Category: Sola Scriptura
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Oliphint on Evidences – Reformed Forum
Find it here.…
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Why Village Atheists and News Media Shouldn’t Pretend to be Exegetes
So, I’m sure you’ve all read aaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllll about how horrible Kim Davis is by now, right? The news media, all your leftist friends, and the like, are telling you so. Of course, if it were one of their leftist paragons _you_ were talking about – that would be terrible, terrible irrelevancy. In their case, right now, it is okay – because reasons. To be disclosed later, or something. Or at least Salon is telling you so.
In the land of “I have a liberal arts degree, therefore SCIENCE”, this sort of thing probably makes sense.
…If you think your
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A Conversation About Categories
There are particular buzzwords in the air these days. Of course, there are buzzwords in the air every day – and always have been. One of the hot-buttons these days is “transgender”. With the media circus surrounding Bruce Jenner, it is in an impossible glare. The media’s feeding frenzies know no bounds, and the level of rhetoric and sheer hyperbole is shocking, even to a jaded student of mass media narrative creation.
The problem is, the left is in a pickle when it comes to “transgender” – much as it is in a pickle concerning “bisexuals.” With the latter, on …
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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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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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Have you read the Quran?
Given the recent attention to the horrible actions taking place in Paris by Muslims, I thought I would write this post on something that I have seen come up a few times before. “Irreligious” people who tar religion, including Christianity, with the same brush and brand it all wrong and evil and the source of many problems, appear to come out in droves when events like what have taken place recently occur. If you want proof- check YouTube. No doubt a Christian would be in a position to respond to criticisms that come from such people, and ultimately, the truth …
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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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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.…