Apologetics to the Glory of God

Tag: philosophy of religion

  • Covenantal Apologetics and Other Religions

    Introduction

    Nick Norelli recently wrote:

    I think the thing is that plenty of presuppositionalists debate (look at James White who debates like every other day) and I’m sure they employ their method, but I think it lends itself to certain subjects better than others. For example, when I reviewed Gary Demar’s book on Bahnsen’s apologetic I noted how devastating I think PA is against atheism but I struggle to see it as being as strong against other forms of theism which can make the same claims (i.e., they all have their gods and their scriptures to appeal to).”

    The …

  • A Hypothetical Apologetic?

    In taking Scripture as an absolute presupposition and standard for thought, the Christian apologist ought to maintain that there are no possibilities outside of what God is and decrees to be. It is never possible for God to be other than the type of being He is portrayed to be in His self-revelation. Because he does not presuppose the certain truth of the Bible at the very start of his apologetic (de facto and in principium) Clark (a self-professed Calvinist) is willing to reduce the whole system of Christian truth revealed by God therein to a possible accident

  • Wrongly, Plantinga

    According to John Calvin, “As soon as ever we depart from Christ, there is nothing, be it ever so gross or insignificant in itself, respecting which we are not necessarily deceived.” Perhaps Calvin means only what we have already noted: one who doesn’t know God fails to know the most important truth about anything else. He may mean to go even further, however: perhaps he means to say that those who don’t know God suffer much wider ranging cognitive deprivation and, in fact, don’t really have any knowledge at all. (This view is at any rate attributed (rightly or wrongly) …

  • Discussion With Nocterro: Incomplete Final Response

    Below are the links to the previous parts of an informal debate that I began with Nocterro some time ago. Unfortunately Nocterro had to take a break from the exchange and shortly thereafter I needed to as well. The final comments I offer here are rather incomplete and do not summarize the argument up to this point nor touch on every point which was a matter of contention. Nocterro has requested that I go forward with posting what I have anyway and I am happy to oblige. I want to thank Nocterro for being willing to engage in this discussion …

  • Praxis Presup: Episode 2

    Praxis Presup
    Episode 2 – April 23, 2010
    Chris Bolt and Mike Berhow

    Chris Bolt and Mike Berhow discuss hatred of the God of the Old Testament. Some of the points that are covered include arguments used by the so-called “New Atheists”. Praxis Presup 2

  • New Podcast! “Praxis Presup”

    You may find the first ever Choosing Hats Podcast Praxis Presup Praxis Presup 1 here.

    Praxis Presup
    Episode 1 – April 6, 2010
    Chris Bolt and Mike Berhow

    Chris Bolt and Mike Berhow discuss Bertrand Russell’s Celestial Teapot. Some of the points that are covered include arguments used by the so-called “New Atheists”, the nature of evidence and the burden of proof.

  • Nitpicking With Nocterro

    Recently I posted the audio recording of a debate I had roughly three years ago. A visitor to the site named Nocterro commented in response, “You appear to have used Plantinga’s evolutionary argument against naturalism without citing Plantinga.” By this I take him to mean that I do not just “appear” to have used Plantinga’s EAAN without citing Plantinga but that I actually did use Plantinga’s EAAN. In response to this observation I simply responded with a joke:

    What? Plantinga thought of an argument like that too?! You know what they say about great minds. 😉

    Explaining my jest is …

  • Theology Drives Apologetic

    What we believe drives what we’re defending, obviously. When someone defending another position that claims to be Christian interacts with us, how are we to respond? Many times, that will tell unbelievers as much about us as our interaction with them does. Wes Widner, featured recently due to his citation of Open Theist Gregory Boyd, has criticized Dr. James White in the recent past, quite vehemently.

    Most notably for: “misrepresenting and slandering” William Lane Craig, Norm Geisler, etc.

    When pressed to give examples on The Dividing Line, Wes was unable to give any concrete examples. In other conversations since, Wes …

  • Should we argue for “general theism”?

     

     

    In my experience the presuppositionalist program of setting out to defend specifically Christian theism generally produces scoffing rather than interaction. At the beginning of his debate with Gordon Stein, Greg Bahnsen states his position on this matter. He says, “I want to specify that I’m arguing particularly in favor of Christian theism, and for it as a unit or system of thought and not for anything like theism in general, and there are reasons for that.”

    There are at least two senses in which Bahnsen explains he will not be arguing for or defending theism in general. Bahnsen …

  • Serving the Creature

    “…they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator…” Romans 1.25

    Al Mohler comments on the “new religion” of thinking green here.…