus refers to a short clause of a sentence (comma) which has some relevance to the writings of John (Johanneum). …

  • Presuppositionalist Concept of Presupposition

    Don Collett argues that traditional forms of argument do not do justice to presupposition as a concept. He works from Peter Strawson’s semantic account of presupposition.

    According to Strawson, a statement A may be said to presuppose a statement B if B is a necessary precondition of the truth-or-falsity of A. Strawson’s interpretation of the concept of presupposition has been restated in succinct fashion by Bas van Fraassen as follows:

    A presupposes B if and only if A is neither true nor false unless B is true.

    This may also be stated as follows:

    (1) A presupposes B if

    …

  • Dr. James R. White Begins Work On "What Every Christian Needs to Know about the Qur'an"

    Dr. James R. White has “officially” announced that he will be working on two books in 2011. He writes, “What Every Christian Needs to Know about the Qur’an will be my contribution to the effort to educate, motivate, and edify the Body of Christ in the area of Islamic evangelism and apologetics.” Keeping in mind the current popularity of Islam it is my opinion that these books will be some of the most significant contributions to Christian apologetics of this century. Dr. White uses his apologetic both on the street and in public debate with the result that …

  • Servant Songs (Christmas 2010)

    Merry Christmas From Choosing Hats!

    Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. 2 He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; 3  a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. 4 He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law.

    Isaiah 42:1-4 …

  • Mr. White, Mr. Grey, and Mr. Black II

    In the previous post, we saw Cornelius Van Til examining the apologetic method of the Reformed, vs the Evangelical varieties. By Evangelical, he means the Arminian or Roman Catholic schools of theology and/or apologetic. As our friend Dr. White is wont to say, “theology determines apologetic”. We’ll continue this series in this post, the second of the series, and pick up where we left off.

    An excerpt from Defense of The Faith, by Cornelius Van Til – Chap. 12, Sec. 3, pg. 313-315, 4th Ed.

    The Believer Meets the Unbeliever – Part II

    Let us first look briefly at

    …

  • Four Questions about Election

    This morning’s sermon asks and answers four questions concerning the election of God the Father. The reason we need to ask and answer these questions this morning is because there is a lot of wrong theology prevalent in the churches today that teach completely unbiblical understandings of election and salvation. And if salvation is as important as the Bible claims it to be and we are commanded by Christ to labor for the food that endures to eternal life then we would do well to understand what the Scripture teaches about election.

    1. On what basis does God the Father

    …

  • Responses to the assertions of Yasser Ali

    In the debate transcript, I have inserted my opponent’s answers, as I said I would. This post is intended to answer his assertions made therein, and to address the various problems I found with them. As of this posting, he has yet to offer his final questions, so I’m going to go ahead and offer comments on the debate in it’s entirety, and consider the debate closed. My questions will be italicized bold, his answers in italics, both will be in quote, and my responses in plain text. I will be offering more comments in the future, and …

  • Mr. White, Mr. Grey, and Mr. Black

    An excerpt from Defense of The Faith, by Cornelius Van Til – Chap. 12, Sec. 3, pg. 312-313, 4th Ed.

    The Believer Meets the Unbeliever

    To see clearly what is meant, think of a dentist. You go to him with a “bad tooth”. Does he take care of your tooth in two operations? To be sure, you may have to come back to have him finish the job. But it is one job he is doing. He takes all the decayed matter out before he fills the cavity. Well, Mr. Black is the man with the toothache, and you,

    …

  • Positive Covenantal Apologetics

    A popular objection to the covenantal apologetic is the claim that it  lacks positive arguments or otherwise falls short of providing a positive apologetic. There are at least three responses to this criticism.

    1. The distinction between a negative and positive apologetic and how the distinction is made is largely attached to apologetic method. Assuming definitions and a distinction that covenantal apologetics by their very nature do not share and then raising an objection to covenantal apologetics based upon the unshared categories of an alternative method is roughly equivalent to critiquing covenantal apologetics because they are covenantal apologetics and not …

  • God Hates Arrogance in Apologetics

    Might we take a moment to set everything aside, read or listen to this message from John Piper, and remember that God hates our arrogance and our pride. God is really not all that concerned about apologetic ministries, letters behind names, popularity, erudition, logical precision or lack thereof as much as many of us would often tend to think. Apologetics is not about you. How foolish we can become in this respect; how often we need a reminder.

    “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 10.17…