Apologetics to the Glory of God

Praxis Presup: Episode 20

Chris makes some initial comments on the second podcast in the series on presuppositional apologetics at Reasonable Doubts.

Comments

7 responses to “Praxis Presup: Episode 20”

  1. Justin Avatar
    Justin

    Thanks again for your critique(s) Chris.

    1.) In regards to the nit-picky complaint, what we were trying to do was give a broad overview of Presuppositional Apologetics to prepare our listeners for later episodes. We were not attempting to be exhaustive because that is not necessary. We wanted to show why and how PA is so vastly different and so cannot not be approached in the way our listeners are used to approaching a classical apologist. I appreciate your willingness to listen and provide criticism, we welcome it. Our annoyance to the nit-picky nature of your first review was that it seemed to us very petty to do such a thing to a broad overview of some complex topic like PA.
    If we were presenting actual arguments, the nit-picking would be welcome and expected as that is necessary for good criticism. With that said, we do appreciate you providing some clarifications and corrections to more fundamental issues.

    2.) Nobody expects you to know the different hosts of the show, but the one admitting ignorance of presuppositionalism was our co-host who was not doing any conter-apologetic presenting. The presenters were Jeremy and myself.

    3.) I appreciate the correction/clarification regarding the relationship between the Gospel and the Holy Spirit.

    4.) Regarding my statement about Van Til, here is a quote. “Men ought to reason analogically from nature to nature’s God. Men ought, therefore, to use the cosmological argument analogically in order thus to conclude that God is the creator of this universe…. Men ought also to use the ontological argument analogically”
    The words ‘To conclude that God is the creator of this universe’ in particular are what leads me and many other presuppositinoalist bloggers to think this as it seems to imply moving from a neutral point to a conclusion, although I now see an alternative interpretation is also possible. Perhaps this is the inherent danger of researching ideas that are largely isolated to unregulated blogs.

    5.) We are all fairly busy, especially Jeremy, and it is likely that he never actually saw the reply you mention near the tail-end of this podcast. The laughter, which was admittedly unprofessional and mostly mine, is what happens when I try to imagine believing that everybody that has ever lived either lies about their knowledge of God or has no conscious awareness because it is suppressed unconciously but is still held responsible for it. That, I hope you understand, is a difficult thing to imagine and can tease some laughter out.

    I hope that helps explain/clarify some of the issues you had with our latest episode.
    -Jusitn

  2. C.L. Bolt Avatar
    C.L. Bolt

    Regarding 4: Without having the context in front of me, I would wager that Van Til goes on to say that while men “ought” to do that, they do not in fact do so. Why? Because they attempt to reason from a neutral position rather than using natural theology within the context of the Christian worldview. But I am happy to be corrected.

    Regarding 5: Of course I understand your laughter from a presuppositional standpoint, and it does not bother me. My point was only that it implied that Jeremy really was saying what I attributed to him.

    Thanks,
    Chris

  3. Reasonable Doubts Avatar

    Hey Chris, we don’t have any plans for setting up a debate on these matters any time soon as we have several unrelated episodes planned that we will be busy preparing for. We look forward to hearing any meaningful objections you might have in response to the main arguments we presented episode 98 of the Reasonable Doubts Podcast.

    Cheers,
    Justin

    1. C.L. Bolt Avatar
      C.L. Bolt

      That sounds good. Thanks!

  4. Jeremy Avatar

    I’ll add that while a formal debate is not likely to happen in the near future, we most certainly will give a thoughtful response (audio, written or both) in a prompt manner to any critiques you put forth of our main arguments in rd98 (once we hear them of course).

    1. C.L. Bolt Avatar
      C.L. Bolt

      At this point I think of a debate like a Dodge Viper. It would be great to have it, but I don’t have the time or money right now, and I suspect – especially given what you have said – that you guys do not either. So then, maybe one day, but not any time in the foreseeable future.

      It may be some time before I respond to your most recent podcast. I want to be fair, clear, and produce something that is bit better quality than my usual method of firing up the Logitech cam, Audacity, and Dell speakers.

      Also, don’t worry about responding to my response, because you’ll be Christians when you’re done listening. 😉

      Thanks for touching base with me.

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