Lord willing I will teach a class on cults in the near future (not sure dates yet) at Trinity PCA, Spartenburg SC. I will teach this class from a presuppositional apologetic perspective and since this is the case, I will spend a significant amount of time dealing with methodological issues. I will probably begin dealing with the Creator-creature distinction. While self-deception was, for Greg Bahnsen, a crucial concept in presuppositional apologetics, for me, the *Creator-creature distinction is key for the defense of the faith. I’ll also look at the doctrine of the knowledge of God and the knowledge of man, as these obviously are connected to the Creator-creature distinctions.
Something I will (Lord willing) do different this time around is speak to the issue how ancient heresies are connected to contemporary cults.
Since being in seminary I have not spent much time in the subject of the cults, even though it has been a passion of mine for some time. But being in an apologetics class and writing a paper on methodology, I’ve somewhat picked up the subject again. So I am very grateful for the opportunity to teach this course.
In his recent book James McGoldrick stated “A careful comparison of ancient heresies with the major doctrines of the current competitors will show that to ‘contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints’ (Jude 3) remains a matter of urgency for the Church of Jesus Christ.”** To I say, Amen!
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*I’m not indicating that Greg Bahnsen wouldn’t say the same thing.
**Christianity and Its Competitors: The New Faces of Old Heresy (Ross-shire, Scottland; Christian Focus, 2006), 10.
