Apologetics to the Glory of God

Choosing Hats

  • Admitting the Possibility

    (4:50) “Please pray for us? It seems to me as though Joshua’s prayer leading up to this debate, and my prayer, are a bit different. I’ll let you follow his posts so that you can check that out. My prayer for the upcoming debate is not that what I think is the truth will in fact be made out to be true. Because I quite frankly admit the possibility that I might be wrong about this; I don’t think that I am, and I think that the Scripture is clearly in support of the position that I’ll be advancing. But

    …

  • The FAQ Section: A Reminder

    This is just a friendly reminder to new site commenters as well as visitors to our chat channel. As it says in the comment section, please make sure you have read through the FAQ section before making a comment, or asking a question in the chat channel. Obviously, we haven’t addressed every objection there is – but we do have at least a general context given there for most objections, and their general categories, which should inform our mutual discussion.

    This section can be visited by clicking the “FAQ” tab up top – if there is a subject that you’d …

  • While I’m feeling cranky…

    Let me note that the norm from here on out on my posts will be for the comments to be closed. If you don’t like that, or want to address something that I write, then you can get your own blog (they are actually available for free on the Internet) or contact the site through some other means. I find that most people are skimming the posts and then writing on something that has already been addressed or they are writing about something totally unrelated to the post. Most comments are far too long and far too unhelpful for me …

  • In the Vein of “Everything you ever learned was wrong”

    There are the Jehovah’s Witness claims that the entire Christian church has always been wrong about, well, almost everything. Except for those few ECFs they could massage into some sort of superficial agreement, of course. Mormonism likewise asserts that all churches ceased to be true churches rather quickly following Christ’s ascension. Islam, with it’s idea of scriptural supercessionism and their revisionist version of what the Scriptures actually are, or taught, have a similar view of Christianity as a whole. It’s much the same with any other warmed-over historical error – be they large, as the wholesale replacement religions seen above …

  • Life and Death, Blessing and Curse

    The case being made by the annihilationists we have interacted with has certain presuppositional commitments which affect how they read Scripture. The first entails that we view death as an atheist would – empirically. The second entails that we read Scripture as if these descriptions it gives are meant to describe empirical processes or events. The third is that these descriptions are of the process, not describing the nature of the one who punishes. The fourth is that the nature of God is to be understood immanentistically.

    As we dealt with the commentary concerning “Think of how an atheist views …

  • Summer Reading Suggestions

    Here are some books I have found helpful for various reasons. They are not covenantal or presuppositional books per se, nor will you agree with everything in them. Far from it. But they will help you think deeply and critically about theology, philosophy, and apologetics even though most of them are written on an introductory level.

    A Shot of Faith to the Head – http://www.amazon.com/Shot-Faith-Head-Confident-Believer/dp/1595554343/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338582505&sr=1-1

    Where the Conflict Really Lies – http://www.amazon.com/Where-Conflict-Really-Lies-Naturalism/dp/0199812098/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338582587&sr=1-1

    Our Idea of God – http://www.amazon.com/Our-Idea-God-Thomas-Morris/dp/1573831018/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338582547&sr=1-1

    Divinity and Humanity – http://www.amazon.com/Divinity-Humanity-Incarnation-Reconsidered-Theology/dp/052169535X…

  • Moral and Cultural Apologetics

    Note the following research:

    http://stackblog.wordpress.com/2012/05/27/its-just-not-true-american-evangelicals-do-not-in-fact-behave-as-badly-as-everyone-else/

    HT: Steve Hays

    But note also an apologetic work premised on the same sort of argument:

    http://www.amazon.com/Moral-Apologetics-Contemporary-Christians-Religious/dp/0805464204/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338579716&sr=8-1

    It seems to me that an apologetic which points out the moral and cultural failings of unbelievers coupled with the moral and cultural solidity of Christians is precisely the type of apologetic which will do the most damage to the so-called New Atheism. I’m not talking about an air-tight argument, nor do I think that the argument can or should stand on its own, but let’s face it: non-Christians don’t have much going for them in terms of …

  • 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!…

  • Commentary on Comments

    [O]ne of the most basic features of presuppositional apologetics (though it is not exclusive to presuppositional apologetics) is drawing the distinction between proof and persuasion. Suppose, for example, that someone is not persuaded that 5+7=12. What does this lack of persuasion have to do with whether or not 5+7=12 is self-evident, true, or even proven? Nothing! Insert your favorite provable mathematical claim in the place of 5+7=12. It does not matter at all whether or not someone is persuaded by the proof offered in support of the mathematical proposition in question; it does not follow that the proof does not

    …

  • The New Euthyphro

    There are countless angles to take in approaching the somewhat difficult task of teaching covenantal/presuppositional apologetics. What follows may be one of them.

    Socrates famously asked, “Is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?” The so-called Euthyphro Dilemma has haunted and warmed the halls of the academy ever since.

    The difficulty with answering that the good is willed by God because it is good is that the standard of good in this view exists quite apart from and in superiority to God. God appeals to a …