This is an old debate, someone recently posted it up.
Robert Morey and Jamal Badawi debate: Is the Quran the Word of God?
Posted in christian apologetics, Debate, Robert Morey on May 31, 2011| Leave a Comment »
This is an old debate, someone recently posted it up.
Robert Morey and Jamal Badawi debate: Is the Quran the Word of God?
Posted in Christianity, oprah winfrey on May 30, 2011| Leave a Comment »
There is no doubt that Oprah has been a woman who has used her popularity to aleviate some of the world’s pain and brought attention to some of the problems in this world. For that I would say she has earned my respect for her in this regard. Having said that, what preplex me is how view of Christianity as the following clip indicates:
It’s important to know what Christianity is and why it proposes what it proposes, even if one disagrees with it.
Here is a 27 clip by James White explaining what is Christianity and why he believes it by clicking HERE.
Posted in bible interpretation, bible study, Christianity, hermeneutics on May 27, 2011| 5 Comments »
I. Relationship between the doctrine of Inerrancy and Biblical Authority
a. The Bible being authoritative in giving truth
i. Providing truth is an aspect of the doctrine of Biblical authority[1]
ii. If the Bible is going to be fully authoritative, it must be without error.
iii. Therefore, the doctrine of Biblical Authority presupposes the doctrine of Biblical Inerrancy.
II. Since the Bible by its own authority gives us truth, studying the Bible will give us truth.
a. For the Christian, hermeneutics of the Bible is a part of the Christian Epistemology
i. Definitions
1. Epistemology- How do you know what you know?
2. Hermeneutics- How do you interpret a writing
ii. Everyone consciously or not have a certain epistemology
1. Stated another way, everybody has a method of knowing things
2. For example:
NONCHRISTIAN PERSON A NONCHRISTIAN PERSON B CHRISTIAN
Five senses Five senses Bible
Science Tradition Five senses
Logic/Reason Popular Opinion Logic/Reason
Science
3. The Christian have the Bible as part of his way of knowing, and it is the ultimate authoritative way he knows things.
a. Since there is no error in the Bible, a proper hermeneutic will discover truths.
III. Doctrine Of Inerrancy is the standard in testing good or bad Hermeneutical systems
a. Since the Bible can not be erroneous, one who properly interprets the Bible will not be led to a conclusion where the Bible is in error
i. Remember what Jesus said about God’s Word: “Your Word is Truth” (John 17:17b)
1. God’s Word can only be truth, not error.
b. If an interpretation of Scripture leads to the conclusion that Scripture is in error, then it is an bad interpretation.
c. All interpretation must stand under the test of affirming the doctrine of Inerrancy.
[1] See the previous outline, “Doctrine of Biblical Authority: The Self-authorizing Scripture”
Posted in Doug Wilson, Greg Bahnsen, Presuppositional Apologetics, presuppositionalism, Van Til on May 26, 2011| 2 Comments »
Purchase: Amazon
This work pits New Atheist Christopher Hitchens against Christian pastor Doug Wilson in a debate on the topic of whether Christianity is good for the world. There are six rounds in the book, not including each of their introduction. For such a serious and heavy topic, the book is short and concise and yet readers might enjoy this format over a long drawn out debate. Both Hitchens and Wilson seem to do a good job in stating their view in a short and concise matter. Unlike other books that have a debate format, the two author’s personality are wonderful for tackling this topic especially for those who have seen the documentary “Collision.” Both writers are great wordsmiths and the illustration given to draw analogies of what they are saying are worth buying the book alone. If readers want to see the combination of wit, humor and profound observation of what a Presuppositional Apologist in action looks like, this is a work worth reading! I think Van Til and Greg Bahnsen would be proud.
Posted in false prophet, family radio, Harold Camping, May 21, May 21 2011 on May 24, 2011| 2 Comments »
According to the news, Harold Camping who was behind the false prophecy of May 21st is still standing by his prophecy and not repentant.
It is tragic.
The Bible’s standard of a prophet is 100% fulfillment, not even 99% or 98%. If anything has failed, it is false.
Christians need to be reminded of the Biblical criteria of judging a false prophet.
Basically gives 2 ways that a believer can check the validity of a prophet: Supreme Test (Duet 19:22) and Test of the Fruit (Duet 12:1-3).
From Dueteronomy 18:18, we can know that a true prophet comes from God. True prophecies never have it’s origin from man’s creativeness, but from God himself. (Cf. 2Peters 1:21) By prophecy, we define this to mean any future predictions or alleged special revelation from God spoken or written through a human messenger.
Unfortunately, as Scriptures tell us, there are also false prophets and false teachers out there. “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who brought them–bringing swift destruction on themselves.”(2Peters 2:1) Scriptures also tell us that as the end times approach, more and more false prophets will come and deceive the people. (Cf. Matt. 24:12)
Jesus himself warn Christians to watch out and be on the alert for false prophets, who come “in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” (Matt. 7:15) Fortunately, God tells us that there are ways to identify a false prophet. (Cf. Matt 7:16)
Now, you may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” (Duet. 18:21)
(Note: No prophecies could be more amazing in terms of probability than that of the Bible. Just the life of Jesus Christ alone has been prophesied in the Bible over 500 times! Compared to any false prophets, the Bible is still a bigger giant)
Now, what happens when an alleged prophet is found to be false? Since Matthew 7:18 states, “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.”, we should not even listen to the false prophet’s teachings. And we definitely should not be afraid of them. (Cf. Duet. 18:22) Rather, we should come back to the living God and his Word for truth.
Posted in Apologetic Links, Chris Bolt, Cornelius Van Til, Covenantal apologetics, Presuppositional Apologetics, presuppositionalism, Reformed, Van Til on May 23, 2011| 13 Comments »
Our friend Chris Bolt has done a 45 part series (well, 47 if you add introduction and conclusion) on Covenantal (Presuppositional) Apologetics.
While I’m not covenantal in my theology (I’m more dispensational), I think those who are part of the larger Evangelical landscape can have something to learn from this series. May I add that I subscribe to Van Til’s Presuppositional Apologetics.
Here’s the links of the series: