Category: Doctrine
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Van Til on Systematic and Covenant Theology
“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.”
“It is a God-given duty that we should take the content of Scripture and bring it together in a systematic whole. It is plain that we are required to know the revelation that God has given us. Yet we would not adequately know that revelation if we knew it only in its …
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Our Covenant Keeping God
Before you listen to the sermon I have linked below, I want you to do something for me. First, read Psalm 36. Second, read Romans 1-3. (As a bonus, throw in 4 and 5 – you might catch why I said that in the sermon.) Third, read the first chapter of Calvin’s Institutes. Fourth, ponder what implications the universal knowledge of God, the universal knowledge of His moral law, and the status of man as covenant-breaker, under Adam, his federal head, might have insofar as what Van Til’s usage of those concepts was, and what theology they presuppose. Please take …
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An Exhortation
Once upon a time, long ago, there was a fervent young man with a burning desire to defend his faith. He mixed it up on BBSs, wrote blog posts, went on forums, and even set up networks, and a “blog carnival” (for those of you who might remember that phenomenon). He had books by Lewis, McDowell, Craig, Habermas, Licona, and the like. Then, he ran into a problem. A Roman Catholic apologist wanted to join his apologetic blog carnival – his father was a Roman Catholic, and he knew just enough to know that wasn’t kosher – but he wasn’t …
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An Overview of the 1689 London Baptist Confession
Now, I’m well aware that not all of you are Reformed Baptists. I’m also aware that not all of our readers are confessional. I won’t press the Reformed Baptist distinctives, but you should, however, be confessional. As Dr. James Renihan says in this lecture; “Before you ask the question ‘what should I do’ – ask the question, ‘what do I believe?’” Reformed Baptist or not, confessional or not, this is a valuable lecture – and hopefully, it will explain, far better than I could, the importance of confessionalism in a consistent, Scriptural faith – and by extension, in your apologetic …
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Rebranding Apologetics
With the name change, there will be particular hang ups with some who use the methodology to defend the faith. A good example is Fred Butler, a respectable guy who graduated from TMS and advocates presuppositional apologetics. He says :
…It is unnecessary because I believe the word “presuppositionalism” is an appropriate descriptor for the methodology. When we engage unbelievers, we are engaging the presuppositions of their worldview — the foundational building blocks of those “strongholds” they have built against the knowledge of God (2 Cor. 10:4-5). And moreover, we stand our ground on the presuppositions that we are
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Christian Homosexuals
There’s been a good bit of discussion about the nonsensical statements of the so-called “Biola Queer Underground” of late. To be candid, the only justifications they can offer for their revisionist position have been refuted so many times that you almost feel sorry for the research skills of these supposed university students. For instance, the “champion” for their revisionist eisegesis is one Justin Lee, director of the “Gay Christian Network“. What might be interesting to our readers is that this same Justin Lee debated Dr. James White on May 16th prior to the Reformation Montana Conference. …
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Going Deeper
In our last post, we examined Philippians 1 as a bit of a survey, and covered some high points and contextual issues. Now I want to dig a little more into the text and bring out some points in higher relief. We started the post with the observation that neither Rome nor the health and wealth preachers are possessors of the Biblical Gospel. Rome, in particular, makes enough additions and subtractions to make the Judaizers look like amateur heretics. We then made the connection with the term “Evangelical” – which essentially means “those who are about the Gospel”. We hear …
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Are you an Evangelical apologist?
The term “evangelical” is used for a whole host of people these days – but what does it really mean? It refers to those who believe the Gospel is the center of the Christian faith, and the core of our message, right? Since we live in such a sound byte culture, it really behooves us to ask – both ourselves, and those we come in contact with, what they mean when they say “evangelical.” Which, of course, brings us to the subject of our post.
It’s all well and good to say “I’m an Evangelical!” It’s another thing altogether to …
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Peripatetic 10 – Consistency of Theology and Apologetic
Is what you believe, what you preach, and what you defend consistent with itself?…
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The Issue of Authority – God Speaking
C. Michael Patton’s recent posts, in his own words, look a whole lot like “I am shooting myself in the foot.” He rejects this characterization, of course – but as we have seen in my own posts responding to his over the last couple years, we have an entirely different view of the issues of certainty, and doubt. This recent series, of course, shows where this difference arises from – a different doctrine of Scripture. See, there’s a significant difference between the generally evangelical doctrine of Sola Scriptura, and the historic Reformed doctrine. Dr. White, TurretinFan, and I all …