Two Apologetics’ Themed #WisdomWednesday Clips from Reformed Theological Seminary

Reformed Theological Seminary has for the last three months or so posted short videos answering various questions with the hashtag “#WisdomWednesday.”  Here’s two that’s related to apologetics by Dr. John Frame and Dr. Michael Kruger respectively.

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Bible Contradiction? Where did Joseph and Mary live before the birth of Jesus?

In light of the upcoming season as we head towards Christmas today’s post will tackle another question that the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: “Where did Joseph and Mary live before the birth of Jesus?”

Here are the two answers which the skeptic believes shows a Bible contradiction (the emphasis and what is skipped over is done by the skeptic):

They lived in Nazareth, and traveled to Bethlehem because of a census.

Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. ² This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. ³ And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. ⁴ Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, ⁵ in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child. ⁶ While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. ⁷ And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a ^[d]manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. (Luke 2:1-7)

They lived in a house in Bethlehem, and moved to Nazareth after returning from Egypt.

Jesus was born in a house in Bethlehem, where he was visited by the wise men from the east.

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, ^[a]magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, ² “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?…⁵ They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea…After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they ^[e]fell to the ground and worshiped Him…. (Matthew 2:1-11)

An angel appeared to Joseph in a dream, telling him to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt.

Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord *appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and…¹⁴ So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. ¹⁵ He remained there until the death of Herod…” (Matthew 2:13-15)

SlimJim’s note: Verse 13 that’s skipped over: “ remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him.“

They stayed in Egypt until an angel told Joseph in a dream to return to Israel.

 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord *appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, and said, ²⁰ “Get up, take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel… ²¹ So Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. (Matthew 2:19-21; NOTE: The Skeptic Annotated Bible was wrong to cite it as Matthew 2:13-15)

SlimJim’s note: Verse 20 that’s skipped over: “for those who sought the Child’s life are dead.”

So they returned to Israel, where Joseph was told by an angel in a dream to go to Nazareth.

But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Then after being warned by God in a dream, he left for the regions of Galilee, ²³ and came and lived in a city called Nazareth. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets: “He shall be called a Nazarene.” (Matthew 2:22-23)

(Note: Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)

Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:

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Video: Michael Kruger on What It Means That the Bible Is Self-Authenticating

We have in the past posted on our blog Michael Kruger Faith to Life Lecture on the Self-Authenticating Scripture and his Four Lectures on the Canon by Michael J. Kruger (Free MP3s!).  Dr. Kruger is a Seminary president, New Testament Scholar, Presuppositional apologists and author who has made his contribution towards the work of the Lord in more ways than one.  Here’s a short video on “What It Means That the Bible Is Self-Authenticating:”

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Church, love those who are older!

Last week Tom, one of frequent commentator on our blog wrote a reply to my question of how was church that got me thinking about the church loving those who are older.  Here’s portion of that comment:

Our church definitely aims at the younger (20-40) crowd, which creates some problems and tensions for us being 60 years old. The preaching is doctrinally sound and we enjoy/appreciate the sermons but the music portion is a Christian rock concert replete with lightshow, etc. The congregation’s singing cannot be heard above the din. That grates on us at times. There’s also lot’s of technology with many video messages on the big screen but I’ve noticed over the past year that not one “older” member has ever been featured, every speaker is under 40. In their goal to appeal to the young, older people are somewhat, no, make that pretty much ignored. As we get even older it’s going to feel less and less comfortable.

My heart was heavy reading this.  I’m relatively young and am part of the Millennial generation. I am aware that my generation can be quite self-centered (generally speaking, I’m not saying everybody).  And I want to share this to encourage those going to church who are younger than 40 to not forget those who are older.

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Patton at the Battle of the Bulge by Leo Barron: An Audio Book Review

Leo Barron. Patton at the Battle of the Bulge: How the General’s Tanks Turned the Tide at Bastogne.  New York, NY: NAL Caliber, October 28th 2014. 432 pp.

This is another work on the European Theatre of World War Two that I enjoyed in the fall of 2016. In this instance I listened to this book in audiobook format.  This book is more operational history and is what probably many who are interested in World War Two battles want to read and hear.  It tells us the story of General Patton’s attempt to break the German military stronghold surrounding the US Army 101^st Airborne Division in a town called Bastogne from the perspective of one of Patton’s favorite outfit: The Fourth Armored Division.

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Ethical relativism destroyed in a matter of seconds by Ravi Zacharias

I’m preaching at a retreat but real quick I wanted to share this clip of Ravi Zacharias in action with apologetics during a question and answer session:

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Christmas Recommended Books on Presuppositional Apologetics for 2016

This is our blog’s seventh year in which we post our recommendations of books as Christmas gifts on the subject of Presuppositional apologetics or the Christian worldview.

Here are the recommendations from previous years, and if you are new to the whole thing with Presuppositional apologetics and want something introductory I highly recommend the listing from 2014 which we highlighted in bold:

• Christmas wish list in Presuppositional Christian Apologetics (2010)
• Christmas Gift Book Lists on Christian Worldview and Apologetics Discipleship 2011 (2011)
• More Christmas Gift Book Lists on Christian Worldview and Apologetics Discipleship (2012)
• More Christmas wish list in Presuppositional Christian Apologetics (2013) (2013)
• Christmas Recommended Books on Presuppositional Apologetics for 2014
• Christmas Recommended Books on Presuppositional Apologetics for 2015

This year list’s of recommended books on Presuppositional apologetics are more for those moving beyond introduction.  I divided this between booklets and book with a brief description for each title, a link to my review and also where one can purchase the book.

Here’s this year’s recommendations:

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Happy Thanksgiving (2016)

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

We have many reasons to be thankful to God!  Especialy our salvation made possible through the Father’s Plan, the Son’s sacrifice and the Spirit’s conviction and regeneration!

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John Frame Quote on Criticisms of the Bible because of action of Bible characters

 

Every morning I read a little bit from the theologian and Christian apologist John Frame.  If you follow our Twitter and Facebook page you will see our daily John Frame quote.

I thought this particular passage from his book The Doctrine of the Word of God was helpful in thinking through one subset of criticisms against the Bible based upon the behaviors of the characters within its pages:

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Jesus: the Shepherd and the Lamb of God

This was a thought that I had from my devotionals last night.

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Third Week of October 2016: Presuppositional Apologetics’ Links

Here are the links related to Presuppositional apologetics gathered between November 15th-21, 2016.

1.) Van Til’s Proposal for Apologetic Methodology

2.) “Does the Christian God Exist” Debate with Josh Sommer of The Reformed Collective

3.) Reformed Theological Seminary Charlotte Class: “The Origins and Authority of the NT Canon” Is Now Online @RTSGlobalEd

4.)  We Cannot Be Empiricists

5.) Pre-Supp Stuff

6.) No Concept, No Belief

7.) How to Handle Bible Contradictions (Presuppositional apologetics mentioned in the point that worldviews matter)

 

Missed the last round up?  Check out the re-blogged post from a friend OR that of Another REBLOG HERE

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Review: ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror

Michael Weiss and Hassan Hassan. ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror.  New York, NY: Regan Arts, February 17^th, 2015. 270 pp.

5 out of 5

This is the second book I have read on ISIS/Islamic State.  I have previously read Black Flag.  I appreciated this present work that details to the readers further insight into the Islamic State.  The two authors definitely has done their research and while the future will no doubt have more scholarly books analyzing ISIS with more information this book is quite helpful at the moment given how little book length treatment currently exists on ISIS.  I think this work would still be important even in the future among the collection of works that paved the way in terms of analyzing ISIS.  Both authors are journalists who among other things contribute to the periodical Foreign Policy.  Their background no doubt is helpful. The book essentially traces the history of how Al Qaeda in Iraq evolved into the Islamic state.  The main question that the book focuses on is how is an insurgency group that at one time was as a “junior varsity” among terrorist’s organization eventually became its own self-proclaimed state.

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Bible Contradiction? Was Jonah swallowed by a fish or a whale?

Today’s post will tackle another question that the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: “Was Lot Abraham’s brother or nephew?”

Here are the two answers which the skeptic believes shows a Bible contradiction:

Jonah was swallowed by a big fish.

And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights. (Jonah 1:17)

Jonah was swallowed by a whale.

for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:40)

(Note: Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)

Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:

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Ray Comfort: Most POWERFUL video you will see all day

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“Does the Christian God Exist” Debate with Josh Sommer of The Reformed Collective

This is a debate that took place on November 5th, 2016 in Kansas City, Missouri.  The subject of the debate is whether the Christian God exists.

The debate is on the Youtube video below:

The Christian defender of the faith here is Josh Sommer.  Here’s his bio:

Representing the opinion that the Christian god does exist will be Joshua Sommer. He is co-founder, editor, and contributor of www.ReformedCollective.com. He is currently a member of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Overland Park, KS and co-founder of the Grace Bible Church evangelism ministry in San Diego, CA. At present he is pursuing a B.A. in Biblical Studies as well as a Master of Divinity at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. His primary focus is systematic theology and reformed apologetics. He currently resides in Kansas City, KS with his wife, Christina.

Josh Sommers in his debate employs Presuppositional apologetics.

Enjoy!

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