Apologetics to the Glory of God

Tag: apologetic method

  • Where To Start

    When it comes to disagreements about the existence of God people usually want to proceed without ever setting down a clear set of rules by which to make a case. We often assume that we are all thinking along the same lines as to what the rules are when it comes to discussions about God and truth and knowledge and other such subjects. This assumption is unfortunate because Christians and non-Christians “play” by a different set of rules. The amount of literature written about the subject of the existence of God could fill libraries, yet if we searched through all …

  • Collision Questions

    Pastor John Piper recently asked Doug Wilson a series of questions about the movie Collision. You may read them and view the video and/or listen to the audio of the exchange Here

    I know people who have already received their copies of the movie. Whether he intends to or not, Wilson is bringing a great deal of attention to the presuppositionalist method. Consider purchasing the movie if you have not done so already, and have some friends over to watch it with you. I know I will!…

  • Applying Paul

    The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
    Prov 1:7 (ESV)

    Recognizing God for who He is and giving Him due reverence as Lord is the beginning of knowledge, not the end of it. This is very different from what most people think today. Even some Christians think that if we just start with what we already know without God, we can show people that God really does exist. From there, we can tell people about who God is. This does not match the verse though. A knowledge of God does not come …

  • A Different Set of Rules

    Imagine you are at a friend’s house playing a game of pool. Your friend begins the game by breaking, but not a single ball goes into a pocket. Now it is your turn. You step up, adjust your pool stick just right, and sink a striped ball into a side pocket. You call solids but your friend objects.

    “Huh? You can’t be solids. You sank a striped, so you are stripes.”

    “Nope. It doesn’t go by what kind of ball you sink first. Being the first to sink a ball just means that you get to choose first, not that …

  • Beware of Philosophy!

    It is not uncommon to find people who are afraid of philosophy. Philosophy makes people question things. When people question things they start believing new things. It can be dangerous to believe new things. Besides, philosophers are weird. They stand out from the crowd. They are picky about what they say and write and do. Philosophers look at the world in a different way from most other people.

    Christians are often afraid of philosophy. The reason for this is that they take their beliefs so seriously. It is sinful to question God and His Word, and philosophy can lead people …

  • Not Overly Surprising

    A few months ago a close relative of mine visited a church gathering. The person who “preached” that day is a well known evidentialist apologist. If I wrote the name of the person the majority of the readers would undoubtedly know this person.

    So what happened? Well, according to my close relative, the Bible was never opened during the entire course of the “sermon”. I told her that I was not surprised.

    One’s apologetic is generally indicative of and affects one’s view of Scripture. Evidentialism is grounded in philosophy. If we are to compare it to presuppositionalism, the chart might …

  • Why The Bible Is Necessary For Apologetics: A Brief Reflection On 1 Peter 3.15

    Introduction

    The study of defending the Christian faith has recently become extremely popular. Bookstores are filled with manuals on how Christians can defend their faith. Usually the books present “facts” from secular writings. The Big Bang Theory, Ancient Greek philosophy, Near Death Experiences, selections from secular Roman historians and even liberal theology are used to try and show unbelievers that Christianity is reasonable. Christians are encouraged to look at these “facts” with unbelievers in a “neutral” way as though God does not exist or the Bible is not His Word. I find this odd.

    When we are looking for help …

  • Eight Steps to Popularizing Presuppositional Apologetics

    A presuppositional apologetic is a method of defending the Christian faith. Presuppositional apologetics are based on a recognition of the need to be committed to God and Scripture even when chatting with unbelievers who raise supposed intellectual objections to the faith. The result is that God and His Word are presupposed while arguments and evidence are presented. Other methods of apologetics start with presenting arguments and evidence before concluding that God exists or that Christianity is true. Presuppositional apologetics start with the existence of God and truth of Christianity before presenting arguments and evidence. Do not misunderstand; presuppostional apologetics do …

  • Zoroastrianism, Part 2

    The contributors to https://choosinghats.org/ make an apparently radical claim: People cannot know anything if God has not revealed Himself to them. Certainly then, people cannot know God without revelation. Our epistemology is revelational; we start with the presupposition that God has spoken and stay there throughout our thoughts and actions. Finite, fallible, sinful humanity can know nothing of God apart from His revealing Himself to us, hence Christian apologists who desire to move from some would-be autonomous position to the conclusion that God exists engage themselves in futility. Likewise for those who wish to prove the existence of some …

  • In the Church but not of it…

    Sometimes it is as if no matter where I go, I cannot cease to be in the world.

    Duh.

    Where else would I be? Now, certainly I could lock myself up in my house or my closet…maybe move to Phoenix, Arizona and be an ascetic (oh wait, people actually LIVE out there!), but for the most part I am going to be in the world. That is not the difficult part of the little cliche, “We are to be in the world, but not of it”.

    Being in the world does not mean living ungodly, saying stupid things, mutilating your …