Apologetics to the Glory of God

Choosing Hats

  • Van Til to His Critics

    “If my critics had fairly stated and then criticized my efforts at constructing an apologetic that is in accord instead of out of accord with the Reformed faith, it would possibly mean progress. As it is they have, except Orlebeke, taken for granted that the traditional view is true. All their detailed criticisms are based on the assumption that apologetics requires an area of interpretation that the unbeliever and the believer have in common. When I point out that this view leads inevitably to a compromise of the Reformed Faith, they take no notice of it. If the natural man …

  • Impostors in Presuppositionalism

    I came across a very good post discussing the rise of of some popular level apologetic methodology that tries to brand itself as Van Tilian presuppositionalism but is really just an impostor.

    Check it out here: http://pousto.wordpress.com/2013/11/29/naive-presuppositionalism/…

  • Well there you have it…

    #SCIENCE…

  • Stop! It’s Hammer Time!

    While I was searching for citations from Van Til, I ran across this post at a website named “God’s Hammer”. It appears to be a great website full of resources overall, but this particular author seems to have blind-spots when reading Van Til. It could be a bad rep given by clarkians, or for some other reason altogether. Nonetheless he doesn’t seem to understand the difference between real contradictions, and apparent contradictions (otherwise known as a paradox).

    “Cornelius Van Til was a minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church who is well-known today for his apologetic method and his views on …

  • Obstetric NewSpeak in the Culture of Death

    Transuterine relocation of gender-neutral fetal tissue complete. Begin disposal or allow contra-disposal parasitism?…

  • If one is uncertain; one is certainly an evidentialist?

    Someone pointed me to the following quote on facebook yesterday:

    The Baptist is inherently an evidentialist. They must look to subjective always changing evidence to prove covenant membership.

    A Presbyterian assumes an objective, universal standard for membership that can be known with certainty.

    A Baptist cannot claim certainty.

    Granted, this is a non-sequitur in its own right as it stands. It seems to be a post meant to start what those of us who have been around Internet discussions a while call a “flame war” about the subject of baptism in some purported presuppositionalist sub-group. I choose to ignore that …

  • Infallibilism, Knowledge, Attenuated Presup and Unwitting Clarkianism

    So, I was involved in a bit of a dustup with some folks yesterday. Essentially, the bone of contention was concerning knowledge. The position of our antagonists, essentially, was that knowledge, to be knowledge, must be “infallible.” There are a variety of issues with this stance, but chiefly, my concern is from theology proper, as we will explore; although we will address a few other issues along the way as well.

    My response is first to the notion of infallibility being applied to “knowledge” in the first place. Fallibility, obviously, means an ability to fail. Well, to fail, one has …

  • Oil and Water

    Craig Cobb, a white supremacist, finds out he is “14% Sub-Saharan African” on live television. It is hilarious that his response is “oil and water doesn’t mix” because that is just the kicker, he is living proof his worldview cannot account for the way the world really is, even his own existence. At best Craig Cobb thinks “whites” and “blacks” should not have “mixed” children, like himself. For a Biblical view on “race” check out this post by Thabiti Anyabwile. I pray that Craig Cobb will repent and believe the gospel so that the Lord may have mercy on …

  • Got Worship?

    If you read this site often, you’ve probably seen Romans 1:25

    “because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.” 

    You’ve probably seen the following quote from Calvin’s Institutes

    “The human mind, stuffed as it is with presumptuous rashness, dares to imagine a god suited to its own capacity; as it labours under dullness, nay, is sunk in the grossest ignorance, it substitutes vanity and an empty phantom in the place of God.” (Inst. I.11.8)

    And last of all, you’ve probably seen one …

  • False If It Helps?

    Many people come to believe and embrace Christianity by means of some tragedy or crisis. They’re driven in desperation to look for something that will help them rationalize and file away their grief, and many times, they find Christianity. Many other times, they grab hold of other things, such as drugs, alcohol, other religions, or even a perceived freedom achieved from relinquishing religion. In any case, tragedy has a way of forcing people into a spiral of desperation while their flailing arms are reaching for something outside themselves hoping that thing can withstand the force, and grant stability once again. …