tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3295328575953992372.post2709445351647936677..comments2024-03-21T03:04:18.673-04:00Comments on Unapologetica: Clark on Self-KnowledgeRyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07883500968749756873noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3295328575953992372.post-27216412760626335482013-05-24T14:53:32.888-04:002013-05-24T14:53:32.888-04:00I've tried fixing that numerous times to no av...I've tried fixing that numerous times to no avail. Try rhedrich3@gmail.com.Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07883500968749756873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3295328575953992372.post-39948830712414937412013-05-24T14:12:43.718-04:002013-05-24T14:12:43.718-04:00Hey, your email dark_aggravation yahoo came back a...Hey, your email dark_aggravation yahoo came back as dead. <br /><br />Got another one? You might want to fix your Blogger profile page.Rhologyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14245825667079220242noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3295328575953992372.post-49561204432223802162013-05-23T00:59:06.062-04:002013-05-23T00:59:06.062-04:00"How much do you need to know or how much obe..."How much do you need to know or how much obedience do you need in order to be assured?"<br /><br />Easy: 1) that I believe the gospel; 2) those who believe are saved; 3) the P of TULIP.<br /><br />It looks like you needed to keep reading, for he mentions the third one a little while later, if I'm not mistaken. He says the same thing in his commentary on Philippians.Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07883500968749756873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3295328575953992372.post-14110077652473578512013-05-22T23:22:42.190-04:002013-05-22T23:22:42.190-04:00I don't disagree with most of what you said he...I don't disagree with most of what you said here. However, Clark had sense enough to know that no amount of knowledge or obedience is sufficient to produce assurance. How much do you need to know or how much obedience do you need in order to be assured? <br /><br /><i>God favors us. Well, it is true that assurance, like faith, is a gift of God, but though regeneration and faith can have no preparation on our part, assurance or at least sanctification requires certain actions by us. Perhaps method is not the proper term, but John tells us that “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life.” The usual exegesis of “these things” that John wrote is that faith, love, and obedience, while they do not automatically produce assurance, are nonetheless requirements for being a candidate, so to speak, to receive it. Actually love is one form of obedience, since it is commanded, and hence belief and overt obedience are the two prerequisites. There is, however, a difficulty. It is the same one Luther struggled with before he discovered the doctrine of justification. In Romanism he was supposed to earn his salvation by good works, penance, flagellation, and various monkish practices. But, being very sincere, he was troubled because he could never be sure that he had done enough. A similar difficulty arises here. <b>If we wish to distinguish a valid assurance from a false assurance, how can we know that we have a sufficient theological knowledge and a sufficient degree of obedience to have met the requirements? Do we love deeply enough? Have we satisfied John’s criteria? </b>Is there any devotional writer who has forthrightly faced this problem? It is hard to believe that none of them has thought of it. If as previously stated, Louis Berkhof’s temporary faith can last a lifetime, how can the true be identified in contrast with the false?</i><br /><br />Gordon H. Clark (2013-03-04T05:00:00+00:00). What Is The Christian Life? (Kindle Locations 756-768). The Trinity Foundation. Kindle Edition.Charlie J. Rayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18185331029930925967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3295328575953992372.post-26117942972875321442013-05-21T00:48:40.595-04:002013-05-21T00:48:40.595-04:00"Do you know that you exist? If he so much as..."Do you know that you exist? If he so much as hears the question, there can be no doubt about the answer. No one can be in doubt as to his own existence. “We both have a being, know it, and love both our being and knowledge. And in these three no false appearance can ever deceive us. For we do not discern them as things visible, by sense…. I fear not the Academic arguments on these truths that say, ‘What if you err?’ If I err, I am. For he that has no being cannot err, and therefore my error proves my being.” Thus in the immediate certainty of self-consciousness a thinker has contact with being, life, mind, and truth. "<br /><br />That is the meat of it. Drake Sheltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05925446446813424725noreply@blogger.com