Apologetics to the Glory of God

Category: Convos, Observations, and Quotes

  • Actual Engagement

    Interestingly enough, a comment made in passing now constitutes “engagement”.

    https://twitter.com/ChoosingHats/status/1291809399917469701

    Now, if this constitutes “engagement” – fine, I’ll buy that. However, it was followed up with this:

    Again, fine. What does this tweet claim, however?

    1) Jesus died (not contested by me).

    2) The wages of sin is *death* (not contested by me)

    3) That death is *not* eternal …

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

    When Mr. Black objects against Mr. White that unconditional surrender to the authority of Scripture is irrational, then Mr. Grey nods approval and says that, of course, the “rational man” has a perfect right to test the credibility of Scripture by logic. When the Bible speaks of God’s sovereign election of some men to salvation this must mean something that fits in with his “rational nature.” When Mr. Black objects to Mr. White that unconditional surrender to Scripture is rationalistic, then Mr. Grey again nods approval and says that, of course, genuine human personality has a perfect right to test

    …

  • The Ease of Failure

    Just a bit ago, I saw a video clip wherein JD Greear was said to have claimed “the Bible changed over time.”  Given current controversy, I gave it a watch, and was shocked to discover him answering his interviewer’s question (billed in the caption as “Does the Bible change over time?”)  “of course it does!”

    Shock! Amaze! Horror!

    Except… that is not what the clip actually said. What made me wonder was the kick up into high gear that his following words made – he started talking exceptionally fast – often a sign that you have an important point to …

  • Still Greater Abominations

    As we mentioned previously, JD Greear, citing Jen Wilkin approvingly, claimed that God “whispers” about some sins, and “shouts” about others. Confusingly, just prior, he asserted that homosexuality was “one corruption among many” – a frequent theme was “is that equally depraved in your book?” He further cited that the Bible seems to “whisper” about sexual sins, in general. What we addressed last time was that the theme of Romans 1 was that sexual depravities are, in fact, a form of idolatry. Further, that this sort of idolatry was emblematic of God’s giving them over to a depraved …

  • Revelation about God from Nature – Natural Theology

    Coming now to the knowledge that man in Paradise would have of God, we must notice first of all that there man would be able to reason correctly from nature to nature’s God. But the meaning of this fact should be taken in connection with what we have said when discussing the true theistic conception of physics. We may perhaps best bring out what we mean by saying that man could originally reason from nature to nature’s God by contrasting it to what is usually been meant by that statement. In the first place, when men say that we can

    …

  • Calvin’s Commentary on 1 Cor 1:18-21

    For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

    In this first clause a concession is made. For as it might very readily be objected, that the gospel is commonly held in contempt, if it be presented in so bare and abject a form, Paul of his own accord concedes this, but when he adds, that it is so in the estimation of them that perish, he intimates that no regard must be paid to their judgment. For who would choose to despise …

  • Adventures in Misgendering

    The rapidly changing landscape of supposed non-binary genders is dizzying to most of us – myself included. This isn’t an attempt to help you navigate that mindfield of pronouns – because in all likelihood, by the time you read this, it would have all changed anyway. Which pronouns they want us to use, or not use, is irrelevant in most ways. We’re being told that “misgendering” is now rude – more than rude, really – a cardinal sin of oppression. One of my sons, a high-school senior, was recently the subject of an “intervention” by his classmates for his refusal …

  • 1 Peter 1:14 and the Continuing Sexual Revolution

    While listening to my pastor’s continuing exposition of 1 Peter 1 this morning, I was struck by the timeliness of the passage he used for a subject he didn’t directly address. His sermon was about personal holiness (which is, of course, the main thrust of the passage) – but I have been unable to leave verse 14 alone all afternoon. In the wake of the recent Revoice conference, it struck me that this passage wasn’t highlighted very often in responses. I believe it should, going forward. Here’s why.

    1 Peter 1:13 has a “therefore”, so it behooves us to go …

  • The Imperfection of the Saints

    In an exchange on Facebook recently, I encountered a Sinless Perfectionist of some stripe. Facebook being what it is, the back-and-forth was… unsatisfying. Eventually, I promised to exposit some Scriptures that taught progressive sanctification. It’s taken me longer than I wanted to get around to it (and I was rightly chided for my tardiness) – but I wanted to do justice to the subject when I did so. Hopefully, this treatment will be of benefit.

    Progressive Sanctification is the teaching of the Reformation, and all of the Reformation’s children. That being said, Protestantism in general is a much wider tent. …

  • Psychological Exegesis (Guest Post by cco3)

    Jordan B. Peterson has been gaining popularity, due to his tenacity in social and political arenas.  However, this popularity has spilled into his other pursuits as well. For example, his lecture series on Genesis is recorded on YouTube as having nearly 750k views.  The first in the set of lectures has nearly 2m views, and those numbers don’t even count podcast listeners like me.  That’s quite a show of interest on a topic that otherwise garners little interest from the public. I’ve only listened to the first lecture, so I can’t comment on how Peterson actually goes about handling the …