Apologetics

Authority

Posted on by Dan Dodds

oliphant_covenantal_apologeticsOne of the classes that I teach in my worldview series deals with authority. Authority is one of the ‘bottom line’ issues in worldviews and apologetics.

Scott Oliphant, teacher of apologetics at Westminster East writes in his book Covenantal Apologetics: “Apologetics, in many ways, is simply a battle over authorities. It involves making plain just where we stand, or better, where we rest, with regard to what we claim. It also involves encouraging our opponents to make plain where they rest their own case. The authority issue is always primary.”

Why is it primary? Because in the end you have two choices. Either God is the Authority who has created, organized and defined the world and we conform ourselves to His world….or each and every individual conforms the world to their preferences. The first gives a foundation for objective, absolute truth; the latter rules out truth altogether. In the first we discover truth, in the second we declare our current beliefs/biases.

We are seeing in our culture now what happens when you leave the first for the second – and it isn’t pretty, individually, socially, philosophically or culturally.

Dan Dodds
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Dan Dodds
Dan is a native of Detroit, Michigan; a graduate of Hillsdale College in Michigan and Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Dan has worked in the financial area as a CPA and controller as well as in international business and sales. In 1995 Dan entered into the ministry in a Florida church as Sr. High and Singles Pastor. In 2001 he was brought on staff at Woodruff Road. Dan and his wife Christy have two daughters, Anna and Jenna and two sons, Will and Wyatt.