Apologetics to the Glory of God

Tag: method

  • Is Fristianity Actual? (Updated with response from David Byron)

    UPDATE: David Byron has offered clarification in a comment, but I did not want to risk people missing it. Please see his response now included at the bottom of the body of the post.

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    One of the greatest worries with the Fristianity objection is that it is often defined in conflicting ways. For example Sean Choi writes, “Of course, Fristianity is not an actual worldview or religion, as is, for example, Islam. But no one – certainly not I – is claiming this.” Yet in a footnote Choi cites David Byron of the Van Til List as popularizing Fristianity. …

  • Certainty, Possibility, and You

    I was directed today to a post by C. Michael Patton, posted roughly a month ago, entitled “Why I am not Completely Certain that Christianity is True“.

    In the podcast to follow, he describes today as “an age of scientific, enlightenment discovery, and scientific methodology for inquiry, and discovery.” He goes on through the podcast to explicate his view of certainty and possibility. “From a scientific standpoint, many of us look at knowledge, and see it as something very cut and dry, very black and white; it’s either true or not true, and that’s it. 2 + …

  • Mr. White, Mr. Grey, and Mr. Black III

    In our previous post, we saw the beginnings of the typical evidential/classical method, as posed by Dr. Carnell. We will continue our journey through Van Til’s dialogue, on pages 316-317 of Defense of the Faith.

    Of course, Mr. Black will be greatly impressed with such an argument as Mr. Grey has presented to him for the truth of Christianity. In fact, if Christianity is thus shown to be in accord with the moral nature of man, as Mr. Black himself sees that moral nature, then Mr. Black does not need to be converted at all to accept Christianity. He

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  • Mr. White, Mr. Grey, and Mr. Black II

    In the previous post, we saw Cornelius Van Til examining the apologetic method of the Reformed, vs the Evangelical varieties. By Evangelical, he means the Arminian or Roman Catholic schools of theology and/or apologetic. As our friend Dr. White is wont to say, “theology determines apologetic”. We’ll continue this series in this post, the second of the series, and pick up where we left off.

    An excerpt from Defense of The Faith, by Cornelius Van Til – Chap. 12, Sec. 3, pg. 313-315, 4th Ed.

    The Believer Meets the Unbeliever – Part II

    Let us first look briefly at

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  • Mr. White, Mr. Grey, and Mr. Black

    An excerpt from Defense of The Faith, by Cornelius Van Til – Chap. 12, Sec. 3, pg. 312-313, 4th Ed.

    The Believer Meets the Unbeliever

    To see clearly what is meant, think of a dentist. You go to him with a “bad tooth”. Does he take care of your tooth in two operations? To be sure, you may have to come back to have him finish the job. But it is one job he is doing. He takes all the decayed matter out before he fills the cavity. Well, Mr. Black is the man with the toothache, and you,

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  • Positive Covenantal Apologetics

    A popular objection to the covenantal apologetic is the claim that it  lacks positive arguments or otherwise falls short of providing a positive apologetic. There are at least three responses to this criticism.

    1. The distinction between a negative and positive apologetic and how the distinction is made is largely attached to apologetic method. Assuming definitions and a distinction that covenantal apologetics by their very nature do not share and then raising an objection to covenantal apologetics based upon the unshared categories of an alternative method is roughly equivalent to critiquing covenantal apologetics because they are covenantal apologetics and not …

  • God Hates Arrogance in Apologetics

    Might we take a moment to set everything aside, read or listen to this message from John Piper, and remember that God hates our arrogance and our pride. God is really not all that concerned about apologetic ministries, letters behind names, popularity, erudition, logical precision or lack thereof as much as many of us would often tend to think. Apologetics is not about you. How foolish we can become in this respect; how often we need a reminder.

    “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 10.17…

  • Introductory Level Apologetics Books

    In light of the fact that Christmas is almost here and in light of the frequently asked questions I receive regarding introductory level material on covenantal apologetics I have provided a list of introductions to presuppositional apologetics. The list is by no means exhaustive. The books are listed roughly in order starting from the easiest to understand and most foundational.

    The Battle Belongs to the Lord

    Every Thought Captive

    Pushing the Antithesis

    Always Ready

    The Portable Presuppositionalist

    Christian Apologetics…

  • Ramblings On Rolling in the Dirt for the Glory of God

    I have spent many, many hours reading and studying and listening to and teaching philosophy. I do not really consider myself a philosopher, and I am not particularly good at doing philosophy, but I am interested in it and wanting to get better at it. However, I would not suggest that many others invest as much as I have in the area.

    Apologetics and philosophy are distinct disciplines. It is troubling to me that many who desire to develop an apologetics ministry (and by ministry here I do not mean a blog or website or non-profit or book or …

  • Some resources to pass the time…

    Introduction to Presuppositional Apologetics by Ian Clary.

    Debate between Sye TenBrugencatte and Paul Baird on the existence of God.

    Papers by one of my “favorite” apologists Colin D. Smith.

    Panel Discussion at SBTS on Apologetic Method.

    Debate between James White and David Silverman on, “Is the New Testament Evil?” (costs)

    Brilliant!…