August 4, 2007

• Greg Bahnsen’s Attack on the Holy Spirit

  http://youtube.com/watch?v=T-2jY5eqtfM
  

  Greg Bahnsen — “Presuppositional
  Apologist” and disciple of Cornelius Van Til at Westminster Theological
  Seminary — wrote, “we come into this world cognitively “conditioned” or
  PREPARED to RECOGNIZE the indications of our Creator in nature and SCRIPTURE.”
  (p222-3. Note: All quotes in this video are taken from “Van Til’s Apologetic:
  Readings and Analysis” compiled by Bahnsen.)

   

  So Bahnsen says unbelievers understand the Bible. Such a statement is not a slip-up. In fact, it is very
  consistent with his system. Bahnsen says that the unbeliever already knows God “deep down”. If that’s right, then it logically follows that unbelievers have
  the ability to judge the Bible.

   

  For example, imagine a member of your
  family — whom you have known all your life — writes an autobiography. You would
  be competent to judge the reliability of the book, right?

   

  Now, the Bible is God’s autobiography.
  So if unbelievers have known God all their lives, “deep down” then they’re
  going to think they are competent to judge the Bible, right? “Why do we
  need the Holy Spirit to understand the Bible, when we already understand the
  Being who wrote it?”, they can say.

   

  The Apostles constantly battled people
  who thought they knew God apart from the Bible. They tried to convince men they
  did not know God “deep down” by nature. A man convinced he is ignorant of God
  by nature will know he is unable to judge the Bible. Paul declares, “the
  thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God … [believers] have
  received … the Spirit who is from God, so that [they] may know the things
  given to [them] by God..” (1 Cor 2:11-12)

  • 7:51 am
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