Apologetics to the Glory of God

Category: Learn Apologetics

  • 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 …

  • 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 …

  • 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, …

  • A Common Thread

    Needle with thread on jeans materialThere seems to be a common thread in presupp encounters all across the web these days. I’ve seen it on Twitter, in chat rooms, in FaceBook discussion groups, and on podcasts.  It’s everywhere, and it’s growing, which is what concerns me.  That thread is the use of a stunted, limited, incomplete apologetic.  It frustrates the unbelievers we use it against, but not for the right reasons.  It causes presuppers to be seen as irrational tricksters who don’t have anything valid to bring to the discussion.  It is philosophically vacuous and ultimately does not honor God.

    Before looking at the problem, …

  • God is unity.

    I have been reading through John Gill’s works on the nature and attributes of God, and am struck with how perfect and united all of God’s attributes are.

    Consider a few examples:

    God is infinite: God is without bounds, immeasurable, uncontained and without limits. This necessitates two further attributes: Omnipresence and Eternity. Why? Because God is both unbound and without limits in everything, which includes both space and time.

    What follows on from here? Well, if we consider that God upholds all things by His power, then that necessitates omnipotence – because God upholds everything, His power must extend to …

  • 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.…