Apologetics to the Glory of God

Choosing Hats

  • Islam: Allamah Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tabatabai on the Knowledge of Allah (1)

    In Shi’ite Islam, Allamah Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tabatabai (hereafter ASMHT) attempts an argument for “The Necessity of God” through natural theology (123). There are many different understandings of what exactly natural theology is and what it actually accomplishes, but in this particular passage ASMHT attempts to prove the existence of the Muslim god Allah through a simple, straightforward natural theological proof (123). This attempt is made at the very beginning of a chapter on the knowledge of ASMHT’s god, so it is clear that the argument he presents is pre-dogmatic in nature and possesses even an apologetic function. Since …

  • John Starke on Van Til’s Influence on Christian Thought

    John Starke over at The Gospel Coalition takes a quick look at the affect Dr. Cornelius Van Til has had since his work at Westminster Theological Seminary.

    John Starke notes:

    Van Til transformed the discussions around epistemology and apologetics unlike anyone else in modern Christian history—being the main influence behind theologians, pastors, and apologists like John Frame, Tim Keller, David Powlison, Greg Bahnsen and the entire systematic and apologetics departments of Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia and California, headed by names like Michael Horton, Scott Oliphint, William Edgar, and David VanDrunen.

    Even Dr. Albert Mohler of SBTS has spoken of …

  • The Best in Atheistic Argumentation

    Witness the ultimate atheistic counter to presuppositional argumentation:

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  • Perspicacity and Ignorance

    If I assert that there is a black cat in the closet, and you assert that nobody knows what is in the closet, you have virtually told me that I am wrong in my hypothesis. So when I tell Mr. Black that God exists, and he responds very graciously by saying that perhaps I am right since nobody knows what is in the “Beyond,” he is virtually saying that I am wrong in my hypothesis. He is obviously thinking of such a god as could comfortably live in the realm of chance. But the God of Scripture cannot live in

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  • Sermon: The Knowledge of God

    I was given the opportunity by the ever-gracious Eddie Exposito of Sovereign Grace Fellowship in Slidell, to preach in Romans 1 this morning. I appreciate the opportunity. It is, for those who follow the site regularly, an adaptation of my paper on Romans 1 that appeared in the first edition of In Antithesis. It also includes, for more recent followers, a bit of a discussion on the topic of my upcoming debate, and should be interesting in that vein as well. I will have further opportunity to preach again next Sunday. Again, I was most appreciative of the opportunity, and …

  • “Christianity is a Man-made Religion”

    It is always amusing to hear some of the language that non-Christians, and especially atheists, use in their assaults on the Christian faith and defenses of their own position.

    Presumably the atheist thinks it is somewhat problematic and perhaps even insulting to the Christian to dismiss his or her position as “man-made.” We can set aside the obvious “problem” with using “man” this way in the current academic climate. We can also set aside that the unbeliever almost always merely asserts without argument that Christianity is man-made. We may then note that the statement as it stands is no insult …

  • Mormonism

    http://www.aomin.org/aoblog/index.php?itemid=5065…

  • “Anderson on Anderson”

    It’s always a good idea to actually read the posts you are responding to in the blogosphere as Pilgrim demonstrates with respect to another Anderson.

    http://pilgrimphilosopher.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/anderson-on-anderson/

    HT: Steve Hays

    BTW, this is post #700 at Choosing Hats. I just thought I’d rub it in that I beat the other contributors to it even though they know that I am away right now. 😀

    Update: http://pilgrimphilosopher.wordpress.com/2012/04/28/anderson-on-anderson-anderson-and-pilgrim/…

  • Van Til, Kuyper, Calvin, Aquinas, Grace, the Donum Superadditum, and Immortality

    For the believers, Scripture is the principle of theology. As such it cannot be the conclusion of other premises, but it is the premise from which all other conclusions are drawn.

    From what has been said it is not to be concluded that Kuyper has no great appreciation of the knowledge of God that may be obtained from nature. The contrary is true. he lays the greatest possible stress upon the idea that the Bible is not a book that has fallen from heaven. There is a natural foundation for it. This natural foundation is found in the fact that

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  • Exploratory Questions for Chris Date

    1) Do you believe that the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah were annihilated by God in Genesis 19?
    2) Do you believe that those who die the first death are annihilated?
    3) Do you continue to believe that there is no explanation/expansion of Old Testament texts by those who quote them in the New Testament?

    “I’m completely open to the possibility that New Testament authors, and the Lord himself, expanded upon Old Testament imagery; show me where they do that? They don’t, they just quote it. In Mark 9:48, Jesus simply quotes Isaiah’s language. What indication is there that the

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