Category: Uncategorized
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Expert Apologist
Negatively…
The expert in apologetics is not necessarily the one with the best philosophical arguments. The expert in apologetics does not necessarily know all of the relevant facts. The expert in apologetics does not necessarily always have an intellectually satisfying answer on hand. The expert in apologetics is not constantly trying to defend his or her own name. The expert in apologetics is not constantly after opportunities to make his or her name known. The expert in apologetics does not withhold knowledge from others. The expert in apologetics does not use language no one can understand. The expert in apologetics …
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Eternal Sonship, Incarnational Sonship, Church History and Apologetics
Donald Macleod asks, “Granting, however, that there is a real personal distinction between the Father and the Son, is the sonship eternal?” (Macleod 127)
The answer to the question is “Yes”. Those who are new to doctrinal discussions concerning the Trinity and Jesus Christ may sometimes find it difficult at first to understand how Jesus, the Son of God, has always been the Son. The issue is by no means a new one.
…It was the rise of Arianism that forced the issue into prominence, because it called in question not so much the sonship of Christ as his eternal
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Wrongly, Plantinga
According to John Calvin, “As soon as ever we depart from Christ, there is nothing, be it ever so gross or insignificant in itself, respecting which we are not necessarily deceived.” Perhaps Calvin means only what we have already noted: one who doesn’t know God fails to know the most important truth about anything else. He may mean to go even further, however: perhaps he means to say that those who don’t know God suffer much wider ranging cognitive deprivation and, in fact, don’t really have any knowledge at all. (This view is at any rate attributed (rightly or wrongly) …
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If you have ever wondered…
If you have ever wondered why a particular gentleman in a particular cult has spent so much of his time and effort over the course of many years attempting to refute what he thinks is a massively flawed approach to apologetics where adherents merely imagine a magical invisible being who created a cartoon universe as an explanation for everything then you are probably not alone.
However, I do not believe the answer is too difficult. It can take a lot of work to hold the truth down. Thank God that He is able and willing to break the hard hearts …
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Cultic Presups
As if often noted by Dr. White on his program, The Dividing Line, there are certain presuppositions that show up again and again in cults. The most obvious one is that of Unitarianism.
These presuppositions can be illustrated quite clearly in an excerpt from Dr. White’s “The Forgotten Trinity.”
…So we can see that rather than denying the deity of Christ, John 14:28 implies it, for the position into which the Son was going is a position fit only for deity, not for mere creatures. This is brought out plainly in the words of Jesus in John 17 and His
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A Weird “Proof”
Someone sent me a link to the following argument.
1.(1) If Calvinism is true, there is no free will
2.(2) The logical problem of evil is defeated only by Plantinga’s Free Will Defense
3.(3) Plantinga’s Free Will Defense requires that there exist free will
4.(4) If Calvinism is true, the logical problem of evil is not defeated
5.(5) If the logical problem of evil is not defeated, God does not exist
6.(6) If Calvinism is true, God does not exist
7.(7) God does exist
8.(8) Calvinism is false
9.(9) Human beings have free willLots of problems here.
1. This …
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Serving the Creature
“…they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator…” Romans 1.25
Al Mohler comments on the “new religion” of thinking green here.…
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Absurdity In Atheism And Incredulity Concerning Inquiry
It can often be entertaining (though ultimately it is really and truly sad) to observe unbelievers flinching at the utter absurdity of their own worldview when they are asked direct questions about even their most basic beliefs. For example, while being grilled on such topics as morality Dan Barker has been known to appeal to the audience and imply that his opponent is too dumb to know right from wrong as he did in his debate with Doug Wilson. Or, recall Barker’s debate with Paul Manata where he responds to Manata’s questions by saying, “You’re not serious about that” to …
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Some of Nocterro’s Presuppositions
Someone commenting on the site by the name Nocterro recently posted the following:
…I just have one final point to make regarding presuppositions.
Presuppose: To believe or suppose in advance. (American Heritage Dictionary, 4th edition).
You said earlier in this discussion: “You presuppose autonomy in that you reject the Lordship of Christ and the interpretation of the resurrection provided by Scripture which states that it was a supernatural event and assume that a naturalistic interpretation is possible for any given evidence.”
This is wrong. In fact, you could say that I started with similar presuppositions to the ones that you
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An Objection That Does Not Count
Non-Christians can and do engage in activities using logic, science, and morality. Christians do as well. Presuppositionalists claim that these two groups can do so only because the world is what God says it is.
The argument advanced for this claim begins with one of the accepted activities mentioned above (logic, science, or morality) and illustrates how this activity is possible if the world is what God says it is. Then the accepted activity is shown to be inconsistent with what anyone else other than God says the world is.
While it might be said that the non-Christian cannot and …