Category: Presuppositional Apologetics (24 Posts)

In this post, we’re going to take a look at the difference between Cornelius Van Til and Gordon Clark concerning the Transcendental Argument, or Proof, for God’s Existence. I’ve actually already made a video on the Transcendental Argument, and I’ll leave it up, but my views have changed a little since that video. I have […]

In this video, we’re going to answer the objection that presuppositional apologetics is circular, or that it begs the question. First, we’re going to explain how every person and worldview has an ultimate presupposition that is, by definition, circular, And second, we’re going to talk about how to test the validity of ultimate presuppositions. Every […]

The material out there about presuppositional apologetics can be overwhelming, confusing, and conflicting, so the purpose of this course is to help explain presuppositional apologetics in a way that’s a little more accessible, engaging, understandable, organized, and concise. There is no overarching plan for this course as of right now. I’ll just make about what […]

This is a response to the section of Greg Bahnsen’s Presuppositional Apologetics: Stated and Defended where Bahnsen critiques Gordon Clark. Gray Crampton has already written an excellent article here, which will be quoted from extensively. The purpose of this post is to: Add a table of contents and headings to help organize the answers to […]

One pro-choice argument for abortion is that the unborn are not human, are less than human, or are merely potential humans. In this video, we’re going to first walk through the development of the unborn to demonstrate that it’s unscientific, illogical, inconsistent, and arbitrary to hold the position that abortion is acceptable, but murder is […]

Gordon Clark and Cornelius Van Til are two of the biggest names in the realm of presuppositional apologetics. There is a lot of both agreement and disagreement between the two sides. So far, the videos I’ve made have leaned towards the Van Til side, both because Greg Bahnsen—who is arguably a better defender of Van […]

Christianity… is intellectualistic Christianity, however, is intellectualistic. God is truth, and truth is immutable.  A Christian Philosophy of Education, 142

The atheist who asserts that there is no God… claims omniscience and omnipotence The atheist who asserts that there is no God, asserts by the same words that he holds the whole universe in his mind; he asserts that no fact, past, present, future, near, or far, escapes his attention, that no power, however great, […]

Skepticism is not a worldview Etymologically a skeptic is one who seeks; but philosophically a skeptic is one who does not find. Or, rather, he finds that there is nothing to be found. There is no truth, and knowledge is impossible. Aside from the self-contradiction of asserting the truth that there is no truth, skepticism […]

Basic worldviews are never demonstrated; they are chosen Basic worldviews are never demonstrated; they are chosen. William James and Bertrand Russell may believe in a pluralistic universe, but they can offer no demonstration of this, the most fundamental of their intellectual beliefs. The mechanist believes that all natural phenomena can be reduced to mathematical, quantitative […]

Why the Christian Worldview? And that leaves only one option if you’re not going to be a Christian. Is that you have to have an alternative religious worldview. We say God’s the answer to all this. God created the physical world out of nothing. It’s God’s mind that’s been the basis for the laws of […]

Three Foundational Worldviews You either have materialism, dualism, or some religious philosophy, and of course, there’s a plethora of religious philosophies. How do we, as presuppositionalists pursue Step Four: showing the failure to provide the preconditions of intelligibility with respect to the different worldviews that we can encounter? Materialism Let’s start with the materialist. We […]

Jeff Durbin analyzes three responses to the problem of morality that atheism has. Generally speaking, atheists suggest that their basis for morality is either 1) preference, 2) societal convention, or 3) the desire to survive and flourish. Learn the problems with these proposed solutions to the problem of morality. Video Transcript So the atheist has […]

Do Christians or atheists have the burden of proof? This is what Gordon Clark writes on the subject. These excerpts come from the article Atheism at the Trinity Foundation. The Atheist Challenge “But atheists, like agnostics, shift the burden of proof and say the theist is under obligation to demonstrate the truth of his view; […]

Is there an irrefutable proof for Christianity? Yes, and here it is. Christianity, or, more specifically, the biblical worldview, must be true because without it, it would be impossible to know anything at all. In other words, biblical revelation is the necessary foundation for things like the laws of logic, the uniformity of nature, and […]

This is the transcript of the radio debate between presuppositionalist Greg Bahnsen and atheist George Smith on the topic, “The Case For/Against God.” George Smith – Opening Moderator: Well, let’s start with the George Smith. The status quo is existence of God. Most people would believe in that, so since you are sort of opting […]

This is a transcript of the debate between Greg Bahnsen and Edward Tabash on the topic, “Does God Exist?” This debate took place at UC Davis in 1993. The video below contains timestamps. Bahnsen – 1st Opening Statement The Centrality of Presuppositions Tonight’s debate is kind of like going to a movie after it’s started, […]

This is a transcript of the debate between Greg Bahnsen and Gordon Stein titled, “The Great Debate: Does God Exist?” The video of the debate, with timestamps, is also available. Bahnsen – 1st Opening Statement Introductory Remarks I’m Arguing for Christian Theism It is necessary at the outset of our debate to define our terms; […]

The best evidence for Christianity deals with epistemology, or the theory of knowledge. During his debate with atheist Gordon Stein, theologian and philosopher Greg Bahnsen said this concerning proving that the Christian God exists: I suggest that we can prove the existence of God from the impossibility the contrary. The transcendental proof for God’s existence […]

This is a response to RationalWiki’s article on the Transcendental Argument for God. The text of RationalWiki’s article is in blue. The transcendental argument for the existence of God (TAG) is an argument within the realm of presuppositional apologetics. It argues that logic, morals, and science ultimately presuppose a theistic worldview, as God must be […]

One common claim is that atheism is neutral and unbiased, whereas Christianity begins with many unjustified, unproven assumptions. However, this claim is false because there is no such thing as philosophic neutrality. Quotes About Atheism Being Neutral So, let me make my somewhat seditious proposal explicit: We should not call ourselves “atheists.” We should not […]

Atheists often argue that presuppositional apologetics provides no evidence for their claims. However, this is not a valid argument against presuppositional apologetics. Quotes About Presuppositional Apologetics Ignoring Evidence The question of the existence of God is a factual question, and should be answered in the same way as any other factual questions. Atheist Gordon Stein […]

One common objection to Presuppositional Apologetics is that it utilizes circular reasoning. However, the reality is that all worldviews ultimately depend upon circular reasoning. Quotes from Critics About Presuppositional Apologetics Being Circular Below are quotes from people who criticize Presuppositional Apologetics as being circular There is to be nothing which smacks of begging the question […]

Presuppositional Apologetics is an apologetic method. Its arguments deal with the foundational first-principles of worldviews, arguing that the Christian worldview is the only worldview with a first-principle (namely, that the Bible is God’s revelation) that provides justification for the existence of knowledge, intelligibility, reason, the laws of logic, morality, and other abstract concepts. All other […]