Apologetics to the Glory of God

Category: Objections and Misconceptions

  • So, You Think You're a Presuppositionalist?

    There are a significant number of newly “converted” (to presup, at least) folks that are quite zealous for the defense of the faith. This, I consider good. On the other hand, Scripture warns us against “zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge”, in Rom 10:2. This is especially important for us to consider. All too often, we have a tendency to “jump right in,” whether we are prepared to do so, or not. Zealousness leads us, with inadequate preparation, all too often to imbalance, and from or along with imbalance, to a sub-Biblical defense. Additionally, there is the …

  • Cornelius Van Til, Westboro Baptist Church, and Steve Jobs

    I am no Cornelius Van Til, but if Van Til can get away with saying that an atheist is like the little girl he saw slapping her father while sitting on his lap, then I might be able to get away with saying that a non-Christian is like “Westboro Baptist Church” tweeting their characteristic nastiness about Steve Jobs while using an iPhone.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/under-god/post/westboro-baptist-church-uses-iphone-to-announce-steve-jobs-funeral-protest/2011/10/06/gIQAJqBjPL_blog.html

    The iPhone would be like the tools of reasoning, logic, and science. Apple users may get the other part of the analogy too quickly.

    But I wrote this on a Dell.

     

    See Al Mohler’s post on …

  • Paul Baird, Crackers in the Pantry, and Scientism

    Now, what I would like to read from Chris is a line of argument where he can PROVE (and by prove I mean to a scientific standard, including the method of falsifiability) that a person has had revelation that could only have originated from the Christian god. If he can do that under lab conditions, then I’ll become a Christian.

    – Paul Baird (http://patientandpersistent.blogspot.com/2011/10/once-more-unto-breach.html)

    How should the difference of opinion between the theist and the atheist be rationally resolved? What Dr. Stein has written indicates that he, like many atheists, has not reflected adequately on this question. He

    …

  • The Unfortunate Case of the Missing Argument

    I’m not going to link all of Paul’s posts in this – they’ve been linked ad nauseum from here, already. His blog is Patient and Persistent – I trust our readers are more than capable of finding these comments of his šŸ™‚

    There are times when I’m engaged in an exchange with someone and I’m not sure if I’ve understood them correctly. That’s how I felt reading Chris Bolt’s stuff. It turns out that I did understand him correctly.

    Note: Paul does not here explain 1) What he understood correctly, or 2) How it is the case that he understood …

  • Excellent article from Trueman on Nicene Trinitarianism

    Is Nicene Christianity that important?…

  • A Feminist examines Presup

    The post I’m about to respond to came in on my google alerts today. It was so packed with common objections and misconceptions that I decided to answer.

    Evidentialism v. Presuppositionalism
    I have noticed a worrying trend among some Christians. It is the turn away from evidentialist apologetics toward presuppositionalist apologetics.

    Let’s start our presuppositional examination right here. From the get-go, presup is a “worrying” trend. Second, the author is apparently unaware of the link between Sola Scriptura and Covenantal apologetics. As I have said quite often on this blog, and in our chat channel, Covenantal apologetics is Sola Scriptura …

  • Doubt, Unbelief and Antithesis

    For some reason, doubt is seen by many to be a positive thing.Ā  There is not a single hint of any such principle in Scripture, of course, but it remains the case that there is some idea in popular thinking that God encourages doubt.Ā  I was informed the other day that “doubt leads to questions, questions lead to truth.”Ā  I’m sorry, but that is absurd.Ā  What is another name for doubt?Ā  Unbelief.Ā  Please feel free to stop by the channel if you choose to energetically disagree with that assessment, incidentally. I’d be more than happy to discuss it. Believe me. …

  • Debate: Is there good reason to believe that the Christian God exists?

    Resolved: There is good reason to believe that the Christian God exists.

    Moderator: Brian Knapp

    Affirmative: Chris Bolt

    Chris Bolt holds a B.A. Philosophy (High Honors) and B.A. Religion from Lynchburg College (Magna Cum Laude) as well as an M.Div. from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (School of Theology) where he is a Ph.D. candidate in Christian Philosophy. Bolt is the recipient of a number of awards for his work in philosophy and religion and a member of the Evangelical Philosophical Society. He has participated in debates on the existence of God and on ethics and wrote a chapter of …

  • Sola Scriptura, Van Til, and a Reformed Apologetic

    As the Reformed Baptist pastor, apologist, and authorĀ  Dr. James White says so well, ā€œthe people most enslaved by their traditions are those who believe they donā€™t have any.ā€

    This is simply to say thatĀ  we come to the text of Scripture, along with everything else,Ā  with presuppositions about how we should interpret it. We donā€™t read the Scripture in a vacuum, or in some neutral fashion, because according to Scripture, itā€™s impossible, as we will see in a quote from Van Til.

    So why is the Reformed tradition superior? Well, it certainly isnā€™t because of the men who subscribe …

  • Miley Cyrus On LGBT

    We can all feel enlightened now that Miley Cyrus has expressed her approval of ā€œgay marriageā€ through her new tattoo and corresponding commentary. Alas I was troubled that I might not know what to think about homosexual marriage, but Miley came through for me and tattooed an ā€œ=ā€ sign on her finger explaining, “ALL LOVE is equal.” This likewise is great news, as I expect a rather large check to be coming my way as a result of it. After all, if all love is equal, and Miley loves some people enough for them to reap the benefits of …