Apologetics to the Glory of God

Tag: attributes of God

Barking at Thunder

While working out in my yard today, it began to rain. Along with the rain, as often happens in South Mississippi, came thunder and lightning (there is a small tropical storm in the Gulf). Immediately, my year old Great Dane/Rottweiler mix, Huan (Yes, he’s named after the Hound of Valinor! My youngest daughter’s middle name is Luthien, incidentally. You do the math…), began to bark at that thunder, as if to chase it off! Now, looking at the mix there, you can imagine the size of my dog. He is a massive specimen of canine. He’s not as tall …

June 28, 2011
Calvin on Creation

“It did not, however, happen from inconsideration or by accident, that the light preceded the sun and the moon. To nothing are we more prone than to tie down the power of God to those instruments the agency of which he employs. The sun an moon supply us with light: And, according to our notions we so include this power to give light in them, that if they were taken away from the world, it would seem impossible for any light to remain. Therefore the Lord, by the very order of the creation, bears witness that he holds in his …

April 27, 2011
Various and Sundry Issues to Recap

Last week, my comment at Aporetic Christianity resulted in a bit of a firestorm – of posts, and sometimes fiery discussion. I’d like to use this opportunity to make a few comments on this exchange, and exchanges in general. In the exchange between Paul, myself, and BK, some might consider the “tone” in places to be overly harsh. While I think Paul may have thought at one point that I was objecting to the tone, I think we’ve come to at least a partial understanding of the other’s goals. That being said, there’s a balance to be had in the …

April 14, 2011
Knowledge, Attenuated VanTillianism, and a False Dilemma

Yesterday, I did some commenting on a post by Paul Manata entitled “Do All Men Know that God Exists?“.

In this post, he offers a couple possible responses he would consider Van Tillians to potentially offer, tells us he’s an “attenuated” Van Tillian (which is unsurprising, at best); we interacted in the comments for a bit, (complete with his typical ad hominem) and he returns today with a bit of screed, venting about Van Tillians. His problem, apparently, seems to be my “certainty”. Far be it from me to point out that he acts anything but uncertain, but …

April 8, 2011
Sola Scriptura Debate

Sorry for the long wait. The audio for the debate can be found here. A transcript (courteously provided by Mr. Marcum) can be found here.

The full thesis: Sola Scriptura is an essential Christian doctrine, and necessary for instruction in faith and practice

Debaters: Dan Marcum, myself

Moderator: BK…

February 17, 2011
ZaoThanatoo Answers the Argument from Horrific Suffering 2 (Guest Post)

The Argument from Horrific Suffering for the Non-Existence of God

The Argument from Horrific Suffering for the Non-Existence of God (Mitch) / Answering the Argument from Horrific Suffering (Chris) / Bolt and Horrific Suffering (Mitch) / Answering the Argument from Horrific Suffering 2 (Chris) / Bolt and Horrific Suffering II (Mitch) / Answering the Argument from Horrific Suffering 3 (Chris) / Bolt and Horrific Suffering III (Mitch) / Answering the Argument from Horrific Suffering 4 (Chris) / ZaoThanatoo Answers (ZaoThanatoo) / Bolt and Horrific Suffering IV (Mitch)

I will provide a brief rebuttal to Mitch’s response and grant him the …

January 25, 2011
Dear Eldnar

The following comment and response may be found on this post.

Hi there,

Some would take a leap and state that “this cause is God”, but such a leap is unwarranted.

*GASP* I’ve only heard two people *ever* try to say that the uncaused cause is not God, and you are the second of the two. Here’s what happened to the first person:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCUE10dY3Rc

There is nothing in the premises of the argument that necessarily leads to the conclusion that the cause of the universe is God.

True. But it points to God “beyond reasonable doubt”. A person can
…

January 16, 2011
Mr. White, Mr. Grey, and Mr. Black V

These posts contain lengthy quotations from Defense of the Faith, by Cornelius Van Til – this post will deal with pages 319-323. In the previous post, Van Til dealt with the unbeliever’s state before God, his self-deception, suppression of the truth, and the proper apologetic methodology to use with the unbeliever. Beginning here, he begins to answer the charge that a covenantal apologetic is “circular reasoning”, or has no “point of contact” with the unbeliever.

The one main question to which we are addressing ourselves in this series of articles is whether Christians holding to the Reformed Faith should
…

January 15, 2011
Answering the Argument from Horrific Suffering 4

Argument from Horrific Suffering

The exchange has taken place as follows: The Argument from Horrific Suffering for the Non-Existence of God (Mitch) / Answering the Argument from Horrific Suffering (Chris) / Bolt and Horrific Suffering (Mitch) / Answering the Argument from Horrific Suffering 2 (Chris) / Bolt and Horrific Suffering II (Mitch) / Answering the Argument from Horrific Suffering 3 (Chris) / Bolt and Horrific Suffering III (Mitch) / …Answers the Argument from Horrific Suffering (ZaoThanatoo).

Mitch notes that I am still challenging premise (4) of the following argument:

Horrific Suffering (def.) = that most awe-full form of suffering that
…

January 14, 2011
Mr. White, Mr. Grey, and Mr. Black IV

In our last post, we examined the Romanist, “evangelical,” and putatively “Reformed” apologetic methods, as advanced by Jacques Maritain, Dr. Carnell and Charles Pinnock, and Dr. Sproul, and applied them to our discussion. In this section, we address Mr. Black, and begin to examine in greater detail the difference in approach that Mr. White and Mr. Grey have in their apologetic. This section comes from pgs 317-319 of Defense of the Faith.

So also with Mr. Black. He daily changes the truth of God into a lie. He daily worships and serves the creature more than the Creator. He
…

January 10, 2011