Apologetics to the Glory of God

Tag: Theology

  • Resources on iTunes U

    I was recently impressed with the wealth of information available on iTunes University. One set of courses that caught my attention in particular (and that I am currently listening to) is a 3-part series on Systematic Theology, taught by Dr. Douglas F. Kelly from RTS. I have provided links below for those who may be interested in downloading these free lectures:

    Systematic Theology I
    Systematic Theology II
    Systematic Theology III

    BK…

  • If you have ever wondered…

    If you have ever wondered why a particular gentleman in a particular cult has spent so much of his time and effort over the course of many years attempting to refute what he thinks is a massively flawed approach to apologetics where adherents merely imagine a magical invisible being who created a cartoon universe as an explanation for everything then you are probably not alone.

    However, I do not believe the answer is too difficult. It can take a lot of work to hold the truth down. Thank God that He is able and willing to break the hard hearts …

  • The Significance of God’s Sovereignty

    The Sovereignty of God is an expression that once was generally understood. It was a phrase commonly used in religious literature. It was a theme frequently expounded in the pulpit. It was a truth which brought comfort to many hearts, and gave virility and stability to Christian character. But, today, to make mention of God’s Sovereignty is, in many quarters, to speak in an unknown tongue. Were we to announce from the average pulpit that the subject of our discourse would be the Sovereignty of God, it would sound very much as though we had borrowed a phrase from one

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  • Open Theism and Pacifism?

    Molinism advocate and apologist Wes Widner quoted Open Theist Gregory Boyd earlier today, concerning non-violence. The quote was as follows:

    Any peace achieved by violence is a peace forever threatened by violence, thus ensuring that the bloody game will be perpetuated.

    This is cited (but not in the tweet, for obvious reasons) from Boyd’s The Myth of a Christian Nation, pg 27. (Excerpt of the book linked here) As no context was provided by Wes, I asked him, via Twitter, the same format I saw the quote in.

    In the meantime, while waiting his reply, I performed a cursory …

  • 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 …

  • Cultic Presups

    As if often noted by Dr. White on his program, The Dividing Line, there are certain presuppositions that show up again and again in cults. The most obvious one is that of Unitarianism.

    These presuppositions can be illustrated quite clearly in an excerpt from Dr. White’s “The Forgotten Trinity.”

    So we can see that rather than denying the deity of Christ, John 14:28 implies it, for the position into which the Son was going is a position fit only for deity, not for mere creatures. This is brought out plainly in the words of Jesus in John 17 and His

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  • The Possibility of Middle Knowledge

    I’m going to include the transcript of a discussion I had (along with several others) with a Middle Knowledge proponent that frequents AOMin’s chat channel. The reason I do so is in order to give an example of how the argument I advanced recently functions in an actual discussion.

    The discussion was fairly wide-ranging, but I think demonstrates the ability of a consistent return to the nature of God as the foundation of a reply to the assertions advanced by proponents of MK and other similar philosophical systems, over against the Biblical conception of God’s nature and the modal collapse …

  • A Further Example of the Importance of Divine Simplicity

    My comment: “God is not “driven by” wrath – wrath is an attribute of God’s nature.”

    CMP: No, wrath is a response of another attribute, namely righteousness. But that is not really the point of this post.

    Jugulum: I actually agree w/him on “wrath”. Wrath isn’t an attr. because God’s wouldn’t be wrathful if he hadn’t created. God was/is/will-be eternally holy/righteous, which includes the trait, “I will be wrathful toward sin”. You might call that a “attr. of wrath”, but I think that was the distinction CMP was making. Similarly, God wasn’t eternally merciful, apart from a sinful creation. Mercy

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  • The Consequences of Evidentialism

    If you were able to go back in a time machine and witness the tomb of Christ only to find that Christ did not raise from the grave, what would that do to your Christian faith?

    (A Quick Question – @Parchment and Pen)

    Note the poll to the side, and the responses.

    What’s wrong with this? My wife nailed it in about 8 seconds. (She gets an A in my apologetics class!)…

  • Attributal Argument for God’s Ordination of Possibility

    This argument is an attempted formalization of the discussion found in my recent post God is Sovereign over Possibility. It’s intent is to demonstrate that the “all possible worlds” framework that is very commonly used is incompatible with Christian doctrine and the Scriptural revelation of the nature of the Triune God. If you have any possible defeaters, please post them in the comment section. Thanks!…