Apologetics to the Glory of God

Tag: Reformed Theology

  • Standing our Ground: But Not Because of Tradition

    While it might be politic to cite the opinion of someone whose idea of things is, at least superficially, similar to our own, that doesn’t negate the requirement to examine that opinion with an eye toward the presuppositional commitments of the one expressing it.  When we, as Reformed believers, committed to Sola Scriptura, look at a subject like the current push for “gay marriage” – what sort of things are we taking for granted when we take that look?  I refer, of course, to the columnist Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry, who recently wrote an article entitled “Why so many Christians won’t …

  • T. Kurt Jaros and “Finesse”

    T.K. Jaros recently posted an article entitled “Total Depravity: Theological Finesse Needed, Part 1.” As the title implies, it’s obviously merely the first of a series. What struck me, and practically everyone else who I’ve linked the article to, is that immediately after saying “finesse is needed” in the title, the definition he gives of the doctrine is not from a theologian, but from… Wikipedia. Obviously, his posts are not especially thorough, and despite his MA in Systematic Theology, not especially theological, on the whole. As with most of modern evangelicals, his primary interest seems to be philosophy. …

  • Exploratory Questions For Chris Date #2

    I asked some other exploratory questions here, previously.

    1) Do unbelievers suffer in the Lake of Fire?
    2) If so, are they then annihilated by or after this experience?
    3) Why are they thus annihilated?
    4) What is the significance of salt in Old Testament sacrifices, and what is the relevance to being “salted with fire” in Mark 9:49?
    5) Do you believe that the Reformed doctrine of the immortality of man is of Greek origin?
    6) What is death, per your position?
    7) What sense does “eternal punishment” have when without respect to an object of that punishment?…

  • Chris Date Receives Bad Advice

    Chris Date (not to be confused with Chris Bolt!) is an annihilationist who will be debating Choosing Hats contributor RazorsKiss on the following resolution: “The final punishment of the risen wicked will be annihilation, the permanent end to the conscious existence of the entire person.”

    See for example:

    https://choosinghats.org/2012/04/debate-annihilationism-with-chris-date

    https://choosinghats.org/2012/04/initial-thoughts-on-the-upcoming-debate

    https://choosinghats.org/2012/04/against-heresies

    When I came home tonight I saw a trackback to a post where Date quotes what is in his words some of the “best advice” he has received concerning the upcoming debate:

    http://www.theopologetics.com/2012/04/10/some-of-the-best-advice-ive-received

    I am not familiar with Date. I do not intend to be rude. However, Date …

  • Point of Contact and Human Reason

    It’s quite common to find the following objections made – just check out who is answering them as well as giving them for consideration.

    What has been said up to this point may seem to be discouraging in the extreme. It would seem that the argument up to this point has driven us to a denial of any point of contact whatsoever with the unbeliever. Is it not true that men must have some contact with the truth if they are to receive further knowledge of it? If men are totally ignorant of the truth, how can they even become

    …

  • 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

    …