Apologetics to the Glory of God

Tag: traditional

  • A Response To Mark

    “It is no wonder that the critic has a problem making up his mind about hats and the RazorsKiss does not appear to be razor sharp.”

    – Mark

     

    “They [Mr. Di Giacomo’s posts] are thorough, clear, correct and easily understood. At least if one is willing to wipe the tears away and quit whining.
    Cheers”

    – Mark

     

    “If Then” Statements and Modus Tollens

    Someone named Mark, commenting on Mr. Di Giacomo’s most recent blog post found here writes, “TAG is a very simple if / then. It doesn’t require much of an argument to show that, just the short demonstration …

  • Always Ready Study : Parts 1-5

    Always Ready Study: Part I

    Always Ready Study: Part II

    Always Ready Study: Part III

    Always Ready Study: Part IV

    Always Ready Study: Part V…

  • Nature Grace Dualism

    Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”

    Genesis 1:26 (ESV)

    Even this portion of a verse of Scripture has serious ramifications for apologetic methodology.

    When “image” and “likeness” are taken not to be synonymous but rather to refer to two different concepts a false anthropological dichotomization is created which either extends to or finds inductive support from other doctrines similarly understood. Thus the ‘image’ of God might incorrectly be thought of as being natural to humans while the ‘likeness’ of God is thought of as supernatural so that an instance of a fabricated distinction …

  • 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 …

  • A Brief Word On The Transcendental Argument For The Existence Of God

    Immanuel Kant is known for having coined a term and utilized an argument which is now referred to as transcendental, though it may be traced back even further, having been used in some sense by Aristotle (as one example). Cornelius Van Til, writing from the Continental Tradition in Philosophy, wrote extensively concerning a transcendental argument which is utilized to prove Christianity. Greg L. Bahnsen, a student of Van Til, is best known for having brought the argument, or at least something very much like the argument, into the realm of public debate and for having attempted to clarify it …

  • Pragmatic Point: The Failure of the Cartesian Method of Doubt

    In his Meditations on First Philosophy, Rene Descartes utilizes a method of doubt in order to determine whether or not there is any such thing as certainty. The American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce later critiques Descartes not necessarily on the basis of what many other philosophers find fault with in Descartes, but rather on the very method of doubt itself. While there appears to be plenty of room for debate about whether or not Peirce is fair to Descartes with respect to parts of Descartes’ method of doubt, Peirce is justified in the main point of his critique which …

  • Collision Gets A Bad Review

    While I have had Collision for some time now and have watched parts of it, I did not get to sit down and soak up the entirety of the movie until today. In my opinion, it was rather well done and fills a gap in the world of apologetics by seeking to engage the layperson in a way other apologetic presentations cannot. Of course, others may have extremely different opinions.

    Well known apologist Douglas Groothuis does not share my sentiments concerning the movie. He has written a less than positive review which may be found here – http://theconstructivecurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2009/11/colision-dvd-review.html Allow me …

  • Just For Fun: How to drive punchy blokes up the wall

    Chris:  Nothing exists or God exists.

    Chris:  Something exists.

    Chris:  Therefore God exists.

    Anon:  Sorry, Chris?

    Anonymous:  chris, isn’t that logic a bit…….. flawed

    Chris:  What’s flawed about it?

    Anonymous:  If something exists God must exist?

    Anonymous:  this stems from “why is there something rather then nothing?”

    Chris:  No.

    Chris:  Where is that in what I wrote?

    Anonymous:  it sounds similiar, i apologize if I put words in your moutn.

    Chris:  Nothing to apologize for.

    Anonymous:  anyways, why would something existing necessitate the existence of  God?

    Chris:  Because of the truth of the first premise.

    Chris:  Something = Not-Nothing

    Anonymous:  …

  • More Mitch, Moreland

    In a recent post Mitch LeBlanc accuses me of blundering and misunderstanding apologetics. I consider these extremely strong claims coming from someone who argues as inconsistently regarding apologetics as Mitch does.

    Mitch LeBlanc has been writing comments on my posts regarding apologetic methodology in which he attempts to actually defend the method even though as far as I know he claims to be an atheist and rejects the traditional arguments for the existence of God. Mitch often ranges well beyond the scope of a topic in responding to it; that this is the case may be seen in his presentation …

  • Where To Start

    When it comes to disagreements about the existence of God people usually want to proceed without ever setting down a clear set of rules by which to make a case. We often assume that we are all thinking along the same lines as to what the rules are when it comes to discussions about God and truth and knowledge and other such subjects. This assumption is unfortunate because Christians and non-Christians “play” by a different set of rules. The amount of literature written about the subject of the existence of God could fill libraries, yet if we searched through all …