Five Terrible Objections to the Rapture

Posted on September 19, 2016 by David

Some objections are principled, thoughtful, these are not.

"I am... the Bright and Morning Star" Revelation 22:16“The word rapture isn’t in the Bible.” This objection is so bad it didn’t even make the list! The word is right here:

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17: “the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” The Greek word that is translated “caught up” in English, is translated ‘raptura’ in Latin, which is where the English word ‘rapture’ comes from.

Continue reading →

Posted in Doctrine Study, Prophecy | 20 Comments

In Defense of The Third Premise

Posted on September 17, 2016 by David

This is in response to a friend’s critique of my argument for the existence of God. 

Quote:
Whatever is changeable is changed in the act of changing another

Comment:
By this premise, in order to change something, one must change himself. This means the unchanged changer is either (A) an exception to the rule, whatever is changed must be changed by another, or (B) both the changer and not the changer at the same time.

If we are going to say a contradiction exists, or an exception to a rule exists, why this exception and not another? Or, why not admit to the many other contradictions we could imagine as solutions? We could assume that there is an entity that has both potentiality and actuality which caused everything. It would be an exception to the rule, but so is the proposed solution.

By the way, If I use the word ‘move’, it will be in the classical sense. I mean something more than locomotion. I mean change in general. Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Apologetics, Philosophy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Unmoved Mover vs. Creator

Posted on September 17, 2016 by David

This is in response to a friend’s critique of my argument for the existence of God.

Quote:
Change is something existing potentiality becoming an actuality. Only what is already actual can cause something to go from potentiality to actuality.

Comment:
If we end up agreeing that there would have to originally be an entity that caused everything to go from potentiality to actuality, it doesn’t mean that the uncaused cause created all potentiality. The argument hinges on the relationship between things transitioning between states, but doesn’t comment on potentiality itself. Since the goal of the argument is typically to show that an entity that not just caused the events to begin but caused everything to exist, the argument would fall short.

I would guess the response to this criticism would have to posit qualities of potentialities that are beyond our experience. Since we simply have experience of things changing from potentiality to actuality, much of the proposed qualities of potential entities would be unfounded speculation.

You claim that the goal of the argument is to establish an entity that caused everything to exist. (What do you mean by “typically”? Do you mean the goal of cosmological arguments is typically to establish the cause of the existence of all things?) The goal of this argument, for Aristotle, was to determine the cause, or explanation of all motion. The goal for Aquinas (according to some Thomists) was to establish the existence of a being worthy of the name God, or god. So, it is hardly a critique to say the argument establishes the existence of a being who is the cause of all change, but does not establish that this being also created all things. After all, it would be a strange sort of atheism to grant that a supernatural being exists who causes all change. Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How is that God? Objections and Responses to the Argument From Change

Posted on August 22, 2016 by David

1ID8BS39I’ve compiled some objections and some brief responses to this argument for the existence of God. Some of these are specific to the argument, some apply to arguments in general. Please comment! Be sure to bring up any other objections, and feel free to pursue these questions deeper. I’d love to discuss this more!

 

Certainly, we could discuss each one of these topics in greater detail. I’ve briefly responded to these objections to hopefully clarify the argument, and to at least point in the direction of a possible rebuttal.  Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Apologetics, Philosophy, Science | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want
He maketh me to lie down in self satisfaction; he guardeth my opinions from challenge

He restoreth my pride: he leadeth me in the paths of right-ness for my name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of comment threads, I will fear no troll.

For thou art on my side; thy memes and thy sick burns, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a page before me in the absence of mine enemies: thou anointest my posts with likes; My friends list runneth over.

Surely the cool kids and celebrities shall follow me all the tweets of my life:
And I will dwell in a bubble of affirmation forever.

Posted on August 19, 2016 by David | Leave a comment

Change Happens. Does that Mean God Exists?

Posted on July 19, 2016 by David

This is a Cosmological Argument for the Existence of God. This represents my current understanding of Aquinas’s First Way, the “Argument from Motion,” and it is my attempt to describe a version of it for a modern layman like myself. If I have misunderstood Aquinas, or made a mistake in reasoning, be sure to point it out in the comments! 

Candle photo croppedLet’s talk about change. Let’s talk about it in the most general and fundamental sense, not just cultural change, not just behavioral, or physical, or chemical, but the very metaphysics of change. What must be true for any change whatsoever to occur?

Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Apologetics, Philosophy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Theological Hipsters

Posted on June 23, 2016 by David

It is well known among American Evangelicals, that the “hip” thing is to be hip-ster and the Hipster’s theology of choice is of the “Reformed” variety. There are even “Reformed before it was cool” T-Shirts… The phenomenon is well known: hipster 20-somethings, eager to follow Christ, soon discover the history of the Reformers and their wonderful, “Five Solas.” These often proceed to ingest-wholesale, the rest of the Reformers doctrine… and sometimes even their fashion sense.

Many may not realize, there is another breed of Christian hipster. Some say they are only rumor, an echo of an extinct fad. But I assure you, while we may be rare, we do indeed exist. I speak, of course, of the elusive Dispensational Hipster. Continue reading →

Posted in Humor, Off Topic | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Testing the Rational Foundations of the Faith

Posted on June 7, 2016 by David

Apologetics is a reasoned defense of a position. In a Christian context, the biblical basis is from 1 Peter 3:15: “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.” Studying apologetics is a little hobby of mine, but as far as it is an application of 1 Peter 3:15 (and 1 Thessalonians 5:21) it is also a necessary part of life as a Christian.

I’d like to start a category on this blog for Apologetics topics. If this site is all about putting 1 Thessalonians 5:21 into practice, then testing the very foundations of Christianity sounds like an appropriate area of study. I’m fully convinced that the Christian faith is rational, and the task of apologetics is to show that. As a Christian who fancies himself an intellectual, it really bothers me when I see other Christians behave and think irrationally. My intellectual bent isn’t the only reason that I think so, though. The Bible is full of exhortations to think, to seek wisdom, to understand, and to grow in knowledge. We are called to love the Lord with all our minds, and be transformed by the renewing of those minds. There are even entire books of the Bible devoted to wisdom (Proverbs and Ecclesiastes).  Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Apologetics, History, Philosophy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Why Deborah the Judge Would NOT Support Women in Church Leadership

Posted on May 25, 2016 by David

This is a guest article written by my friend Michael White. It is in response to this. 

Deborah held the position of Judge in Israel at a time when there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in their own eyes (Judges 17:6). This is very similar to our politically correct pluralistic culture that we live in today in America.  We are often more concerned about pleasing the culture, and appearing fair in the cultures eyes, rather than honoring God or what His Word says (John 5:44, Gal 1:10). Israel had previously been delivered from the city of Hazor in Joshua’s time (Joshua 11:10), but the city had risen again (Judges 4) because of Israel’s disobedience. After the death of Ehud; Israel once again disobeyed until God raised up Deborah – a woman Judge. Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Living, Guest Author | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Blessing and Curse of the Information Age

Posted on May 24, 2016 by David

The internet gives a platform to anyone with an opinion. (This isn’t news.) There is no longer the filter of a publisher; money, or status isn’t necessary to be heard, and neither is coherence. While it’s tempting to bemoan this state of affairs, the better response is to realize the responsibility is now in your hands. The power is in your hands to literally find any side of any controversy, but that means you also carry the burden of filtering through the nonsense. It falls on you to recognize fallacy from logic, snake oil from cure, bias from fact. We can’t all be experts, scholars, and specialists, but we can all exercise tools of rationality to adjudicate between the testimony of various authorities on the ideas that matter. Don’t turn off your mind. Don’t let others think for you, and don’t let your desires numb your judgment.

The person armed with logic and humility toward the grace of God, is immune to both the chaos of information anarchy, and the tyranny of information totalitarianism.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment