Tag: revelation
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What exactly is it that we presuppose?
Covenantal apologists frequently encounter an objection in their own mind if it is not raised by someone else in the form of the question, “What exactly is it that we presuppose?”
Perhaps it is God who is presupposed, but then God as divorced from His Word is a concept without Christian content.
Perhaps it is Scripture which is presupposed, but then Scripture as divorced from its Author is a document without authority.
So both of the above must be presupposed, but is that enough? Not if we are to avoid an implicit disconnect between the two. Not if we are …
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Annihilationism: Universalism and The Reality of Eternal Punishment: The Biblical Basis of the Doctrine of Eternal Punishment by Sinclair Ferguson
…Now you see the point that is being made: if you believe in the immortality of the soul, then it’s necessary for you to do something in your theology with that immortal soul that rejects God.
In contrast, it is claimed, the New Testament’s teaching is different. We are to fear him who is able to “destroy” body and soul in hell, and this is what he will do. And it’s vital that we have a biblical response to that.
And it seems to me that the biblical response to that is this: that the immortality of man—which of
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Does God Desire That All Be Saved?
…3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7 But -
Annihilationism: ἀπόλλυμι word study by Anthony A. Hoekema
…(1) Sometimes apollumi simply means to be lost. It is so used in the three “lost” parables in Luke 15, to designate the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. In the case of the sin, his being lost meant that he was lost to the fellowship of his father since he went against his father’s purpose.
(2) The word apollumi may be applied in a somewhat related way to mean become useless. So in Matthew 9:17 it is used to show what happens to old wineskins when you pour new wine into them: the skins
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Glenn Peoples on 2 Corinthians 12
Although I’m familiar with the view that the Apostle Paul is relating an “out of body experience” at the outset of 2 Corinthians 12, I’m pretty sure that he is not. That’s partly because I’m a physicalist and I don’t think that such things are even possible, but it’s also because the evidence for this claim about the meaning of this passage is pretty weak. – Glenn Peoples (http://www.beretta-online.com/wordpress/2010/2-corinthians-12-an-out-of-body-experience)
Dr. Peoples has his presuppositions out of whack. He discerns metaphysical possibility in virtue of physicalism rather than Scripture. He has it backwards. He is also confused about the …
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Conversion Stories
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
(Ephesians 2.1-3)
Conversion stories are all the rage in our “postmodern” context. Unbelievers thus pride themselves on claiming to have once been …
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Initial Thoughts on the Upcoming Debate
I’m finding lots of commentary by folks who want to somehow separate the doctrine of the soul’s immortality from the doctrine of eternal punishment. Since, after all, we believe in Sola Scriptura, that necessarily includes “Tota Scriptura”, and the necessary relation of every doctrine to the others. This is a fundamental point of Reformed theology. No doctrine exists in isolation. The denial, or modification of one doctrine will quite necessarily have an effect on a host of others, due to the nature of Scripture, and the theology we affirm from it. In the introduction to Van Til’s Christian Theistic Evidences…
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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
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A Fantastic Insight into Redaction Criticism and the Islamic use of it
Two brief excerpts:
…I can tell you, without hesitation, that the vast majority of those who embrace form and redaction criticism in all of its flavors and kinds do so out of tradition, not out of having examined the case set forth in defense of these methods. In fact, very, very few of those who glibly repeat the party line have ever even given thought to any other viewpoint. Anyone who thinks there is a fair, open dialogue in “the academy” over these topics is simply misinformed. To “get ahead” in Christian scholarship you must—not should, MUST—toe the line when
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New Atheism, Intentional Ignorance, and Apathy
Over at erstwhile atheist blogger Paul Jenkins’ site, he posted the following:
…At Choosing Hats, contributor McFormtist considers what constitutes successful apologetics. As the type of apologetic usually in question at Choosing Hats is “covenantal” or “presuppositional” apologetics, and my own limited encounters with presuppositionalists have led me to the conclusion that presuppositonal apologetics is spectacularly unsuccessful in the declared purpose of apologetics in general, naturally my interest was piqued.
Early on in the piece comes this:
Our theology dictates to us that it is God who changes men’s hearts. As Reformed Christians, we understand that God in