Tag: worldview
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My Grandfather’s Funeral Sermon
We come here today as family and friends because an awful event has taken place in our lives. There are other times when we come together for different reasons than grieving. There are times when we gather to rejoice. We celebrate birthdays, holidays, and marriages together. But today we come together to grieve. We might not grieve as those who have no hope, but we still grieve. We might recognize that the Lord Jesus Christ has conquered the grave, but we still weep just as he did at the graveside of his friend Lazarus whom he loved. Death is immediately …
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Islam: Allamah Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tabatabai on the Knowledge of Allah (2)
In my previous post on Islam I began to address the attempt that Allamah Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tabatabai (ASMHT) makes to argue for the necessity of his god Allah through natural theology (123). ASMHT offers a rational argument that takes the subject of knowledge as its most basic assumption and speaks of three objects of knowledge in the very first sentence of his argument for Allah which are human beings, god, and the world. In order for him to make a successful argument, ASMHT must connect the subject of knowledge with these objects of knowledge.
I asked …
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Islam: Allamah Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tabatabai on the Knowledge of Allah (1)
In Shi’ite Islam, Allamah Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tabatabai (hereafter ASMHT) attempts an argument for “The Necessity of God” through natural theology (123). There are many different understandings of what exactly natural theology is and what it actually accomplishes, but in this particular passage ASMHT attempts to prove the existence of the Muslim god Allah through a simple, straightforward natural theological proof (123). This attempt is made at the very beginning of a chapter on the knowledge of ASMHT’s god, so it is clear that the argument he presents is pre-dogmatic in nature and possesses even an apologetic function. Since …
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“Christianity is a Man-made Religion”
It is always amusing to hear some of the language that non-Christians, and especially atheists, use in their assaults on the Christian faith and defenses of their own position.
Presumably the atheist thinks it is somewhat problematic and perhaps even insulting to the Christian to dismiss his or her position as “man-made.” We can set aside the obvious “problem” with using “man” this way in the current academic climate. We can also set aside that the unbeliever almost always merely asserts without argument that Christianity is man-made. We may then note that the statement as it stands is no insult …
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Why Atheism Is True
Atheism, like other false systems of thought, has enough content with the ‘ring of truth’ to it that some people are attracted to it. Of course atheism is not monolithic, but the following themes are prevalent.
1. Atheism rejects moral-ism.
Atheists think it is absurd to follow the whimsical preferences of an egotistical deity. Christians must acknowledge that the commands of God flow from His loving nature and are for His glory and our good.
Atheists hate the very notion of having a bunch of ‘rules’ forced upon them concerning how to act, think, and live. Christians must acknowledge that …
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“Can We Prove the Existence of God?” by James Anderson
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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