The Light, The Foundation, and the Necessary Upoluposis: God
(part I)
Mike Robinson
Granbury, Texas
 |
| God must exist as the foundation for all things |
Introduction
The truth of
Christianity is understood and proved by way of truth and presupposition. The
Christian must uphold Scripture as the ultimate source of light and
knowledge—all light and knowledge stem from God. The assured proof of Christian
theism: except a man build upon its ontic ground as he presupposes the truth
that flows from God, in principle, there is no proof of anything. Christian
theism is proved as the ontological ground of the very notion of evidence and proof.
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In your light do we see light (Psalm
36:9)
Give me a place to stand on, and I will
move the Earth: δῶς μοι πᾶ στῶ καὶ τὰν γᾶν
κινάσω (Archimedes of Syracuse: Greek mathematician).[1]
According to Pappus, Archimedes
exclaimed in relation to the ability of the lever: "Give to me a place
where I may stand and I will move the earth." He only needed a place to
set the lever's fulcrum and it would be possible to move anything, including
the earth. And this is the case when it comes to knowledge— including
mathematics and science. The Archimedean locus of reference is an ontological
truth required to rest one’s knowledge (epistemological) pursuits. What is
needed is a first principle that has the ontological endowment to not only
ground knowledge, but to account for it and its preconditions.
The Fall and Its Epistemic Effect
The fall brought mankind into an estate of sin and misery. … The
sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell consists in the guilt of Adam's
first sin, the want of original righteousness, and the corruption of his whole
nature, which is commonly called original sin; together with all actual transgressions
which proceed from it.[2]
The fall of man recorded in Genesis
plunged men into a state of moral corruption, depravity, and hopelessness. The
noetic effects of sin affected man’s thinking which resulted in futility of
mind and darkness of heart (Ephesians 4:17-18; Romans 1). Because of this
futile mindset, men attempt to build their knowledge enterprise without an
ontological ground that has the capacity to carry the required epistemic load.
The loss of the immovable point of reference, in principle, leaves the ungodly
devoid of a resource necessary to construct the knowledge enterprise. Without
God, one cannot hoist the necessary a
priori operation features of knowledge.
God is the Necessary Upoluposis
God … knows all things (1 John 3:20).
All things are properly said to be
… supernaturally through infinite power (as from the terminus a quo and by the way of creation).[3]
The argument for Christianity must therefore be that of
presupposition. With Augustine it must be maintained that God’s revelation is
the sun from which all other light derives. The best, the only, the absolutely
certain proof of the truth of Christianity is that unless its truth be
presupposed there is no proof of anything. Christianity is proved as being the
very foundation of the idea of proof itself.[4]
The Christian worldview supplies the
fixed ontic platform as the sufficient truth condition that can justify
induction, immutable universals, and the uniformity of the physical world. But materialistic
atheism lacks such a fixed ontic platform and necessary truth condition.
Consequently, it fails to provide the sufficient ground required to justify
science and the investigation of the natural world. The true and living God
subsists and accounts for the intricate and distinct interconnection of the
particulars in the united cosmos. That is the reason many theologians have
mused, “I believe in order that I may understand.” Van Til uses this
illustration:
We cannot prove the existence of the beams underneath the floor if by
proof you mean that they must be ascertainable in a way that we can see the
chairs and the tables of the room. But the very idea of the floor as a support
for the tables and chairs requires the idea of beams underneath. But there
would be no floor if no beams were underneath. Thus there is absolute certain
proof for the existence of God... Even non-Christians presuppose its truth
while they verbally reject it. They need to presuppose the truth of
Christianity to account for their own accomplishments.[5]
Atheism is impossible. When anyone
attempts to escape the truth that God exists, he falls in a trap he cannot
escape. This point is well made in Van Til’s fantastic illustration of a man
made of water, who is trying to climb out of the watery ocean by means of a
ladder made of water. He cannot get out of the water for he has nothing to
stand on. Without God, one cannot make sense of anything. The atheist has
nothing to stand on (an ontic Archimedean locus of reference) and he lacks a
rational apparatus to scale; an epistemic ladder that would allow him to view
reality with clarity.
Only divine revelation has the epistemic authority to “trump” our
natural intuitions about what is metaphysically possible and what is not.[6]
Therefore do not seek to understand in order to believe, but believe
that thou mayest understand.[7]
Since God is the truth condition who has
the ontological heft to carry the knowledge freight (knowledge and all the
multitudinous tacit conditions it requires) the fear of the Lord paves the way
for understanding epistemic issues and rights. The Lord is our ultimate
commitment and the explanation of the method is governed by the assurance the
God lives and is revealed by Christ. Yes, human depravity has made humanity’s
autonomous reason incapable of anchoring its knowledge claims to anything
immutable and objectively true. One needs God. God is the objective being with
immutability and universal reach as attributes.
Bible is God’s Word
The conception of God is necessary for the intelligible interpretation
of any fact.[8]
God’s revelation of Himself in the 66 books of the Bible is the only
valid escape from the skepticism that would otherwise logically result from the
necessary, interdependence of metaphysics with epistemology. God’s revelation
of Himself in Scripture provides not only ultimate epistemic grounding, but
also gives the necessary metaphysical content for the foundation of all of
man’s intellectual and spiritual pursuits.[9]
Hundreds of actual incidents of
prophetic fulfillment support the claim that the Bible is the Word of God
(Isaiah 41:22-27; 42:8-9;44:7-8,24-28; 45:18-21; 46:10-11; 48:3-7). Only God
has all the necessary attributes that give Him the infallible ability to
forecast the future and to bring His forecasts to fulfillment. Christ Himself
fulfilled over three hundred distinct Old Testament predictions including: His
virgin birth in Bethlehem (Isaiah 7:14; Micah 5:3), His ministry as the Son of
God in Galilee (Isaiah 9:1-10), His entrance in Jerusalem on a donkey
(Zechariah 9), His crucifixion (Psalm 22:16; Isaiah 53), and hundreds of
additional predictions that were fulfilled in the life, death, and resurrection
of Jesus Christ.
Beyond the concrete proof that fulfilled
prophecy provides is the truth that all proof—proof of anything—requires God. It
is more than difficult to prove anything, apart from Christian presuppositions,
including the notion that there is a material world. Non-theists must attempt
to prove such obvious truths apart from Christian presuppositions in order to
make their case, but this leaves them without the required immutable universals.
This is a problem that continuously appears when one attempts to prove anything
without the necessary universal operational features of reason that only
Christian theism provides. Such atheistic pursuits are not merely exceedingly
difficult, but impossible within atheistic materialism.
·
The Bible is the Word of God.
·
It is impossible to prove that it is not
the Word of God.
·
There is proof that God revealed Himself
in the Bible.
·
Therefore, the Bible is the Word of God.
God and His revealed word supply men their
only possible ground with the explanatory clout needed to account for human
experience. The ontological barrenness of atheistic materialism is just one
reason the Christian should never grant the natural man the right to determine
the criteria for testing truth claims— atheistic materialism lacks an ontology
with even a shard of explanatory power. Thus the Christian is to press the
atheistic materialist’s failing and then drive him to the cross through the
holy chastisements of the Law of God. God in Christ, through the power of the
cross and resurrection, is the answer for everything men need.
Conclusion
Christianity rests
upon God and His Revelation as the ontic Archimedean locus of reference for
knowledge and proof. Christianity knows that all proof must, in principle, come
from God as the source of light and knowledge. The sure proof of the Christian
worldview: one must build upon its ontic ground if one is to have truth or
proof. Christian theism is proved as the ontological ground required for the
concepts of evidence and proof.
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NOTES
1. Pappus of Alexandria, Collection,
Book VIII, Google Books.
2.
Westminster Shorter Catechism: Answers
17-18.
3.
Francis Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, P & R.
4.
Cornelius Van Til: The Defense of the Faith, P & R.
5.
Ibid.
6.
James Anderson: Paradox in Christian Theology. Paternoster.
7.
Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of
John Tractate XXIX on John 7:14-18, 6. A
Select Library of the Nicene And Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church
Volume VII by St. Augustine, chapter VII (1888) trans. Philip Schaff.
8.
Greg Bahnsen: Van Til’s Apologetic, P & R.
9. Steve Hays: Triablogue
6/30/20.
• Archimedes of Syracuse (1999). Archimedes of Syracuse. The MacTutor History of Mathematics.
• Bahnsen, Greg (1996). Always Ready, Covenant Media.
•
Bahnsen (1998). Van Til’s Apologetic, P & R.
• Charnock, Stephen. ([1684], 2000), The
Existence and Attributes of God, Baker Books.
• Clark, Gordon. ([1968], 1993), Introduction to
Chrisitan Philosophy, Trinity.
•
Frame,
John (1987). The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God, P & R.
• Engel, S. Morris (1994). With Good Reason,
St. Martins.
• Frame,
John (1987). The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God, P & R.
• Garson, James (2006).
Modal Logic for Philosophers. Cambridge.
• Girle, Rod (2000).
Modal Logic and Philosophy, McGill.
• Goble, Lou (2001). The
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• Hays, Steve (2011).
Common Objections to Christianity, Monergism.
• Hughes, G.E. (1995). A
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• Hunter, Geoffrey
(1973). Metalogic, Campus.
• Lambert, Karel (1991).
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• Lewis, C.I. (1946). An
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• Lonergan, Bernard
(1970). Insight, Philosophical Library.
• Plantinga, Alvin (2000). Warranted Christian Belief, Oxford Univ. Press.
• Poythress, Vern (1976). Philosophy, Science, and the Sovereignty of God, P
& R.
• Quine, W.V.O. (1993). Pursuit of Truth, Harvard University Press.
• Stern, Robert (2000).
Transcendental Arguments and Skepticism, Oxford University Press.
• Strawson, P.F. (1966).
The Bounds of Sense, Methuen & Co.
• Stroud, Barry (1968).
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• Tarski, Alfred (1961).
Introduction to Logic. Dover.
• Turretin, Francis
(1992). Institutes of Elenctic Theology. P & R.
• Van Til, (1980). Survey of Christian Epistemology, P
& R.
• Van Til, (2007).
Introduction to Systematic Theology, P & R.
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