Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

Carson on Presuppositional vs. Evidentialist Apologetics

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gaggingD. A. Carson, The Gagging of God: Christianity Confronts Pluralism  (Fifteenth Anniversary Edition; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011), 184–88:

[P]artly under the impact of postmodernism, the various “schools” of Christian apologetics have an opportunity to draw closer together than they have usually been in the past.

At the risk of oversimplification, let us restrict ourselves to presuppositionalism, rational presuppositionalism, and evidentialism. All three labels are loaded, and various proponents mean slightly different things by them. Moreover there is a tendency, especially among more popular writers, to caricature the other positions. Thus:

(1) The presuppositionalist may charge the evidentialist with superficiality. You can line up evidence to support the truth of Christianity until you have exhausted yourself by your efforts, but no amount of evidence is sufficient to compel belief. Did not Jesus himself say that even if someone came back from the dead, they would not believe? Evidentialism simply does not understand the implications of human finitude or the profound noetic effects of the Fall—and both limitations are exacerbated by postmodernism. [Read more…] about Carson on Presuppositional vs. Evidentialist Apologetics

Follow-up on That Encouraging Word for Mothers of Young Children

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Last week I posted “An Encouraging Word for Mothers of Young Children.”

It generated some friendly push-back in the comments as well as on some other blogs (e.g., Jim Hamilton’s wife, Jill, responds here).

I agree with Jill.

But I wonder if some who read those quotes by Martyn Lloyd-Jones and Don Carson may be missing the main (encouraging!) point: mothers with young children generally have less time for the type of Bible reading and study than they would have without young children. And that’s OK because God’s calling of wife and motherhood is high. That’s an encouraging thought, especially to mothers who are frustrated and/or bear a weight of unnecessary guilt. Those are the types of mothers of young children that this should encourage. [Read more…] about Follow-up on That Encouraging Word for Mothers of Young Children

An Encouraging Word for Mothers of Young Children

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Martyn Lloyd-Jones once spoke with a group of medical students who complained that in the midst of their training and the ferocious work hours they really didn’t even have time to read the Bible and have their devotions and so on. He bristled and said, “I am a doctor. I have been where you are. You have time for what you want to do.” After a long pause he said, “I make only one exception: the mother of preschool-aged children does not have time and emotional resources.” [Read more…] about An Encouraging Word for Mothers of Young Children

How Reliable Is Your Memory? 3 Practical Lessons

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Unlike God, we are finite and sinful.

And our limitations and sinfulness apply even to our memory, “the faculty by which the mind stores and remembers information” (Concise Oxford English Dictionary).

Lesson 1: Your memory might not be as accurate as you think.

See Oliver Sacks, “Speak, Memory,” The New York Review of Books (February 21, 2013).

This stands out:

Frequently, our only truth is narrative truth, the stories we tell each other, and ourselves—the stories we continually recategorize and refine. Such subjectivity is built into the very nature of memory, and follows from its basis and mechanisms in the human brain.

Last month I shared that article with a sharp biblical scholar in his mid-60s, and he replied, [Read more…] about How Reliable Is Your Memory? 3 Practical Lessons

Our Home Is Under Contract!

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I recently posted that our family had put our home up for sale, so I’ll praise God by sharing an update:

Eight days after putting our home on the market, someone put an offer on our home, and we soon agreed to terms. As of today the home is officially under contract (with a closing scheduled in May to fit our timetable).

We are so grateful to God. Grace.

A Waterproof Bible Worth Owning

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A good friend gave me a waterproof New Testament before I rafted through the Grand Canyon in summer 2011, and several of my friends have been loving these Bibles for reading in the shower and bathtub. (I won’t name them!)

blue  tree_bark  pink

I remember freaking out when one of my friends demonstrated that it really is waterproof: he walked over the sink, turned the water on full blast, and stuck his Bible under the faucet! No harm done. Amazing.

Here’s how the publishers describe these Bibles: [Read more…] about A Waterproof Bible Worth Owning

Fearless: The Undaunted Courage and Ultimate Sacrifice of Navy SEAL Team SIX Operator Adam Brown

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fearlessJenni and I finished listening to this audiobook last week:

Eric Blehm. Fearless: The Undaunted Courage and Ultimate Sacrifice of Navy SEAL Team Six Operator Adam Brown. Colorado Springs, CO: Waterbrook, 2012.

It’s a gripping story.

It led me to

  • treasure my family more,
  • hate sin and its effects even more, and
  • appreciate and respect the Navy SEALS more.

Cf. the book trailer.

(Thanks, Chuck Hervas, for the recommendation.)

Don Carson on Assurance of Salvation

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Six resources by D. A. Carson on assurance of salvation (all available from TGC as PDFs or MP3s):

  1. D. A. Carson and John D. Woodbridge, Letters Along the Way: A Novel of the Christian Life (Wheaton: Crossway, 1993), 15–25 (letters 2 and 3).
  2. D. A. Carson, “Johannine Perspectives on the Doctrine of Assurance,” Explorations 10 (1996): 59–97.
  3. ———. “Reflections on Christian Assurance,” in Still Sovereign: Contemporary Perspectives on Election, Foreknowledge, and Grace (ed. Thomas R. Schreiner and Bruce A. Ware; Grand Rapids: Baker, 2000), 247–76.
  4. ———. “The Johannine Letters,” in New Dictionary of Biblical Theology (ed. T. Desmond Alexander and Brian S. Rosner; Downers Grove: IVP, 2000), 351–55.
  5. ———. “The SBJT Forum: Granted that there are spurious conversions in the Bible, what criteria help us to discern that a profession of faith is genuine?” The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 5, no. 1 (2001): 78–81.
  6. ———. Five-part sermon series on 1 John.