Friday, June 15, 2012
The Importance of Presuppositions in Apologetics (The Constitutionalist Reformer)
As Christians sharing our faith with others or defending our views of God and His Word we often find ourselves attempting to prove, wether scientifically, historically, or intellectually, the validity of the scriptures or the existence of God. For the most part the reason we do this is we have never heard of the approach known as "Presuppositional Apologetics."
Presupposition are beliefs or starting points in which everyone thinks or interprets evidence. Apologetics is a reasoned defense of beliefs. Hence we have a reasoned defense of beliefs based on presuppositions. For instance my presupposition is that Word of God is infallible and is the only source of pure undefiled truth, (II Timothy 3:16) therefore I base my reasoning on scripture, I do not try to make the Bible fit my evidence, I challenge my findings against the Word of God.
A certain AiG writer said it like this:
"If we start off believing the Bible is the Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16; Psalm 18:30; Proverbs 30:5), then we use it as our axiom. An axiom (often used in logic) is a proposition that is not susceptible to proof or disproof; its truth is assumed. The Bible takes this stance, assuming God’s existence to be true and not something to be proven (Genesis 1:1; Exodus 3:14; Revelation 1:8)."
We cannot share our faith or values without the Word of God, trying to do so would be as foolish as asking an atheist to prove God doesn't exist using only the Bible.
If we try to prove God's existence we are attempting to put God on trial by man, but if we presuppose God's existence we can put the hearer on trial with God, show by the Law that they are poor, blind, miserable, and naked, and guilty in the eyes of the Holy God, and hence man's conscience proves to him God's existence.
Let us be wary of ever leaving the authority of the Word of God or the Gospel in evangelism and everyday life, it is too easy to get caught up in arguments over evolution or history when evangelizing, and leave out the principle matter, the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, the GOSPEL.
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