Author: RazorsKiss
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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, …
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Irrationality is not a Response
I encountered a rather unfortunate blog post today. Upon examining it, and the posts it links to, I think it would be helpful to respond to, albeit briefly.
First, just to get it out of the way – why on earth would you use such appalling language when dealing, at least putatively, with Christian doctrine? (Let alone any other time.) It is, quite simply, outrageous on any level.
Second, while I’m sure Jon Stewart (and his devoted fans) are quite convinced that he is the epitome of the witty bon mot – he quite typically fails, rather spectacularly, in …
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Love is Love and Other Tautologies
Love is love, right? That’s the tagline for the modern movement which seeks to redefine what, precisely, love is. There are a multitude of problems with this idea, of course, but let’s take one specific instance.
It begins, predictably, with “love has no gender.” It proceeds to “love has no race.” Next, “love has no disability.” Next up is “love has no age.” We’ll get back to that in a minute. Next up is “love has no religion.” It ends with “love has no labels.”
There’s a problem with this progression, though. The video is subtitled “Love has no Labels” …
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Mr. White, Mr. Grey, and Mr. Black IX
It’s been a while! We will, however, pick up from where we left off in this exchange, and examine Mr. Black’s reply to Mr. Grey.
…“Well,” says Mr. Black, “this is great news indeed. I knew that the modernists were willing with us to start from human experience as the final reference point in all research. I knew that they were willing with us to start from Chance as the source of facts, in order then to manufacture such facts of nature and of history as the law of non-contradiction, based on Chance, will allow. I also knew that the
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The Covenantal Apologetic: Principles to Practice
It cannot be sufficiently stressed that the covenantal apologetic is first and foremost a Reformed apologetic. Consistently, a practitioner will be Confessional, therefore Covenantal and Calvinistic. These are sometimes called the “3 Cs.” This is not being stressed for a subjectivistic “purity’s” sake, nor for controversialism’s sake. It is being stressed for the sake of consistency. First and foremost in Reformed theology is the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture. From Scripture, we also have revealed the doctrine of God, and all of the other doctrines we believe and hold to. Consistent with these doctrines, we preach, and we …
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Jeremiah 31 and Newness
Most Covenantal discussions revolve around what, precisely, is new about the New Covenant. Much ink has been spilled, and literary armies have marched forth to battle on the strength of this one word. A newer entrant to the lists has their own opinion on the matter, and believes that the newness consists in a complete distinction from the old. As one adherent of New Covenant Theology stated to me in conversation, the difference lies in “newness” and “not like”. In a sense, this is true. What we bring to bear on these words, presuppositionally, will determine what we think they …
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Second Timothy 2 and Unbelief
I recently encountered a comment on 2Tim which asserted that this passage precludes “protracted arguments with unbelievers.” The verse cited as proof of this was 2 Timothy 2:14. Unfortunately, there was no argument accompanying this statement. The additional statement was made that “We have zero evidence that Jesus and the apostles spent protracted time dealing with unbelievers.” I’d like to deal with these comments to follow.
Firstly, let’s look at the passage. Obviously, 2 Timothy is written to Timothy, a young pastor at Ephesus, and protege of Paul. The entire middle section of the second chapter concerns practical instructions for …
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Standing our Ground: But Not Because of Tradition
While it might be politic to cite the opinion of someone whose idea of things is, at least superficially, similar to our own, that doesn’t negate the requirement to examine that opinion with an eye toward the presuppositional commitments of the one expressing it. When we, as Reformed believers, committed to Sola Scriptura, look at a subject like the current push for “gay marriage” – what sort of things are we taking for granted when we take that look? I refer, of course, to the columnist Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry, who recently wrote an article entitled “Why so many Christians won’t …
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A Fond Farewell, but not Goodbye
BK is officially retiring from active contribution here at the site. Brian Knapp has always been the man with a plan here at CH – and his wisdom and patience have always been a wonderful example. He isn’t leaving entirely, however. He is a good friend to us all, so we will be retaining his company! He will still be around the chat channel, and will keep his board membership, in an Emeritus status. (The active board will now consist of myself, Matthias, and Chris, who has returned to active status.) Brian has served since the site was created in …
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On Proper Analysis – Scott Terry and VanTillianFire
The author, Aaron Dale, at the blog “Van Tillian Fire,” has written a critique of my much-critiqued “Dear Sye” post. For reasons unbeknownst to me, he neglected to read the post of the following day, “The Shattered Stained Glass Window”, as well as the post “A Necessary Distinction.” Why is this important, you ask? It is important because these were written several months ago – and written specifically to provide specifics about issues I left unstated, or merely referred to in general terms in the initial post. Why did I leave them unstated? I left them …