APOLOGETICS

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APOLOGETICS
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PRESUPPOSITION

• Cornelius Van Til For Van Til, God is the
  necessary presupposition for any intelligible
  human thought. All facts are revelatory facts
  indeed, there are no brute facts. Instead, the
  Christian begins with the self-contained God
  and the self-authenticating Scripture and seeks
  to conform his views of ultimate reality to that
  which God has revealed. Man is to think
  (analogically) Gods thoughts after him.
• A truly Protestant method of reasoning involves
  a stress upon the fact of Christian theism as a
  unit. When Protestants speak of the resurrection
  of Christ they speak of the resurrection of him
  who is the Son of God, the eternal Word through
  whom the world was made.

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PRESUPPOSITION

• The truth of theism is involved in this claim
  that Christians make with respect to the domain
  of history. And what is true of the resurrection
  of Christ is true with respect to all the
  propositions about historical fact that are made
  in Scripture.
• No proposition about historical fact is presented
  for what it really is till it is presented as a
  part of the system of Christian theism that is
  contained in Scripture.

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PRESUPPOSITION

• To say this is involved in the consideration that
  all facts of the created universe are what they
  are by virtue of the plan of God with respect to
  them.
• Any fact in any realm confronted by man is what
  it is as revelational through and through of the
  God and of the Christ of Christian theism. . . .
• Without the presupposition of the truth of
  Christian theism no fact can be distinguished
  from any other fact. C. Van Til, Apologetics,
  73.

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PRESUPPOSITION

• Greg Bahnsen In keeping with his commitment to
  Van Tillian Presuppositionalism, Bahnsen
  nonetheless sounded his own emphasis.
• Agreeing with Van Til concerning the starting
  point, Bahnsen emphasized the bankruptcy of any
  supposedly neutral starting point.
• He criticized endlessly the myth of neutrality.
  Sometimes the demand for neutrality arises in
  the realm of apologetics (defense of the faith).
  We are told by some apologists that they would
  lose all hearing with the unbelieving world if
  they were to approach the question of Scriptures
  truthfulness with a preconceived answer to the
  question. Cont.

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PRESUPPOSITION

• We must be willing, according to this outlook, to
  approach the debate with unbelievers with a
  common attitude of neutrality- a nobody knows as
  yet attitude.
• We must assume as little as possible at the
  outset, we are told and this means that we
  cannot assume any Christian premises of teachings
  of the Bible. . . . ..

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PRESUPPOSITION

• Whatever some people may say with respect to the
  demand for neutrality in the Christians thought-
  the demand that believers not be set apart from
  other men by their adherence to Gods truth- the
  fact is that Scripture sharply differs with this
  demand.
• Contrary to neutralitys demand, Gods word
  demands unreserved allegiance to God and His
  Truth in all our thought and scholarly
  endeavors. G. Bahnsen, Always Ready, 3-4.

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PRESUPPOSITION

• John Frame Another follower of Van Til, though
  less rigidly so, Frame is committed to
  presuppositional apologetics.
• He is critical of the term presuppositional
  since it is so often, incorrectly, represented as
  opposed to the use of evidences. Nevertheless he
  is willing to use it since it is so well-fixed in
  the literature.
• Frame is not convinced that Van Tils absolutely
  certain argument for God, his transcendental
  argument, is the only legitimate approach.
• Furthermore, Frame is more comfortable with the
  notion of probability than was Van Til. An
  argument, therefore, is absolutely certain in the
  objective sense insofar as it is a clear
  communication of Gods revelation.

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PRESUPPOSITION

• Now Van Til tended to describe as absolutely
  certain those arguments (and only those) which
  were presuppositional or transcendental in thrust
  and negative inform. . . .
• Now is there any room for arguments which claim
  only a probability of being true? Van Til thought
  that if we claim anything less than absolute
  certainty, we are virtually admitting that Gods
  revelation to man is not clear. . . .
• Van Tils point is strong in the area of
  evidence. As we noted earlier, the evidence for
  Christian theism is absolutely compelling it may
  not be described as merely probable.

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PRESUPPOSITION

• As for subjective certainty, again we should note
  that God has provided the means for it in the
  large clearer areas of scriptural truth, but it
  sometimes escapes us in those or other areas. Our
  lack of certainty, then, does sometimes lead us,
  in all honesty, to say probably. J. Frame,
  Apologetics to the Glory of God, 80-81.

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THEISTIC PROOFS
Moral
Universal Consent
Ontological
Cosmological
Teleological
A REFORMED APPROACH
PROOFS ARE CONFIRMATORY
AUTHORITY OF THE WORD
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STARTING POINT

• The Old Testament Witness indicates that it is
  the knowledge of the Lord that is the only
  sufficient starting point. True knowledge is
  knowledge that begins with God and his
  self-attesting revelation. Even the creation
  itself bears unequivocal witness.

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STARTING POINT

• Psalm 8, the majesty of God is displayed in
  nature, O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your
  name in all the earth
• Psalm 19, No one is able to avoid the clear
  witness of God to himself in creation, The
  heavens declare the glory of God
• Psalm 336, In your light, we see light
• Psalm 119105, Your word is a lamp to my feet,
  and a light for my path
• Psalm 119130, The unfolding of your words gives
  light

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STARTING POINT

• Proverbs 17, The fear of the Lord is the
  beginning of knowledge
• Proverbs 51,2, Pay attention to my wisdom
• Proverbs 910, The fear of the Lord is the
  beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy
  One is understanding

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STARTING POINT

• The New Testament Witness reminds us that Jesus
  alone has authority and wisdom to speak truth. We
  are able to replicate truth in so far as we
  embrace the truth that God has given,
  acknowledging the clarity of his revelation in
  nature and the priority of his truth in
  Scripture.

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STARTING POINT

• Matthew 624, No man can serve two masters
• Matthew 829, Jesus taught as one who had
  authority
• Matthew 1230, He who is not with me is against
  me
• John 668, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have
  the words of eternal life
• John 146, Jesus is the Truth

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STARTING POINT

• II Corinthians 105, The weapons we fight with
  are not the weapons of the world. On the
  contrary, they have divine power to tear down
  strongholds. We demolish arguments and every
  pretension that sets itself up against the
  knowledge of God, and we take captive every
  thought to make it obedient to Christ
• Colossians 23, in Christ are hid all the
  treasures of wisdom and knowledge

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STARTING POINT

• Ephesians 422,23, to put off your old self,
  which is being corrupted by its deceitful
  desires to be made new in the attitude of your
  minds. See also Colossians 310
• II Timothy 225, Those who oppose him he must
  gently instruct, in the hope that God will give
  them a change of heart leading them to a
  knowledge of the truth
• II Peter 15, make every effort to add to your
  faith goodness and to goodness, knowledge

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SELF-ATTESTING WORD

• The Word is more certain than eyewitness
  testimony, II Peter 116-19
• The Word is sufficient/authoritative, even more
  convincing than the most compelling evidence,
  Luke 1631
• The Word does not need the witness of any human
  to verify its truthfulness, John 534-36

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SELF-ATTESTING WORD

• Christ, on the road to Emmaus, rebukes his
  disciples for their unbelief in Scripture, not
  for a failure to be convinced by the evidence,
  Luke 2424-27
• The creature is to accept the Word of the
  Creator- and not to question it, Romans 920

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COVENANT KEEPERS
Relationship
GOD
Creation
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COVENANT-BREAKERS
Barrier
GOD
Creation
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COVENANT-BREAKERS

• The Covenant Breaker knows that God has made all
  things, Genesis 11, Exodus 2011, Psalm 10424,
  so there is no disputing the fact that all of
  creation bears evidence of its derivative
  character. All facts are revelatory facts.
• Colossians 116, in Him were all things created,
  in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible
  and invisible,
• Romans 1136, of Him, and through Him, and unto
  Him are all things

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COVENANT-BREAKERS

• Romans 119a, Since what may be known about God
  is plain to them.
• Romans 119b, because God has made it plain to
  them.
• Romans 120a, For since the creation of the
  world, Gods invisible qualities- his eternal
  power and divine nature- have been clearly seen
• Romans 120b, being understood from what has
  been made, so that men are without excuse
• Covenant Breakers reject what is plainly visible.
  

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COVENANT-KEEPING

• The principles which apply to the Christians
  walk (inclusive of his thought) are the same
  which applied to his previous reception of
  Christ. The Christian scholar, having been rooted
  in Christ by renouncing the authority of secular
  wisdom for the Lordship of Christ, must carry out
  his scholarly endeavors by continuing to be
  rooted in Christ in the same fashion. G.
  Bahnsen, Always Ready, 17.

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APOLOGETICS