Apologetics to the Glory of God

Choosing Hats

  • Attacking Apologetics Blogs?

    Just a short note from us, due solely to this comment:

    The fellow then attacks Apologetics “Discernment Blogs” for a while…

    Since the opener to the post says:

    A blog we haven’t heard of from a person we haven’t heard of (Chris Bolt), was tweeted to Pulpit & Pen by…

    I figured it might be helpful to introduce the author to the following pertinent facts.

    Chris is an SBC pastor.  He is one of the founding (and Emeritus) members of Choosing Hats. He has well over 500 posts on this site; our most prolific contributor. You can also see …

  • Nothing is Pure

    To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.  They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed. – Titus 1:15-16

    As I’m sure many of you have been following, Planned Parenthood has been getting lambasted on social media in the aftermath of the sting operation by Center for Medical Progress. This is not to discuss the video in question – although the casual brutality of Deborah Nucatola, …

  • The Modern Molech

    Molech still receives sacrifices. Now they call the altar the blood of the unborn runs down by the name “women’s health”, and “reproductive rights.” Except for the 26 million women whose health and reproductive rights were terminated – with extreme prejudice. So, tell me, folks. Are you prepared to say that these are persons being murdered? If not, what are they? Sub-persons? (Or unpersons? Hmm.) Where have we heard that argument before?

    But let’s grant that for the sake of argument, for those of you still unconvinced. If they are sub-human, are they animals? If they are animals, why would …

  • I’m Neither a Prophet nor Son of a Prophet

    But if my guess is correct, this week’s news cycles will be all about hate speech. Ours. Or what they want to represent as ours. You see, with a Friday ruling, and so much near-instant access to our churches’ sermons, you can almost bet that they will be trolling our sermons for sound bytes. You see, while there will be much trumpeting that Kennedy’s majority opinion states the following:

    Finally, it must be emphasized that religions, and those who adhere to religious doctrines, may continue to advocate with utmost, sincere conviction that, by divine precepts, same-sex marriage should not be

    …

  • Do you wear clothes with mixed fabric types?

    This is one of those FAQs asked to Christians who, as the bible teaches, believe that the definition of marriage only allows for a union between one man and one woman.  Christians will have to continually articulate why they believe this, especially in the current climate.

    The question asked assumes a lack of coherency  in Scripture when it comes to how God’s people should live. What’s really being asked is this

    “If both homosexuality and wearing clothes with mixed fabric types in the bible are condemned in the OT, why is one still wrong and not the other.”

    Now, aside …

  • The Tyranny of Death

    Death is a tyrant.

    Only one, however, has ever experienced the entirety of the curse of death. Everyone else will experience it in part, or never cease to experience it. The fullness of that tyranny rests its claws upon only one; He upon whom the wrath of God, and all the terrible and righteous fury that implies, was poured, and who bore it for the sake of His elect. Christ, our Lord and King.

    The first death, the promise of Adam’s curse, attends us all. This is a pittance, a vapor, in comparison to that of the second. It is …

  • Three Ways Apologetics Will Change in the Near Future

    Apologetics change based upon the context in which they are used. In the years to come, apologetics will change in at least three ways:

    1. Necessary Apologetics

    Apologists will be lobbyists rather than hobbyists. The necessity of defending the Christian faith will be impressed upon Christians in a way it has not been in recent years. Look for apologetic arguments to focus more upon defending Christians from unnecessary persecution by the society and the state and less upon abstract theological particulars or classical theism.

    2. Explanatory Apologetics

    As biblical illiteracy and anti-intellectual emotionalism continue to permeate the church and loose …

  • A Conversation About Categories

    There are particular buzzwords in the air these days. Of course, there are buzzwords in the air every day – and always have been. One of the hot-buttons these days is “transgender”. With the media circus surrounding Bruce Jenner, it is in an impossible glare. The media’s feeding frenzies know no bounds, and the level of rhetoric and sheer hyperbole is shocking, even to a jaded student of mass media narrative creation.

    The problem is, the left is in a pickle when it comes to “transgender” – much as it is in a pickle concerning “bisexuals.” With the latter, on …

  • The Theological Bases

    The other day, I posted a reply to Andrew, at “Entertaining Christianity.” He has since responded. We’ve chatted a bit privately, as well, but my time constraints tend to curtail things, occasionally.

    Essentially, I think there’s a bit of miscommunication on his part about what, exactly, the problems were with his post. As I pointed out to him, that could very well be due to our rather different backgrounds, theologically speaking. From our conversation, I gathered that he was confused by what I meant by “omnibenevolence” in the context I used it in. As others have pointed out, …

  • A Leap to the Left

    Today someone called my attention to Jamin Hubner’s, “A New Case for Female Elders: An Analytical Reformed-Evangelical Approach” (doctoral thesis, University of South Africa, 2013) and asked if I might comment on it. As far as I know, nobody has done so, even though the thesis is an attempt at making a case for female elders according to an “analytical reformed-evangelical” approach. All quotes and citations in this post come from the aforementioned source.

    In the thesis, Jamin describes his slide to the left:

    When I started the graduate research on women deacons, I was generally against the idea of

    …