In short, here is what we are doing in presuppositional
apologetics and what I think every Christian should do. First, we are providing
the atheist an account for the hope that is in us according to 1 Peter 3:15. We
are under no obligation to provide them with an account that meets their finite
and ungodly demands for evidence which is according to their false standards. Their demands may
be dismissed out of hand. They have no right, nor any authority to make such
demands. If man is the ultimate reference point, which man is it?
We argue that
Christian theism is true and as such is the only worldview that provides the
necessary preconditions for the intelligibility of human experience.
We assert that if there is intelligibility, God exists. If
there is no God, then nothing in human experience is genuinely intelligible.
This means anyone arguing against God’s existence is actually presupposing God
in order to argue against God. This is exactly correct.
The transcendental argument asks what else must be true in
order for a particular claim to be true. Hence, we argue that Christian theism
is true because of the impossibility of the contrary. And the contrary is only
impossible if it involves contradiction. Hence, every version of the
non-Christian worldview involves contradiction and is therefore impossible.
We step into the shoes of the unbeliever and ask him to
provide us with an account of reality, of knowledge, and of morality that are
consistent with one another. His metaphysic of pure chance makes it impossible
for his own theory of knowledge and reduces his theory of morality to radically
subjective nonsense. Whatever theory he invents, he always runs afoul in
morality because he finds it impossible that morality can be transcendent,
something that morality must be if it is to retain any meaning whatever.
Once we show the unbeliever that his position is
self-refuting or involves contradiction, and hence reduce his view to
absurdity, we ask him to see things from the Christian point of view.
We begin with the infinite, eternal, self-sufficient triune
God of Scripture. And from there we show how God created all things, holds all
things together, controls all things and that from this God all things flow. In
Him we move and have our being. We show that we can have genuine knowledge
because God reveals the truth about reality to us in nature and in Scripture.
We show that morality is in fact transcendent and no human is above the divine
moral law which is itself a reflection of God’s perfect nature.
We expect the unbeliever to reject this God because the
unbeliever wants to make himself the ultimate reference point for reality, for
knowledge, and for morality.
We realize that Peter did not command us to subject
ourselves to the ungodly demands of unbelievers to meet their arrogant and
ungodly standards. (1 Peter 3:15) We also realize that unbelievers hold the
preaching of the cross of Christ in utter contempt. (1 Cor. 1:18) We realize
that we do not shatter unbelieving worldviews with sophisticated rhetoric and
clever logic. (1 Cor. 2:5; 2 Cor. 10:3-6) We understand that the world comes to
Christ, not through their wisdom, but by the power of the Holy Spirit.
- Atheists are enemies of the cross of Christ and of God. (Rom. 8:6-8).
- Atheists are not able nor willing understand the message of the gospel. (1 Cor. 2:15)
- Atheists operate with an unregenerate mind that is useless and lacking in content. (Eph. 4:17)
- Atheists minds have been blinded by the god of this world. (2 Cor. 4:4)
- Atheists will only come to Christ if the Lord opens their minds to respond to preaching of the gospel. (Acts 16:14)
We engage the world in order to stop the mouths of the
critics and the skeptics. We engage the world because we love God and seek to
glorify Him in all we do. We engage the world because Jesus commanded us to
make disciples, not converts. No, they are not the same thing.
Christian apologetics is first and foremost giving the
non-Christian an account of the hope that is you through the gospel of Jesus
Christ. This activity involves a positive proclamation of truth as well as it’s
defense and in many cases it also involves the dismantling of the non-Christian
system confronting it.
Unbelief is about the substitution of God for man as the
ultimate reference point in human predication. We see this ultimate reference
point reach it’s pinnacle in atheism. From this pinnacle, as it moves down
toward the jungle if you don’t mind the expression, it begins to take on more
nuanced and subtle expressions.
For example, while sitting on a plane in Charlotte this
week, waiting to deplane, a lady sitting next to me was complaining to her
friend sitting next to her about people that emphasize that boys and girls are
different. She made the statement that as soon as her son says he won’t wear
pink, she will dress him in pink from head to toe. I could not help but wonder
where the child’s dad was in all this. The story is a perfect example of modern
culture seeking to take the throne of human predication for it’s own self and
reconstruct and engineer cultural norms. This mom was her own reference point
and no one else, especially no God would impose such a foolish idea on her that
boys and girls are different.
We see this same phenomenon in Denver, CO. where young kids
and teachers are walking out on the school system because the board favors a
more positive portrayal of American history than the current one which paints
America in a very negative light. The teachers and mindless teenagers who
blindly follow them insist in this case on being the ultimate reference point
even for history.
This same principle can be witnessed by the “gay Christian”
movement. These people desire to be the ultimate reference point for what makes
one a Christian. They will not have anything, especially Scripture, serving as
the final authority over their thinking on this subject. They know better than
the writers of Scripture and no one, not God, and certainly not thousands of
years of biblical history will convince them otherwise. They demand to be the
ultimate reference point.
The Christian gospel begins with the ultimate reference
point of God speaking to us through Christ, in Sacred Scripture, by the power
of the Holy Spirit. From this basic principle, the Christian proclamation and
defense of the gospel must begin. It is here more than anywhere else that our
difference becomes clear. A Christian apologetic that compromises in this area
is doomed to compromise in every other area even if that compromise is so
subtle that only experts can see it. Where Christian truth is concerned, there
can be no compromise at any time, for any reason, with anyone, ever!
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