Category: Uncategorized
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Don’t Just Argue It, Live it.
Many times the story is told about the fellow who, upon believing, explodes in all manner of worship and service to God. He becomes the most gallant of round-table Knights, fighting the twin dragons of Unbelieving Arguments and Unbiblical Doctrine almost daily. And he’s good at it. He can articulate the 5 points of Calvinism like nobody’s business, and he can expose the autonomy of the unbelieving worldview for the absurdity that it is. Over time, however, he becomes increasingly disinterested. Once the thrill of debate has taken its course (it doesn’t necessarily last forever), there is little remaining that …
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Know the Scriptures
The other day at a prayer meeting at church, my pastor gave a brief sermon on the following passage:
…Matthew 22:23-31 That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 24 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. 26 The same thing happened to the second
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We Both Are Atheists?
If you’ve ever dialogued with an atheist, or read anything they’ve written, you’ve no doubt come across the quote, “I contend we are both atheists, I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.” This quote was authored by Stephen F. Roberts (http://freelink.wildlink.com/quote_history.php) some years back. It has rhetorical power, it’s catchy, memorable, and apparently is popular amongst the atheist apologist crowd. The author doesn’t mention Christianity specifically, but says he originally used the quote while debating with “religious …
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Two Arguments for Everlasting Hell
Argument from the Infinity of God
As Augustine and Jonathan Edwards pointed out, it is not enough to ask merely what some sin is that requires judgment, but whom it is that sin is against. Shooting your neighbor’s dog does not merit as great of a punishment as shooting your neighbor, because the offense is much greater in the second case. If you have an infinitely good God then you have a great offense against that God. The greatest! (It is no objection to say that the meaning of “infinite” in the context of God’s goodness or nature is …
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Doctrine of God lectures 2012 from WTS
Westminster theological seminary has just released Dr. Scott Oliphint’s Doctrine of God lectures from this past semester. So check them out here!…
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Annihilationism, Conditionalism, Monism, et al.: The “Musty Canard” of the Alleged Platonic Dualistic Interpretive Lens
Adherents to a number of theological positions that are often related to annihilationism posit that the vast majority of Christians throughout history have incorrectly read the anthropological and eschatological teachings of Scripture through the Greek lens of Platonic dualism such that they have also settled upon unbiblical conclusions regarding the constitution of the human being, the intermediate state, and the eternal punishment of the wicked.
Even Greg Bahnsen gave some credence to this accusation (http://www.cmfnow.com/articles/pa143.htm), though he continued to hold that there is an immaterial aspect to the human mind, an intermediate state in virtue of a temporary …
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The Substance of Success in Apologetics
The call to be an Apologist, or a defender of the faith, is not something reserved for seminarians or pastors, or even in general, the smartest among us. Rather, everyone who is called by the name of Christ possesses the responsibility, the burden, and the privilege of defending the truth of God against any contradiction to it. Indeed, we are each called to “Be diligent to present [ourselves] approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)
Apart from pragmatic considerations with regard to Apologetics which are …
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Show Me the Money
I think it is helpful to come clean every now and then and let our readers knows some of our deep, dark secrets. In this case, the secret is the income that Choosing Hats has generated over the past 3+ years. So without further delay, please look below for a month-by-month income statement for every month that Choosing Hats has been operating.
7/2008 – $0.00
8/2008 – $0.00
9/2008 – $0.00
10/2008 – $0.00
11/2008 – $0.00
12/2008 – $0.00
1/2009 – $0.00
2/2009 – $0.00
3/2009 – $0.00
4/2009 – $0.00
5/2009 – $0.00
6/2009 – $0.00
7/2009 – … -
Comment Policy Revision
The staff of CH has decided to open up comments for “debate” once again. Please note that the same rules apply as have applied in the past to the content of comments. Comments will continue to be moderated, which means there will be a variable amount of time before they appear after the post they are tied to. However, debates are no longer restricted to our IRC channel or Skype.
Of course, our IRC channel is still open, and those who wish to meet up with us in there are welcome to do so!
BK…
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Are choices arbitrary?
Those who wish to defend libertarian free will over against a position like Calvinism often attempt to do so upon the basis of a strictly philosophical rather than exegetical basis. It is often asserted that determinism of any kind (which for the sake of argument includes Calvinism) precludes free will such that if we possess free will then indeterminism must be the case. Since there is libertarian free will indeterminism is true (and Calvinism is false).
Note that the inconsistency between libertarian free will and determinism is assumed. The assumption may be granted as definitional. Note also that libertarian free …