Choosing Hats
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Rebranding Apologetics
With the name change, there will be particular hang ups with some who use the methodology to defend the faith. A good example is Fred Butler, a respectable guy who graduated from TMS and advocates presuppositional apologetics. He says :
…It is unnecessary because I believe the word “presuppositionalism” is an appropriate descriptor for the methodology. When we engage unbelievers, we are engaging the presuppositions of their worldview — the foundational building blocks of those “strongholds” they have built against the knowledge of God (2 Cor. 10:4-5). And moreover, we stand our ground on the presuppositions that we are
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Behold, “Presuppositional” is passing way, apologetics is becoming “Covenantal”
Dr. Oliphint explains why he finds the label “Presuppositional” to be unhelpful, and why he is instead labeling Van Til’s methodology “Covenantal apologetics”.
Covenantal Apologetics from Westminster Theological Seminary on Vimeo.
The book is due for next month! For anyone interested in learning Van Til’s apologetic, one should certainly check the work that Oliphint has undertaken to biblically demonstrate Van Til’s particular Reformed apologetic application.…
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For the Love of God and Philosophy
One of the biggest roadblocks to accepting the Bible as the Word of God is putting biblical theology in terms of philosophy (and by this I mean modern philosophy, or the formulation of thought in the tradition of the popular philosophers), rather than putting philosophy in terms of biblical theology. The philosophical categories, which have largely been fabricated in ignorance of the Bible, are often insufficient to expound the doctrines of the Bible. At the same time, many of the modern philosophical categories are created with intent to circumvent the implications of biblical theology. This same deference to man’s philosophy …
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On the Will to War in a Wayward Culture
Doug Wilson gives some excellent thoughts on the Christian’s duty to his culture and fighting spiritual decay.
Notable quotes:
“Considered generally, is the Church today in an offensive or defensive stance? Leave aside the compromised sectors of the church are, which are actively doing damage in what they do. Just think of the uncompromised sections of the Church — even there our stance is most emphatically defensive. We think we have won, for example, if we successfully prevent them from establishing homosexual marriage in our state. But that, while good, is not victory at all. You haven’t won the war …