Apologetics to the Glory of God

Category: Convos, Observations, and Quotes

  • 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 …

  • 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 …

  • Van Tilian Turf Wars (Part 2)

    Presuppositionalists are sticklers for sound apologetic methodology. But how is sound apologetic methodology discerned? Presuppositional proclivities preclude the vast majority of classical or evidentialist approaches to apologetics. That much is clear. But how does one determine who is right and who is wrong when presuppositionalists argue about methodology amongst themselves? Perhaps we all agree that presuppositional apologetic methodology is the way to go, but who is to say what presuppositional apologetic method is? Is there some standard of presuppositional orthodoxy?

    Fundamentalist presuppositionalists tend to respond to these questions by citing the Bible as their ultimate authority for apologetics. The …

  • A Presuppositional Devotion

    It is interesting to come across some very presuppositional teaching from people who don’t really fly the flag and I like to note it when I do. August 10, 2014 “For the Love of God” devotional by D. A. Carson was one such devotional. I especially appreciated his call for people to be precise about the use of the Psalm 14:1 and Romans 1. I think it is a good reminder for us all as it seems like much of the recent popular apologetics billing itself as “presuppositional” is more about the misapplying these passage by simply calling people fools …

  • The Inveterate Incoherency of Race

    Here is the problem, at root.  We talk about race – but what do we mean when we say that?  If that question sounds familiar, it should!  Before we can address the issue, we need to define the issue.  So first, what is meant by race, but secondly, from whence do we get it? Thirdly, is our discussion of it consistent with the rest of our doctrine?  You typically already know the answer to this once you’ve answered the first two questions – but it is good to answer it clearly, so that you face it clearly.

    As already mentioned, …

  • Wherein Bruce Gerencser Combats The Vast Evangelical Conspiracy

    Well according to Whipps, I am absolutely, totally wrong about, well, e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. I will leave it to the readers of this blog to determine the veracity and value of his screed. One thing I have learned is not to get into … wars with people like Whipps. I answered him with two blog posts and only did so because he has commenting shut off on his “teaching” posts. He will tire of me eventually and move on to some other “important” battle. He will certainly think himself vindicated and I am quite happy to allow him to think so.

    Here’s

    …

  • The Haberdashery of Bruce Gerencser

    I have been watching, with interest, the stream of attempted rebuttal flowing from Bruce’s virtual pen today.  We began the day with the assertion that yesterday’s post was a “deconstruction” of Bruce’s story.  I found that odd, myself.  Especially since I am the author of the post, after all.  When you intentionally include such sentences as “See, Bruce doesn’t need to inflate his resume” or, ” I don’t have any concern with rewriting his story”, or even ” What is actually relevant is whether your resume has any bearing on what you actually have to say.”  Now, I understand …

  • When your resume is irrelevant – your testimonial does the trick

    impeccable resumeI got a Google Alert this morning for the term “presuppositionalism.”  Of course, as is usually the case, it was an atheist using the term.  In this case, however, it was actually irrelevant to the entire post, as far as the author, Bruce Gerencser, is concerned. The only reference to it was a wikipedia link.  I’m actually fairly sure he isn’t especially familiar with it, and that itself is unimportant.  What interested me was his resume, and his testimonial.  You see, the author is a pastor, and a former Calvinist pastor, to boot.  Of course, he was a former …

  • The Teaching of Christianity as a Challenge to Unbelief

    We have already indicated that the best apologetic defense will invariably be made by him who knows the system of truth of Scripture best. The fight between Christianity and non-Christianity is, in modern times, no piece-meal affair.  It is the life-and-death struggle between two mutually opposed life-and-world views.  The non-Christian attack often comes to us on matters of historical, or other, detail.  It comes to us in the form of objections to certain teachings of Scripture, say, with respect to creation, etc. It may seem to be simply a matter of asking what the facts have been. Back of this …

  • Peripatetic 32 – The Unity of Theology – Laying your Cards on the Table

    So, when we are told to lay out the Christian worldview, and invite our opponent to internally critique it, what is it we present? Here is an example, on the fly.…