How Important Is Your Worldview To Solve Everyday Problems?

"The only worldview that Christ will fit into is the one where He is the starting point."--Athanasius
"Christ is the centre of Christianity; all else is circumference."--John Stott
"If I want to know how to live in reality, I must know what God is really like."--Plato

Theology has been called the Queen of sciences, and Christianity is the Mother of modern science because its worldview has shaped Western Civilization; the point is that if there is a God who judges, creates, rules, legislates, and loves, then this is the most important study, but if there is no God, all religion and theology is a waste of time and irrelevant. Thus, the first major question of whether there is a God is posed by A. W. Tozer, who says, "What we think about God is the most important thing about us."

We are all on a great quest for certainty, dignity, purpose, fulfillment, and meaning in life, and this is where our worldview comes into play. But note: Only in Christianity is man's diagnosis sin, and solved (salvation) via God's grace through an act of faith in Christ--Christianity is unique in contrast to all religions in this perspective of man. We must be forewarned that today's society has become highly pluralistic and isn't a melting pot anymore, but multicultural, many believe no religion can be true, but all are equally valid, contradictions are fully acceptable, and therefore we must tolerate every faith, and live and let live.

There are a plethora of worldviews or "isms" out there in academia and religious establishments, and one eventually must fly the colors of one or the other, choosing one that suits his fancy, as it were--they cannot be avoided! But one should never choose a worldview that just makes him feel at ease and comfortable, that he has no objections to or cannot be controversial--the truth can be stranger than fiction and our imagination. Sometimes the truth hurts and causes a sword to be drawn, even dividing families because of their convictions.

Our ethics and morals are determined by our worldview too, and what we think we can get away with. If you don't believe in ultimate justice, you might tend to desire to take the law into your own hands, and won't limit your revenge to the eye-for-an-eye principle. To get more concrete, believing in hell is an uncomfortable proposition, but Christians affirm this, despite the rejection by other worldviews. We don't just believe to be safe and not to offend people, sometimes we must be willing to pay the price for what we believe, even willing to die for our convictions (not opinions, though). If you aren't willing to die for your faith, you probably don't have one worth believing or living.

The chief reason academics affirm the theory of evolution is fear of rejection by their peers and possibly losing the tenure of their professorship. Evolution offers answers without God in the metric!  They say evolution is a "time-honored, scientific tenet of faith," yes faith! Peer pressure is a prime motivator for some people. We all, including scientists, make decisions based on reason (it seems rational); emotions (it feels right); culture (everyone is doing it); and even tradition (we've always done it).

We don't necessarily discount these factors, but must put them in their place and perspective: Tradition must bow to conviction and be concordant with Scripture; culture must be Christ-centered and have values consistent with it; our reason must be valid and defensible in the public marketplace of ideas, and our emotions must not rule our thinking, but the result of our faith and will, not its slave. We must stand up for the truth and fly our Christian colors!

The major worldviews, mostly Secularism, Islam, Marxism, Postmodernism, New Age, and, of course, Christianity are all in contradistinction, except that they all (except Christianity) agree that Christianity is dangerous and evil and must be debunked and not even tolerated. Marxists say, "God does not, cannot, and must not exist"--Secularists will not let a Divine Foot in the door! Their goal is to kick Christ out of the open square, the classroom, and all of academia! The reason for all this is that Satan is the author of them all except the true one of Christianity, for he is the author of confusion and no truth is in him.

The most dangerous factor is that there is just enough truth to deceive and allure the weak and naive and to inoculate them from the real thing (knowing Jesus). The prevalent idea of truth is that it's only relative and there is no absolute and universal truth to aspire to.

Most secular worldviews dodge the no-truth bullet and take values, morals, ethics, creation, and all this entails as a given, without any plausible explanation! Only those of the truth hear the truth and Christ's voice of reason (cf. John 18:37) and those who "reject the truth" are the unredeemed (cf. Rom. 2:8). They tell you in school that you can know nothing for certain, and they are certain of that--this has no truth value!

We must experience Jesus personally to know He is good and will guide us into all truth through the Holy Spirit's ministry (cf. John 16:13; 1 Pet. 1:2). Many people rule out the Christian worldview without a fair appraisal and have presumed there is no God from the get-go, and have therefore concluded that evolution (the building-block of Secularism) is a valid theory, despite that fact that evidence is hard to come by and there is no fossil evidence of missing and transitional links to prove it. It is unproven and cannot be proved, since one-time historical events, such as creation, are outside the province of scientific empiricism. History and therefore creation are unrepeatable events.

We can thank the Founding Fathers for having a Christian worldview, even though most weren't professing believers, and we should be concerned that other worldviews are ascending the stage in our nation, even forcing out the God-oriented-and-focused one. For instance, be glad, that we have rights because we are in the image of God, as foreseen by our Forefathers, and human life has dignity. We have inherited these views, but they are under assault and must be defended.

The Christian worldview outshines all others and provides answers that others are at a loss to solve. But secularists are prejudiced and will believe anything as long as God is not in the picture and they can make up their moral code and compass and live by their own rule of faith, being free from the constraints and limits of the Christian faith, which might be too high a price to pay.

Christ promised that the truth will set us free (cf. John 8:32) and it turns out that He is the Answerer and we are illuminated by the Holy Spirit as we accept Christ by faith and God shows us the way to live (hence the faith was referred to originally as The Way). If someone doesn't know Christ or is naive, he is susceptible to erroneous worldviews and becomes drawn into their net, because he doesn't have the answers, is ill-prepared to defend his faith, and may not even know what he believes!

It is not necessary to examine every worldview, or find a guru, to choose the correct one! Christ can open a person's eyes and show the way, the truth, and the life to set him free. All religions are basically the same and man essentially believes he is good and can work his way to heaven or God, and can please or ingratiate God on his own; if one assesses the depravity of man in the Bible, it teaches contrariwise and shows us depraved, inherently and evil--only able to sin, or unable not to sin, needing redemption and salvation (for sin is the problem, not being unenlightened).

Only Christianity speaks of a Savior and a God who rescues us from ourselves, sin, Satan, death, and hell. In contradistinction to all religions, Christianity says, "Tetelestai," "Done," or fait accompli ("it is finished," or "Paid in Full" or it's a Done Deal); religion all says, "Do." The whole point of religion is lifting ourselves by our bootstraps and it's all a "do-it-yourself" proposition, while Christianity is what God does for us.

Thus there is a common thread throughout all "isms" except Christianity, and for this reason, we can eliminate all the competition as being fallacious and a lie from Satan. There's a caveat: There's a war of "isms" out in the real world or the secular world that doesn't know Christ, and ideas have consequences--it does matter what we believe!

Each worldview tends to answer the ultimate questions and dilemmas of mankind: Why are we here? Where did we come from? Where are we going? Is there such a thing as right and wrong and are we responsible and culpable? Is there a God? Each worldview attempts to "save" mankind in some manner of religious activity, (you don't have to be a member of a religion to be religious or exhibit religiosity). The most perplexing problems are whether life is worth living and whether there is meaning to life, besides basic hormones and instincts.

Religions are wholly inadequate in their solutions and come up short in explaining reality--they escape from it and avoid it. People want to believe they can be good without God, thus justifying themselves (the basis of Secular-Humanism) and that God is irrelevant, if He does exist, and cannot help us--we must save ourselves!

However, man will not admit he needs God and is a sinner by nature, by choice, and by birth without intervening wooing and conviction of the Holy Spirit--this is what's wrong with man! The all-encompassing question that must be answered is this: How then shall we live? Man is a religious being and "will worship something" (Dostoevsky), if not God, for man is hard-wired for worship, thus denying God is the epitome of wrong living and all of society suffers the result.

We don't have to be able to prove everything we believe to believe in Christ or accept Him by faith, and being a believer doesn't mean one has all the answers, because faith is a continuum of doubt from skepticism to certitude, but experience in Christ is designed to satisfy the soul's hunger for the truth and gives true peace with God, others, and ourselves. We just go ahead and believe and become Christians despite our doubts and questions can believe anyway, and are rewarded by the experience of Christ in our hearts, which cannot be denied, but can only be known first-hand, not second-hand (but we must take the leap of faith).

The error we must avoid is to cast only Christians as people of faith because Secular-Humanism is a faith and a declared religion too--they place their faith, even betting the farm on it, that science has the answer and will solve our problems eventually. Faith in science is still faith! It's not a matter of faith versus reason, but which set of presuppositions you accept as your starting point, i.e., is there a God? There are consequences of living in the here and now and not in light of eternity, to live for pleasure and self--and only Christianity rescues man from this plight.

We must realize our Christian faith is relevant to all of life, and every major academic discipline is rooted in the Bible there is no such thing as a secular versus a sacred area of academics, but Christ is the basis for all truth, for all truth is God's truth (Augustine) and meets at the top (Aquinas). God wants us to get our thinking in line with Scripture and to cast down every imagination of man that opposes the truth (cf. 2 Cor. 10:4-5). Romans 12:2 exhorts us to "renew our minds" in the image of Christ (think clearly with a divine viewpoint); get your thinking straightened out!

The building block of Secularism is evolution, and we deny that it changes the narrative. The Bible sheds light on the truth that we are created in God's image by a loving Creator who has provided redemption through Christ. In the final analysis, we must wonder whether our faith is not only valid, and supplies the appropriate answers, but whether it's worthy of our faith, not just that it works, for even yoga works--just being rational is no reason per se either--Christianity has a rationale, is defensible, a rational, but it's not rationalism. Soli Deo Gloria!

Knowing Truth...

 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge," according to Prov. 1:7.  In the Bible, knowledge, wisdom, and understanding are linked. They lead to each other. If you know things, you can be wise with that knowledge, understand it, and use it to the best means and ends. We are to increase in our knowledge of the Lord. 

Jesus claimed to come to bear witness of the truth and that those who belong to the truth will listen to Him (John 18:37) and even said He is the epitome of truth itself: "I am the way, the truth, and the life..." (John 14:6).   Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:7). Because of Christ, we have universal, objective, transcendent, absolute, and timeless truth to live by. 

One must ultimately ask: on what basis do you define or reckon knowledge? It cannot always be certain but must be true to the best possible proof and belief. Without reference to God, can there be any real knowledge? Can you make truth claims when the God of truth doesn’t exist and you deny absolute truth? Knowledge must be accepted and believed! Denying knowledge is denying reality in a way as is not knowing the truth and inventing your own truth.

All in all, one must be justified to believe in knowledge. But what we now have in a secular society is a way to be intellectually fulfilled and have the answers without God in the metric especially by appealing to evolution or saying that science is the answer; au contraire, God is the only Answerer!

The starting point as far as the world or secular society (Secular Humanism) is concerned is mankind as the "measure of all things" or reference point. They believe in commencing with man and contemplating, understanding, and explaining or explaining away God!  Athanasius said that the only system of thought God will fit into is the one where He is the starting point: we begin with God and explain reality or the world, not vice versa. 

Reality has to correspond with the truth and if Christianity is true, then its concept of reality is worth studying and living by. If not, then it is completely irrelevant.  Postmodern philosophy says that "God is dead" and this means God is no longer relevant, meaningful, necessary, or helpful in understanding reality and the world; they only want to believe what science can prove as absolute truths and not what God reveals. 

This is a philosophy and not science and should be called "scientism." That is very apparent when people harness science for unscientific reasons such as making philosophical proclamations as Carl Sagan said, "The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be." Science cannot know this and this statement cannot be subject to the scientific method. Science is not the only means of gaining absolute or perfect knowledge.  

The point is that without God, we can know nothing at all, we need an infinite reference to understand a finite reference point!  For instance, if there is no God, life has no ultimate meaning and unless there is a God, all things are up for grabs and all things are permissible because we have no reason to believe in morals at all except for selfish preservation like a survival instinct.  To have firm branches, we need firm roots and our worldview is like our roots!  It is the foundation that our knowledge depends upon!  

Because of God, we can say that we can know things for certain (we have a firm foundation) and that morals are absolute and not relevant to the person or situation. When you say that truth itself is relative, is that statement relative? When you say that you must not believe anything someone tells you about God, should we believe that person? When you say that you can know nothing for certain, can we trust that person is certain, and can he be certain?  Soli Deo Gloria!

Theory Of Knowledge

Why did Socrates say "I know that I know nothing" and what did he mean by it?


It is a self-contradiction if he said that because he claims to know something—that he knows nothing! I doubt he would contradict himself so easily though. He also said, “To commence learning, you must admit your ignorance.” If one knows nothing, would they know it? Socrates was a believer in God as the was Plato and Aristotle though not so formulated as the Hebrews had. The Bible says, “Anyone who thinks he knows something doesn’t yet know as he ought to know.” The Genesis of all learning then is realized ignorance. The more educated you become, the more you realize you do not know and need more education!

If he did say it, he was referring to being skeptical and starting from scratch and not assuming anything. All knowledge begins in faith. You have to believe you know something to know anything. Uncertainty is the starting point and beginning of a discovery of knowledge and often its outcome. We may find out we know squat about something we claim to know something. We will discover all knowledge is contingent beginning by accepting a presupposition we cannot prove or disprove.

You Could Be Wrong!

People are fully committed to what they believe, especially their political camp, and would not accept the argument that they could be wrong. But God is not partisan! You cannot know the absolute truth in a partisan manner!  This goes for anything secular in arguing:  the opponent could be wrong and that is a valid point.  They don't want to admit they are dogmatic in their faith.  Do you know that logically all religions cannot be right; however, they could all be wrong!  We have faith in God, However, and this is the beginning of knowledge. We know the answers to the ultimate questions!  Because our knowledge originates with God who He knows all.  You have to know all to know anything; we know A because of B, B because of C, ad infinitum.  But infinite regress is impossible--you cannot cross infinity!  Point in fact:  all knowledge is based and founded on faith.


There is an omniscient all-knowing God as a starting point.  And so, we must reason from God and with God, not against Him, nor to Him.  The Bible says that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of all knowledge (cf. Prov. 1:7)--what is divinely revealed to us and has been reasoned from there. The Bible is the final authority and arbiter of truth for us and is self-attesting, appealing to no higher authority or source.  This is reasonable because if it did appeal to something/someone higher it couldn't be the final arbiter of truth, i.e., Sola Scriptura, Scripture alone as the sole authority--the Reformers' rallying cry. And so, we begin with God and explain the universe, we don't dismiss Him from the get-go and reason against Him, begging the question.


Where you start determines where you'll end up!  Athanasius said that the only system of thought Christ will fit into is the one where He is the starting point.   The problem with people is that they do know God and suppress this knowledge according to Romans 1:18 (and you must know God to suppress Him) and when they knew Him they were ungrateful and didn't worship Him becoming fools claiming to be wise. They denied the God they did know.  But we cannot answer the big questions without God in the equation--secularism cannot give the know-whys.


We aren't putting God on trial by attempting to "prove" Him, but the evidence is there for the willing if one is willing to follow the facts wherever they lead. Evidence strengthens existent faith.  Even given sufficient evidence sinners will not worship God without God's intervention to regenerate them and quicken faith in their blinded souls.  But there is never enough for the skeptic who doesn't want to believe. Infidels don't want to examine or believe in evidence because it's stacked against them and they don't have the answers--they just object to Christianity. We don't need all the evidence or answers to believe!  There is adequate evidence for the willing though. The trouble is that some infidels wouldn't repent if all their questions were adequately answered and shown the way the evidence is leading, because they feel comfortable in their lifestyle--they love their sin!   


People feign intellectual problems when they really have moral ones and just don't want to live the abundant life in Christ.  The heart of the matter, then, is a matter of the heart.  They are really making truth claims by denying the Source of truth and the Personification of it--Jesus.  The issue boils down to what Pilate asked Jesus:  "What is truth?"  It corresponds with reality and is the self-revelation of God, agreeing with God who delimits and defines it.  We can appeal to no higher authority.  It's self-defeating to say there's no truth because that would be a truth claim per se!   How do they know that or what if they're wrong? 


The truth is that we base all our knowledge on two principles of logic:  the law of noncontradiction and the law of cause and effect or causality. Logic is a valid way to find truth if the premise is true, but we only know something is true if God revealed it. You cannot prove anything that's not logical!  The fool who claims to know nothing is admitting he does know something!  This ends up with the reasoning of Socrates that to find truth you must admit your ignorance or that you could be wrong!


The problem is that we all interpret the evidence according to what we already believe and fit our theories or prejudices. Don't twist facts to fit the theories!   God has to make a believer out of us by converting us and bringing us to a saving knowledge of Christ.  We must never give leverage to the infidel by giving him ammunition to believe he cannot know anything about God!


Therefore, Christians have a personal encounter with God to validate their leap of faith and to reinforce it with the experience that God is good.  The infidel cannot defend his foolish faith! Thankfully, the Christian faith is the only religion that's fact, evidence, and historically sound and based.  NB:  Faith not based on evidence is blind faith!  The conclusion of the matter is that only Christians can know with certainty anything concerning God as the starting point, while the infidel doesn't have a leg to stand on and lives a lie and self-contradiction not knowing anything for sure.   Soli Deo Gloria!

Epistemological Breakthrough

I am appalled at the relative ignorance of journalists about the science of epistemology. They let contributors get away with just about any assertion or even allegation, without challenge. We have a right to opine or believe what we want, but we don't have the right to fabricate our own truths; however, some people have their minds made up and don't want to be confused with the facts. The truth is true whether one believes in it or not--i.e., objective truth--and no matter who says it. Even experts speaking in the area of their expertise (and often they are deemed authorities outside their domain), can be wrong. Let me give you a for instance: When investigating history, a secular historian trumps a biblicist of the first order, a theologian, biblical scholar, expositor, or whosoever.

The Bible has never been proved wrong historically, though many have attempted to do so, and this begs the question: "Why should it be considered unreliable or have dubious authenticity or veracity. There is ample evidence to support its claims and even archaeology has never contravened a biblical reference (with over 25,000 excavation sites or digs). The burden of proof, historically (per Socrates dictum), is on the person challenging the authority of the Scriptures, not the Bible, which is self-attesting because it has to be, or it couldn't claim ultimate authority in itself.

The only faith and worldview that has EVIDENCE to back it up and isn't based on pure blind faith is the Judaeo-Christian one. There's no evidence that Muhammad was spoken to by Gabriel--in fact, it controverts what we know about him from the Bible, because he proclaimed Christ to be the Son of God, and the Koran says Jesus is just the prophet that preceded Muhammad, though He is called the Christ or Messiah, He is given no divine status! Why would an angel contradict himself?

I want to see journalists challenge the persons of interest that they are interviewing and learn to direct the conversation by direct questions, and, when they give roundabout answers to challenge them, that they haven't answered the question, but have just fed us a line of propaganda in order to get free publicity for their cause or agenda. Hold them accountable and we need fact-checkers to be watchdogs and given the opportunity to do their job.

People often believe statements merely because they are publicized or in print and accept them as gospel truth. They are gullible and lend credence to such impossible ideas as conspiracy theories, which are only a figment of the imagination and have no basis in fact. Another suggestion is to listen to both sides before making a rash decision about who's right or wrong--don't jump to the conclusion because of partiality! When someone makes a statement in the media, it should be clarified that this is only his opinion and not factual per se; he could be wrong! There is quite a leap of faith going from opinion to fact and some people make no such distinction.

We can know things from circumstantial evidence, such as the resurrection of Christ, which also has eyewitness testimony and historical documentation, and this kind of evidence is acceptable in a court of law and is valid. A court case can be proved based on it alone.

My plea to journalists is to keep contributors and guests restricted to making statements that they can back up with factual evidence and stick to their area of expertise or training. A chief propaganda methodology is to tell really big lies and keep telling them till the public at large learns to accept it. A better technique to keep lies at bay is to ask them where they gathered their information--we don't want hearsay, gossip, disinformation, or even misinformation (even if misconstrued) to be disseminated, or should I say perpetrated? False allegations should be given the opportunity to be refuted in an equitable manner--the public has a right to hear both sides of an issue.

Asking direct questions deserve a direct answer and sometimes in the affirmative or negative. Sometimes guest outbursts call for ground rules and laying down the law. Many times conflict can be resolved by defining terms; this implies there's a problem of semantics. Kudos to all investigative reporters who don't take everything they hear at face value, but in skepticism until there is evidence to back it up--this art should not stop with the correspondent but continue in all levels of journalism.

Journalism 101 should teach journalists to do their homework, work in their field of training so they know their subject, go for substance, not appearance or delivery, not to leave questions up in the air without settling the issue or giving both sides an opportunity, not to be so image-conscious, be as skeptical and hard to convince as possible, driving them to give a straight up and down, yes or no answer when given a direct question without any avoiding the issue or changing the subject to get their propaganda some air time, they need to be informed enough to be able to ask spontaneous questions and follow what they say to lead the interview with these questions--not trying to trip them up, but being fair, so that they are not so dependent on the producers preparing questions beforehand to ask that they clueless about--it shows!

These are only common-sense ground rules that any adept journalist should have the instinct to follow. What has happened due to the race for ratings is a void filled by the lowest common denominator. It seems like they are too afraid to be labeled biased or of taking sides and don't realize that no one is completely objective; they have the right to be human! NB:  Journalists ought to beware of the "Red Herring" technique properly called by better names: the pivot, argument by irrelevance, argument by changing the subject, or even by the talking point.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Transcendent Truth...

"If we are not governed by God, we will be ruled by tyrants." (William Penn)

NB: TRANSCENDENT TRUTH IS ABSOLUTE AND OBJECTIVE, NOT DEPENDING UPON OPINION OR POPULARITY, TRUE WHETHER BELIEVED OR NOT.


Morality is based upon transcendent truth and is not subject to debate.--it's not based on private opinion or feelings, but on God's inner law that we all have in our conscience. God's truth is objective truth and is true regardless of whether believed or not! All the foundations of society come apart by destroying the basis of truth based upon the facts, whether they like them or not, and whether they support their worldview and opinions or not. In denying truth, like Oliver Wendel Holmes did, "law is the majority vote that can lick all others--[how bleak an outlook!]."

Christians believe in a supreme entity of truth that is personified or incarnated in Christ as its exemplar. All we need to know is in Him and revealed by knowing Him. Every academic discipline is fulfilled in Him. Some things are true, but not truth; all truth meets at the top and is God's truth, which has the almighty power to transform, not just inform. In our day politics is leaning toward pragmatism, in which belief system truth is irrelevant and is not the test of an idea--whether it works is the litmus test (known as pragmatism)! Does it work for you? New Age believers think truth is whatever they "feel" is right for them. Postmodernism denies any Truth with a capital T and sees it all as relevant--that may be true for you, but not for me!

Is is any wonder that the governmental spin disregards truth and that it's absolute? Now we have to deal the post-factual world and the alternative fact, which is something related to an opinion, not substantiated--unfounded allegations and truth claims. When you destroy the validity of truth, as Pilate cynically asked Jesus: "What is truth?" you destroy the very foundation of all knowledge. We have nothing to have agreement on and cannot even compromise because we cannot agree as to what the facts are and how to arrive at truth.

Science is only one way to ascertain truth, divine revelation is another; for the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge. It is fallacious to believe that only religious people have taken a leap of faith; all worldviews start with some assertion they cannot prove--even nihilists have faith and scientists believe irrationally in science and have made a religion out of it. Faith in science is still faith--it's not a matter of faith versus reason, then, but faith in which set of presuppositions you wish to make your starting point and an axis of learning or foundation.

It is a sad commentary on our culture that truth is being filtered and downgraded to such ideas as "fake news." If the facts don't fit their opinions they automatically reject them as fake news. We don't accept or reject evidence according to whim or our worldview but make our opinions up according to the facts. Some facts may seem like a hard pill to swallow, but we must align our faith and worldview according to reality, and not a parallel universe in a fact-free bubble or reality.

Journalists must keep each other honest and seek the truth behind the story--just the facts without putting a spin on it like an administration does for damage control. The truth will eventually be known so why not be on the side of the truth? You can fool some of the people some of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but not all the people all the time, they say!

There are two kinds of law: natural law or God's law (according to His nature) and legal positivism (that which the powers that be make up as they go along and force on the masses). Just because some power elites decide to make a law and enforce it doesn't make it right in God's eyes. Some laws are unjust and Christians ought to oppose them with civil disobedience because they violate transcendent law from God, which we all know in our conscience.

The ancient Greeks sought for truth, beauty, and goodness. You can make any truth claim you desire; however, it must be substantiated to be true. Many conclusions are possible from truth claims and conclusions are not true or false, but valid or invalid, depending upon the line of reasoning and the premise or foundation facts. Truth is not elusive, but God-given and we can personally know it by virtue of an encounter with the living God, via believing in Jesus and enjoying that relationship.
Since Jesus claimed to be "the Way," He is the gateway and starting point in our pilgrimage seeking truth--it all begins by knowing Him!
Soli Deo Gloria!

A Primer On Epistemology

"The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17, NIV).
"Eliminate the impossible, and whatever remains, no matter how improbable, is true." (unknown).
"Tell me your certainties, I have enough doubts of my own." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe).
"We have found all the questions, now let's find the answers." (G. K. Chesterton).
"... and a people without understanding shall come to ruin" (Hos. 4:14, ESV).
"Therefore my people go into exile for lack of knowledge..." (Isaiah 5:13, ESV).
NOTE THIS PHILOSOPHICAL AXIOM: ALL KNOWLEDGE BEGINS IN FAITH (FAITH PRECEDES REASON!). REMEMBER: A CHRISTIAN WITH FAITH HAS NOTHING TO FEAR FROM THE FACTS AND SCRUTINY.

They were "always learning and never coming to a knowledge of the truth" (cf. 2 Tim. 3:7)! That's probably why Socrates said that you must "admit your ignorance" to begin to learn. Sophomores in college think they know so much, but they have only begun to learn. Education is going from an unconscious to a conscious awareness of one's ignorance. Augustine said that he believes in order to understand; indeed faith comes before reason! We all have faith, whether in God, mankind, nature, science, logic, or religion, because everyone starts out with some presupposition they cannot prove. Faith in science is not inherently superior knowledge--it's still faith.

People erroneously have blind faith that science has disproved creationism or Christianity, and this is dangerous to all of us. We erroneously assume that believing something makes it true and not believing something makes it false; there is no universal belief, but there is universal truth. We must always be ready to back up our allegations and assertions with facts.

By the way, science is becoming "scientism," thinking it is the only true source of truth, and consequently, it's becoming a religion according to Carl Sagan, a professor at Cornell Univ. in astronomy. Science is not meant to answer philosophical, historical, legal, ethical, or religious issues, but restrict itself to the logical, observable, measurable, and repeatable. The scientific method, as invented by Sir Francis Bacon, is only one way to find truth. You can't have your minds made up so that you don't want to be confused with the facts! If you are a know-it-all that is unwilling to admit you could be wrong, you will never know the truth of the matter at hand.

There are facts that have evidence and can be proved by various means, then there are allegations and accusations that are unsubstantiated. When someone disseminates unsubstantiated so-called facts, it is slander, not news! Journalists know what sources are and their credibility factors. Unreliable sources are ignored and so are those that have lost credibility. Anonymous "leaks" are not good sources to publish as gospel truth and are fake news services that are the tabloids of the internet and unworthy, unreliable sources.

We don't have faith in faith for its own sake, but the object of our faith makes all the difference. We must be willing to admit we could be wrong to find the truth and also be willing to go wherever the evidence may lead, no matter how unpalatable. Sometimes truth is something we couldn't have guessed and is stranger than fiction--who wouldn't have thought the Godhead or Deity was triune. In examining the evidence we fit the theory to match the facts, we don't fit the facts to fit our theory! In short, there is Truth with a capital T and all truth meets at the top because it's God's truth according to Augustine and Aquinas. Remember that Jesus announced: "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life..." (cf. John 14:).

Jesus, being the incarnation of truth itself proves we can know it and that it doesn't change--truth is timeless and always relevant. Truth is nonnegotiable and isn't a short-term contract and we have a right to our own opinions, but not our own truth or fact (there are no "alternative facts" as Kellyanne Conway and Trump say). We all have the right to our own opinion but not to fabricate our own facts. The thing about truth is that Jesus promised us we'd find it if we searched for it with the right attitude. "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free" (cf. John 8:32). Jesus also said that if we are willing to do His will we shall know whether it is of God (cf. John 7:17).

Unbelievers are those who "reject the truth" (cf. Rom. 2:8) and repentance will be granted to some that they may "come to a knowledge of the truth." A sign of a true believer is that he is thirsty for and loves the truth: "... because they refused to love the truth and so be saved" (2 Thess. 1:10, ESV) they were judged and condemned.

Pseudo faith: Some people would say something is true because it works for them or feels right, these are fallacious presuppositions; John Dewey actually thought you couldn't evaluate the truth of an idea, only its usefulness (if it works!); the biggest misunderstanding is that all truth is relative and this would have to be a relative statement, making it meaningless! Ever since Pilate asked Jesus what truth is man has wondered if there is some absolute, universal truth for everyone everywhere--in antiquity "might made right!" There is truth in Christ who came to "bear witness of the truth" (cf. John 18:37). We must avoid the fallacious assertion that something may be true for one person, but not another and that everyone has their own truths that are only relative--we don't the right to fabricate our own truths! The Bible is truth and has the power to change or transform (cf. John 17:17) lives by virtue of that power.

In sum, Jesus said (cf. John 18:37) that everyone who is of the truth hears His voice--His sheep hear and recognize His voice and follow Him (John 10:27). In the final analysis, we need to be workers approved by God, who are "rightly handling the Word of truth" per 2 Tim. 2:15. Caveat: Beware of academia teaching the so-called theory of evolution as unquestioned scientific fact, when it's only a time-honored scientific tenet of faith!

"The Christian position is not that the truth is unknowable or that we are confused; it is that truth is knowable and we have rebelled," according to David Noebel. In application consider George Lucas' faith: "The conclusion that I've come to is that all religions are true." This is nonsensical and has no truth value, period; I rest my case! Soli Deo Gloria!

As A Matter Of Fact

'The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him--a Spirit of wisdom and understanding, a Spirit of counsel and strength, a Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD" (Isaiah 11:2, HCSB).  

DEFINITIONS FROM DAVID A. NOEBEL:  KNOWLEDGE IS JUSTIFIED TRUE BELIEF.  FACTS ARE INDISPUTABLY KNOWN TO BE TRUE OR THINGS KNOWN TO EXIST IN REALITY, DEPICTING AND CONFORMING TO IT.    PRAGMATISM IS THE BELIEF THAT PROPOSTIONS DO NOT MIRROR REALITY AND SHOULD THEREFORE BE TREATED AS TOOLS AND JUDGED ONLY BY THEIR PRACTICAL CONSEQUENCES [IT DOESN'T MATTER WHETHER IT'S TRUE, BUT ONLY RESULTS SHOULD BE CONSIDERED].  TRUTH, ACCORDING TO THE CORRESPONDENCE THEORY OF TRUTH IS THAT WHICH CORRESPONDS WITH REALITY.  

NB:  CARL SAGAN SAYS EVOLUTION "IS FACT, NOT THEORY."  HE UNDERSTANDS NEITHER FACTS, SCIENCE, NOR THEORY.  EVOLUTION IS UNPROVEN AND UNPROVABLE!  ANY EVIDENCE IS HARD TO COME BY AND THERE IS ZERO FOSSIL EVIDENCE TO BACK UP THE THEORY OF MACRO-EVOLUTION--NO AUTHENTIC MISSING LINKS OR TRANSITIONAL FORMS, WHICH WAS A WORKING HYPOTHESIS, CHAMPIONED AS THEORY, AND NOW TOUTED AS FACT!  SCIENCE DEPENDS UPON EXPERIMENTS, MEASUREMENT, REPEATABILITY, AND OBSERVATION--NOTE THAT NO ONE WAS THERE!  

ONE-TIME EVENTS IN HISTORY ARE NONREPEATABLE AND NOT WITHIN THE REALM OF SCIENTIFIC SPECULATION.  IT IS VITAL TO KNOW THAT CHRISTIANITY DEALS IN FACTS AND EVIDENCE, AND IF IT'S DEHISTORICIZED IT'S FULLY DISCREDITED AND NOTHING BUT NOBLE ETHICS AND "PIE-IN-THE-SKY" DREAMS.  

Knowing all the trivia in the world will do you no good morally, spiritually, or practically--by definition trivia is useless info.  The only time it comes in handy is as a parlor game or on a game show as a contestant, or in the audience watching it for diversion or past-time or just to have fun things to know.  People who remember trivia tend to be disorganized for the most part because they don't organize what's useful for life; others just remember everything and know it fortuitously.  The point is that knowledge in itself is not an end in itself, it must be applied and put to work to be any benefit. Just like there's pure science and applied science.   If a trivia nut keeps telling you his "facts" facetiously tell him: "You don't say?" "Is that a fact?" 

The only knowledge that matters is that which can accomplish God's will and can be put to use productively; it is no wonder that knowledge is increasing exponentially, but our wisdom or knowing how to use it is falling proportionately--we're getting worse off! (Daniel 12:4, NIV, says, "... Many will go here and there to increase knowledge [or "and knowledge shall be increased" in KJV] .")   Knowledge need not be 100 percent certain to be called knowledge. 

Knowledge must affect your life to be of value!  We must put our knowledge to work for us.  The whole purpose of knowledge is edification, enlightenment, and inspiration or motivation for good deeds. The trouble is that we all possess trivia and even genuine, useful knowledge and don't know how to make it useful--we aren't faithful to what we do know as a rule; however, if we pass on what God has shown us He will give more light.

This can be seen also in those that study for purely academic reasons or as literature, reading the storyline and seeing the Bible as a lesson to learn much like fairy tales or myths.  Anybody can read about David and Goliath and conclude that you shouldn't let bullies boss you around or be discouraged by them--it doesn't take a spiritual mind at all!  And so, included in a trivial pursuit of Bible knowledge is to focus on the mundane and things of secular interest, such as historical facts and references.

Knowledge in itself puffs up according to 1  Cor. 8:1 and the goal should be to express it and make a loving use of it--love is the fulfillment of the law!  Gal. 5:6 says that "the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love" in the NIV.  The problem with knowledge is basically that some use it to impress others and to get proud of it for its own sake.  We all must beware of information glut whereby we know too much for our own good--not being able to apply it--and our knowledge gets ahead of us because we lose orientation and focus on our marching orders and the Great Commission; we must keep the main thing the main thing and not major on minors!

One problem in the church is the "nod-to-God crowd" doing their "duty."  They go to church in a perfunctory manner as a routine or to fulfill social obligations or to keep the conscience clean, not to apply what they hear as cheerful hearers but not cheerful doers of the Word.  These people tend to just go through the motions and have memorized the dance of the pious, knowing all the lingo of the church and are really socially engaged, as if churchgoing were a social event.  These believers are really lukewarm and need to invite Christ into their hearts so that they have more than head knowledge.  Christ must dwell in the heart to save and this is expressed in love to God and others, even enemies.  They may even apply the message to others being blind of their own depravity and spiritual need.

Now, don't mistake the hunger for the Word or the seeking of the Truth as abnormally vain or useless.  The healthy, growing believer has a genuine love for the Truth (cf. 2 Thess. 2:10) and loves the Word of God, and he will lose this passion if he doesn't apply what he knows--this is why we must pace our intake and not overload or get intoxicated with the Word only to forget it without application.  The Bible may become passe or one can get Bible fatigue as it loses its zing or pizazz, but walking close to the Lord will keep one close to the Word as it makes you hungry for more as it feeds you.  And being callous or indifferent to spiritual matters is a warning sign and the only cure is to own up to what you know and get back to the basics of love in action.

Some believers are just too distracted by the cares of this world or have too shallow of a mind to think divine meditations.  One must heed the words of Jesus in John 13:17 where He said, "Now that you know these things, blessed are you if you do them."  The Pharisees knew the Scriptures in their head but failed to understand their spiritual meaning ("You know not the Scriptures neither the power of God," in Matt. 22:29).  What they were experts at is applying it to others!  We must apply ourselves to the Word and the Word to ourselves (cf. Job 5:37).  Never discount knowledge, wisdom, and understanding as gifts of God, but to whom much is given, much is required (cf. Luke 12:48).

"For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge" (2 Pet. 1:5, NIV).

Faith comes via the spiritual miracle and gift of preaching!  We must go a step further: turn our creeds into deeds and practice what we preach.  Christianity is not just a creed to believe but knowing a person and putting that creed into action!  Everyone needs to be convicted of sin and inspired to godly endeavor in the body, not just the immature ones!  We have never "graduated" in church when we don't need other members of the body, especially teaching and preaching.  Disciples are "learners" by definition and have enrolled in the school of Christ for the long haul.

We must never become complacent and think we know it all and have no need of preaching.  Some have been called to teach, prophesy, and preach, while others to submit to their God-given authority in so doing.  Those who don't get convicted or inspired are in danger of being out of touch spiritually, and if they don't apply it, they can lose it, even backslide or fall temporarily into apostasy.  There are no Lone Ranger believers who can say they can worship God in the cornfield or on the mass media or even social media because there are no spiritual hermits or loners in the body.

Knowledge is not meant to be an intellectual thing where smart or intelligent people have the advantage--the heart of the matter is that it's a matter of the heart.  A point in fact:  Nobody can absorb it all, everyone must be selective--you cannot be effective without being selective.  Some people try to do too much or learn too much--books can become burdensome if one doesn't learn to organize his studies and realize what God wants for him to know and apply--he must know how God uses him.  That's where knowing our place in the body and our spiritual gift comes into play so that we don't attempt too much and accomplish nothing.

Knowledge is vital, but it's not everything!  God's "people perish for lack of knowledge" (cf. Hos. 4:1, 6,14).   We must never lose our focus and perspective or discernment.  We cannot escape knowledge because that is not an option for the believer, it leads to spiritual suicide!  How can Protestants dissent, disagree and protest if they are ignorant?  The Bible tells us that the righteous are hungry for the truth, but the fool feeds on trash in Prov. 15:14, and we have all heard the computer slogan garbage in, garbage out.  And so knowledge is the byproduct of a walk with Christ:  "... [B]earing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God," in Col. 1:10; "But grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ..." in 2 Pet. 3:18, NIV.

The only test of genuine knowledge in action or faith is obedience to the Word.  NB: Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, "Only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes."  Obedience is the only measure of faith and the second part of the Great Commission, to teach them to obey all that Christ taught--i.e., being disciples or students of the Word ("Study to shew thyself approved unto God...," in 2 Tim. 2:15, KJV or "be diligent to present yourself ..." in NKJV).

And we must have pure motives for attaining knowledge (we must not stop there and fail to complete our mission)--it's the means to the end, not an end in itself, and not just to have all the answers or to outsmart and pull rank on the preacher or prof either in order to boost our own ego. Two major issues of growth stunting in the church are apathy and ignorance--they don't know, and much worse, they don't care!  To begin learning we must admit our ignorance according to Socrates.

In sum, there's a vast difference between knowing about the Bible and knowing the Bible, which can only be done if one knows the Author when God is our teacher, whereby we grow in the grace and true knowledge of the Lord, which is a humbling experience.

Words to the wise shall be sufficient:  In Scripture, Moses, Dr. Luke, and Paul were men of great learning.  Just like the British scientist (who founded the scientific method) and philosopher, Sir Francis Bacon, is credited with the 1597 maxim, "Knowledge is power," there is the skilled use of it--that's where wisdom comes in:  Scripture says, "The wise prevail through great power, and those who have knowledge muster their strength [i.e., increase their strength]" (Prov. 24:5, NIV).  Knowledge is necessary for spiritual growth, but not sufficient--IT'S ONLY PART OF THE EQUATION; it must be lived out in love. We don't believe in knowledge for its own sake! 

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing because some know enough to be dangerous!  NB:  Knowledge per se is no measure of spiritual status or growth, it must be commensurate with love in action.  

CAVEAT:  WE MUST BEWARE OF HAVING A ZEAL FOR GOD, BUT NOT ACCORDING TO KNOWLEDGE AS PAUL WARNED IN ROM. 10:2 AND SOLOMON IN PROV. 19:2.   By all means:  "The beginning of wisdom [the right use of knowledge] is this: Get wisdom.  Though it cost you all you have, get understanding" (Prov. 4:7, NIV).    Soli Deo Gloria!

The God Of Truth...

"When the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?"  (Psalm 11:3, HCSB).  
"The entirety [sum] of Your word is truth..." (Psalm 119:160, HCSB),
"The revelation of Your words brings light and gives understanding to the inexperienced"  (Psalm 119:130, HCSB).
"God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth"  (John 4:24, HCSB).
"Refusing to acknowledge and defend the revealed truth of God is a particularly stubborn and pernicious kind of unbelief.  Advocating ambiguity, exalting uncertainty, or otherwise deliberately clouding the truth is a sinful way of nurturing unbelief."--John MacArthur 


Jesus said that there is "one true God" (cf. John 17:3),  and He is the personification of that truth, or that it's incarnate in Him (cf. John 14:6).  When Pilate asked Jesus what truth was (cf. John 18:38), he didn't wait around for an answer, the skeptic and cynic he was, thinking "might made right."  A sign that one is born again is the newly formed love of the truth--the unbeliever rejects the truth (cf. Rom. 2:8.)   (Just cf. 2 Thess. 2:10, ESV, saying, "... so they refused to love the truth and so be saved.")  All knowledge begins in faith, as Saint Augustine said, "I believe in order to understand."

Today the very notion and possibility of truth is brought into dispute and doubt ("Has God said?" was Satan's query), as we see a paradigmatic shift into a Postmodern era of skepticism, with a "hermeneutic [and epistemology, I might add] of suspicion" on all so-called facts. To them, truth is a "short-term contract" and cannot be known definitively, directly, universally, nor positively!"  They want us to believe truth is only relative to the person, situation, or time and is not absolute applying at all times to all peoples.  "O, that's your truth!"  They have declared war on truth itself!  But there is a war, the war for truth!  People are asking, "Is God for real?" "Is God relevant?"  Belief in God used to be the default position and proposition of Western Civilization, also known as Christendom, but now mysticism, skepticism, cynicism, scientific empiricism, and many other "isms" have become resurgent as a new type of atheist has become anti-God, not just unbelievers in Him. They want to erase all mention of God from the foundations of our way of life and society.

Christians are only those who know the truth and have been set free by it (cf. John 8:32).  One must recognize that truth and God are inseparable and that attacking truth is an affront and offense on God too.  Disavowing truth is tantamount to denying there is a God because they are correlated.  You cannot define absolute truth without putting God into the calculus and metric, or equation. Demetrius had a good report from the truth in 3 John 12, and this is a compliment for one engaged in the church contending for the faith (cf. Jude 3).

We are sanctified by the truth (cf. John 17:17), and are in the quest to know more truth as believers-- truth edifies, or builds us up spiritually.   But the Bible teaches that truth is more than propositional (stating of facts which are true), but personal and incarnate in Jesus, so we can know it personally and grow in our knowledge of the truth by knowing Him.  Statements can be true but only Scripture can rightly be called truth!  We say that truth is whatever God decrees, agrees with God, and is the expression of God (logos in English can mean "revelation" or "expression of an idea or thought").  God expressed Himself through Jesus in His final revelation to us.

A Christian who is blase, apathetic, or nonchalant about the truth or thinks it's irrelevant, is stunted, handicapped, paralyzed, and crippled in spiritual growth, and is also disobedient to the Word, for this is our means of sanctification through its truth (cf. John 17:17 again). We are all on the quest to know the truth, and when we find out we are wrong, it should be of concern, not ambivalence, without any cognizance, but a chance to get to know God better; for "all truth is God's truth" and "meets at the top" (cf. Saint Augustine; Saint Thomas Aquinas).  He, who rejects truth with a capital T, rejects the God of all truth!  

Yes, truth matters and some churches are bailing out theologically thinking that only application, such as loving and doing good deeds are all that matters to God--au contraire, God is concerned that we have the mind of Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 2:16), and think in a godly manner, expressing and bearing witness to the truth in a world, as lights in a dark place, not to be hidden, muffled, or destroyed.  The church is to be the "pillar and ground of truth"  (cf. 1 Tim. 3:15).

We don't need to revamp, retool, or update the church to relate to or fit into modern thinking or philosophy such as Postmodernism, which denies the reality of knowable, absolute truth, which is shrink-wrapped, freeze-dried, and even nailed down as the final orthodoxy, not to be questioned. Some may refer to a "church of what's happening now."   Equally paramount is the issue of teaching sound doctrine (cf. Titus 2:1), and not losing track of orthodoxy and what is heresy through polemics, because an equal threat to our church's health is the ignorance of the sheep of sound doctrine and the truth and even knowing what they believe theologically (this is a pernicious sort of unbelief and disbelief!).   If the devil cannot make a church bad, void of good works, he makes them mere do-gooders, and he will corrupt its doctrine and lead it into heresy and error, forsaking the pursuit of truth and love of the truth.  Look at the ambitious humanitarian efforts of Roman Catholics compared to their erroneous teachings!

Everyone will be judged and/or condemned by the truth available to them and what they did and accomplished with it.  There is no excuse for ignorance (which is not bliss, either!), if one engages in the willful neglect of it, having had ample opportunity and didn't take advantage of that light God gave the person.

Christians must maintain that objective, absolute truth does exist that we can know with certainty by revelation from God ("The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge," cf. Prov. 1:7). This type of truth is always true, regardless of who denies or affirms it, and is true whether believed or not, and it always applies.  We believe in the one God of truth, who cannot lie (cf. Titus 1:2), and "no lie is of the truth" (cf. 1 John 2:21).  "So I am writing to you not because you don't know the truth but because you know the difference between truth and lies"  (1 John 2:21, NLT).

We are all entitled to our own opinions, but not our own truths! For instance, Postmodern thought says, "All truth is relative [i.e., to you]."  This truth claim is invalid and cannot possibly be true, containing a self-contradiction, forcing you to believe in the absolute truth that all truth is relative, and this statement must also be relative.  What they should say is that one's truths may be a private matter to know, and one's opinions need not affect yours.  But they say, "Your truth has no power over me, and that's your truth!"

Christians must affirm that truth is revealed, and immutable, always applicable and knowable all through and incarnate in Jesus, who said, "I am the truth"  (cf. John 14:6).  The only way to find truth is to commence with God, the origin of truth, since denying Him leaves no possibility of truth's existence, but only facts and knowledge being in a state of flux and unknowable.  Where you begin has a lot to do with where you'll end up!  The Postmodern teacher would introduce his lesson with the disclaimer saying, "You can know nothing for certain!"  And he is sure of that!  If you take God out of the equation of truth, there is no justification for it and no reason to believe you've arrived at orthodoxy or absolute truth.

Note that all knowledge is contingent and, when you begin, some propositions must be accepted by faith, it only matters what set of presuppositions you are willing to assume--and accept--not whether you are being rational or logical. If you presume there's no possibility of a God, you will come to the conclusion there is no supernatural at all and evolution is the logical conclusion of reality and way to explain everything without God in the picture.  The Bible makes it clear that the truth is not in the infidel (cf. 1 John 1:8) and establishes the Bible as the final arbiter of truth ("Your Word is truth," cf. Psalm 119:160).

In sum, the church body needs real warriors who will enlist in the battle for truth and engage in the ongoing warfare in this angelic conflict, contending for the faith delivered unto us in the Word of God, not too timid to fly their Christian colors and daring to be "Daniels,"(daring to stand alone) and firmly resisting the evil being perpetrated, and also creeping in to the church ("...some ungodly people have wormed their way into the church ["crept in unawares" in another version]..."--cf. Jude 4, NLT).    Soli Deo Gloria! 

Just Gimme The Facts!

"Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne."  (James Russell Lowell, 1844, The Present Crisis)

We must measure our faith by the object it's in--its validity is dependent on the reliability and trustworthiness of the facts.  There is no such thing as perfect or total objectivity with man, and the faith we have begins with something we cannot prove, but accept as a starting point. Even in geometry, they make assumptions.  Note that your presupposition determines your conclusion:  if someone tells you he saw your wife talking to a man and said she was cheating, you would conclude that she wasn't, but just made a friend because you know her and he doesn't!  That's an example of two people seeing the same fact in different lights and drawing separate conclusions. You cannot use circular reasoning, assuming there is no God, and then concluding there are no miracles, for instance; because the presupposition that there is no God is a leap of faith.  God has given a man all the proof he needs and has no excuse not to believe there is a God (cf. Rom. 1:20).

Believing something doesn't make it true, nor does disbelieving something make it false (objective truth exists regardless of belief, and can be known--"you will know the truth and the truth will set you free," according to John 8:32, NIV).  Truth is reflective of the mind of God and agrees with God's reality and the world--it's absolute and timeless.  According to Augustine, "all truth is God's truth" and consequently "all truth meets at the top" according to Aquinas. Note that people confuse fact and truth, or truth and opinion.  We have a right to our own opinions, but not our own facts.  There is no universal belief, but there is universal truth!  We don't have the right to fabricate our own truths, but we have a right to our own opinion, even if people disagree.

Christianity is a religion of facts and the believer has nothing to fear from scrutiny, there is no suddenly discovered the so-called fact that's going to destroy the credibility of Christianity after 2000 years.  In order to discover truth in a scientific sense or using the scientific method, you must be willing to go where the facts lead--dogmatic science is not science.  Socrates said that in order to begin learning you must admit your ignorance. and to find truth, you must admit you could be wrong! All knowledge begins in faith, and Augustine said that he believes in order to understand.

God is able to open the eyes of our hearts to see spiritual truth.  If you are unwilling to admit you could be wrong, you will never arrive at the truth--even scientists have been wrong, historians have misinterpreted history, and philosophers have come up with unsound, wacky ideas.  All of the wrong ideas have been because man basically only accepts the facts that fit his opinions or theories.

Spiritual truth is not subject to scientific analysis, Christianity is the only religion based on history, and if you could disprove its reports the faith would crumble--many have tried, only to fail and to become believers.  You cannot disprove or prove history in this scientific, empirical sense since history by its very nature is nonrepeatable.  God is metaphysical and we cannot measure God, or subject Him to laboratory conditions with variables and experimentation.  God is neither audible, visible, tangible, nor auditory.  God cannot be known by our tests or experiments, because He demands faith. The question of God's existence is philosophical, and out of the domain or province of scientific research or verification.

It takes faith to believe in God, but once you do it's like the proof of the pudding is in the eating--"taste and see that the LORD is good" (cf. Psalm 34:8). But it also takes a leap of faith to disbelieve in God or to become an atheist--he cannot disprove God because logically no one can ever disprove a universal negative (e.g., try disproving the existence of little green men somewhere in outer space!).

The problem with an atheist is that he cannot defend his position and there is virtually no substantial evidence that cannot be refuted for that worldview.  The fact is that it takes more faith to be an atheist; Norman Geisler wrote a book, I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist.  Ray Comfort wrote God Doesn't Believe in Atheists, to make a similar point!   The problem with an atheist is that they don't want to believe, not that they cannot.  It's not an intellectual problem, but a moral one--they don't want accountability for their life and principles.

People also don't have an open mind, they have their minds made up and don't want to be confused with the facts.  In the theory of evolution, they have twisted and manipulated the facts to fit their theory, not fit the theory to the facts.  It's not a matter of which side (creationism or evolution) has faith or reason, but what set of presuppositions one commences with.  It has never occurred to atheists that they could be wrong (they are just unwilling to accept the God-hypothesis, which they find repugnant), and what those consequences would be (hellfire and judgment). 

Faith precedes reason and I must stress that all knowledge begins in faith. Proverbs 1:7 says that the "fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge."  We all learn from each other, even Christians, because no one has a monopoly on the truth or even on wisdom (that includes Solomon). In the final analysis, what conclusions you reach depend upon your preconceived notions and how willing you are to follow the evidence and the facts to the truth.

The purpose of Christianity is salvation, not education or enlightenment in the Buddhist sense, and the Bible was written to change lives and save souls, not to increase our knowledge.  We must never be content just to be doctrinally correct but must realize the importance of applying our knowledge.  When we learn something we must ask what difference it makes and what our purpose in learning it is.  Knowledge is not an end in itself, but a byproduct and a means to an end.  Ignorance is not bliss, and it's not knowledge that binds us but ignorance.  Jesus said that knowing the truth sets us free (cf. John 8:32).

I'm not referring to the possibility or existence of absolute truth, of which Postmodernists are suspicious of, but of facts that we should be able to agree upon (Christianity is one religion based on facts).  Facts are basically propositions that are indisputable, such as the sun's eclipse on such and such a date.  It used to be considered fact that the earth was flat and the center of the solar system until science was enlightened!   Science has been called a moving train since its theories and so-called facts vary over time and adjust to new experiments and data.  For instance, astronomers no longer hold that the cosmos is eternal, but that there was a big bang and it had a beginning.  The whole point is that if we cannot even agree upon the facts, how are we going to get along and progress?

The danger in today's intellectual power elite or the intelligentsia is the rise of "scientism," or using science for unscientific purposes and assuming that the only reliable facts are those derived by scientific endeavor; e.g., Carl Sagan said that evolution is not a theory, but fact, and that "the Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be."  These statements are unscientific, and, just because a reputed scientist makes them, doesn't lend them credence nor viability.

Everyone, in summation, is a person of faith (it's not a matter of faith versus reason, but which set of presuppositions you adhere to):  Secularists put a lot of faith in science and the scientific method and deny outright the supernatural, and won't let a divine foot in the door; while Postmodernists have faith that you can know nothing for certain and all truth is relative--no one is in a position to judge your truth--especially religious or spiritual truth and reject the fact of science being the answer to man's dilemmas; atheists have faith that God cannot does not and must not exist--unfortunately, the weakness of their philosophy is the problem of atheism per se, which cannot be validated or proved, and is irrational.

On the other hand, Christianity is rational and meant to be understood by the mind, but it's not rationalism, putting ultimate faith in the power of reason as the only epistemology because he chief function of reason is to show that some things are beyond reason.  Soli Deo Gloria!  

Extreme Epistemology

According to the correspondence theory of truth (espoused by John Locke), truth is what relates to reality.

How do you know anything for certain?  The Eastern faiths and worldviews see all reality as Maya or illusion, i.e., reality cannot be perceived, and science and the scientific method never could have been developed under such a self-defeating system of knowledge, because we need an ordered, a consistent, and knowable universe that can be studied and made sense of.  Descartes reasoned that he could know he existed:  "I think, therefore I am."  Augustine had said, "If I err, I am." Actually, if you think there must be a thinker to make though, so you can't use thought to disprove your existence.  We need valid reasoning to prove our reasoning is valid:  Jesus is the Logos or reason and logic behind everything.

Only God is capable of giving sound reason, for man's knowledge, by definition, is fallible and error-prone. Even science changes its truth claims--it's a moving train of knowledge (the world is no longer flat!): In 1861 the French Academy of Science listed fifty-one so-called scientific facts that controverted the Bible! Today none of these "facts" are believed.  It is a principle of science and philosophy that to arrive at the truth you must admit you could be wrong--science today is biased!

It is self-defeating to say you cannot know anything (how can one ascertain that?) because then you are rejecting knowledge and knowledge begins with knowing God according to Proverbs 1:7  "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise instruction and learning." You don't know diddly squat without starting with God and Him as the reference point, without making yourself judge, jury, and ultimately God Himself.  If you say:  "I know I know nothing for certain," you have contradicted yourself, and this statement has no truth claim whatsoever.  How can you know for certain that you can know nothing for certain?

The unbeliever ultimately has to admit that he could be wrong, and his worldview comes tumbling down.  It is said that we can only know something from sources:  Reasoning ability and revelation from God.  Deuteronomy 29:29 (ESV) says that God has revealed the truth to us in the Bible and He still has secrets we cannot know:  "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law."

How does one account for knowledge and truth without God?  We don't try to reason to God but from God as the starting point, not finishing point.  Don't insult God by putting Him on trial by catering to the person's demand for evidence--we don't have to prove our God because God has made Himself known and this is evident--they are all without excuse.  Just how can you make sense of anything without God? Children's inquiries cannot be satisfied without bringing Him up, and you practically have to indoctrinate or brainwash them not to believe. You cannot prove A without it being true, known, and logical.  These three (truth, knowledge, and logic) assume and only make sense with God!  "...[A]s the truth is in Jesus" (cf. Eph. 4:20).

Everything we know is based on presupposition and faith because to know anything you must know everything.  Both the believer and the unbeliever have faith and is it evident unbelief takes more faith, due to the evidence.  God is not going to force one to believe, He desires faith to please Him. To know A you must know B, and to know B you must know C, and so forth ad infinitum.  All our knowledge is contingent then. This is called infinite regress and only God knows where it ends because He is omniscient.  The only way we can know anything is if it is revealed to us, and this is the Christian worldview--Jesus is the incarnation and personification or embodiment of truth and came to bear witness of the truth, as he answered Pilate who asked, "What is truth?"  People interpret their reality and information according to their worldview and presuppositions.

It is no use giving evidence to a person that doesn't want to believe because this makes him the judge of God. One gives evidence to a jury in a courtroom.  How can one make truth claims when denying the source of truth (Jesus, cf. Eph. 4:20).  "I don't know anything!" I can say: "How do you know this?  Are you certain?"  "Yes, I am certain I cannot be certain!" This kind of nonsense is what atheism leads to.   Don't assume the unbeliever knows anything because without God he can't.  But he does know something, and this is proof he knows or knew God. "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools." Fools are those who deny God and know better.

All of creation speaks of God:  They believe a lottery winner winning too often is the result of it being rigged, but the sunset isn't rigged.  The whole creation is rigged and couldn't exist without God. "In Him, we live and move and have our being."  They suppress the truth in unrighteousness, but how can they do this if they don't know the truth?  If you look in the mirror you are seeing a miracle!  Life is no fluke, it is rigged and couldn't have happened without God's intervention and creation.

Who is to say God can't use circular reasoning, because He is self-attesting or self-authenticating, and to appeal to some other authority would be to lose His ultimate authority.  You might say: "I use my reason to believe reasoning is the best way to arrive at knowledge because it sounds reasonable--that is circular.   But God is the Author of logic and we cannot "out-logic" or out-reason Him.  God, not Aristotle formulated the rules of logic.

People beg the question when they claim they know something apart from God:  I know I exist because of my own consciousness!    The fact remains, we can know something for certain:  All that God has revealed to us according to Deut. 29:29 "...[That] which is revealed belongs to us...." People use science to disprove Christianity when science depends on the Christian worldview.   When people reject God, they are making themselves God and setting up an outside moral authority above the Bible in their own reasoning.  If there was no intelligence behind the cosmos and consequently our brains were not designed for thought but are only the byproduct of atomic reactions how can we trust our own thinking?  C. S. Lewis said, "...[How] can I trust my own thinking to be true?  But if I can't trust my own thinking, of course, I can't trust the arguments leading to atheism, and therefore have no reason to be an atheist, or anything else.  Unless I believe in God, I can't believe in thought; so I can never use thought to disbelieve in God."

Pilate asked Jesus, "What is truth?" Jesus came to bear witness of it and he who is of the truth hears His voice.  "And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ.  This is the true God and eternal life"  (1 John 5:20, NASB).  Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life..." (John 14:6).  Soli Deo Gloria!