Archive for the ‘apologetics’ Category
John tells a story that overlaps three spheres of interaction with people: the first sphere in the family, the second sphere in the crowds of Jerusalem, and the third sphere in the intelligentsia of Jesus’ day. In each sphere he underscores something about the people involved that each points at the root problem of presuppositions.
It is underscored almost explicitly in John 7:24 “Do not judge according to appearance but judge with righteous judgment.” The people have the evidence, they acknowledge the goodness of the works, they have some real theological theories, but they put it all together in such a way that explains their already embraced knowledge.
It’s sort of like the agnostic evolutionist who has all the same evidence as the proponent of intelligent design, but winds up with a different conclusion because he has the pre-knowledge that a designer is totally improvable.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in apologetics, christ | Comments (1)
On the first post of Doctrine for Everybody, I gave a definition of Doctrine—(1) What the church believes and (2) what the Church teaches. But it generates a real question about how the Church even gets to that point. I mean, does the Church believe and teach such and such because the Church made it up? Or maybe the Church believes this-or-that because of some random accident? Even better, the Church teaches this bric-a-brac because they voted (and the majority won by a slim margin!)?
These are all false; they don’t even work in the real world.
Read the rest of this entry »
Technorati Tags: doctrine, revelation
Tags: doctrine, revelation
Posted in apologetics, history | Comments (1)
When teaching doctrine, people get really huffy and start wondering what some young buck is going to come up with. Who is this guy, of thirty something years, thinking on writing anything on doctrine at all? How dare he?
And that person would be right. I don’t like doing it. I like staying close to the text, and within that context, and maybe writing what exists there with whatever application might be sifted. I don’t necessarily like doing any sort of systematic studies because I think that sometimes those systems are way too contrived.
Read the rest of this entry »
Technorati Tags: doctrine
Tags: doctrine
Posted in apologetics | Comments (1)
This is the series home for the usage of Icons series.
Posted in apologetics, worship | Comments (0)
Every now and then, on a Friday, I’ll step into the deep waters of Philosophy, ramble on about some idea and maybe even interact with something I might be reading. Most of the time, a real philosopher could probably read my drivel and speak into it offering a corrective—but for now I’ll speak from ignorance. After all, it is Friday; what better way to have fun than with philosophy. In this post I’ll answer the question “Who am I?” in under 700 words. Heh.
Read the rest of this entry »
Technorati Tags: fridays, identity, personality, philosophy, self
Tags: fridays, identity, personality, philosophy, self
Posted in apologetics, human | Comments (0)
