Give Me the Facts!
Never Let The Facts Get In The Way of A Good Theory
I had another epiphany. You know, one of those “aha” moments when someone switches on a light.
The light on this occasion was Dr. Greg Bahnsen, and I was listening to the CD set Defending the Christian World View Against All Opposition. It’s a great set. No. It’s a brilliant set.
But what got me thinking was his comment about facts. Facts convince no one. You cannot start with the facts and end up with biblical truth. To attempt to reason that way is to reverse the process.
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge” (Prov. 9:10).
This is the view that is an offense to the “natural” man, governed by a view that man is the measure of all things. This is Humanism at its core. It is the belief that man can know “something” without the aid of divine revelation. It is the notion that “facts” are apparently available to all without divine revelation, whether that “fact” is a fact of science, or a fact of religion — a fact of any kind.
This is worked out in a discussion recorded in Luke chapter 16. If someone raised from the dead would go and speak to people, they would repent. How could they refuse to recognize the facts: man raised from dead = truth of Scripture.
And what’s the response by Abraham? ” But he replied, `If they won’t listen to Moshe and the Prophets, they won’t be convinced even if someone rises from the dead!’”
Facts do not lead to the truth of Scripture. Rather, the truth of Scripture leads to the facts. Scripture provides the “preconditions” for logic, or intelligibility.
Humanism declares it is man who determines truth and error, not God. Therefore, to attempt to begin the debate with the acceptance of the God of the Bible as the necessary condition for knowledge and determination of what is true, is an unacceptable method of argument for those who reject the Bible as the source of all knowledge.
But you know, this same principle applies to the different ways people argue over the meaning of words in Scripture. No amount of quoting the words of James, for example, is going to convince the “faith alone” followers that the only time “faith alone” is used in Scripture is in this text, and then it says “you are not saved by faith alone.” Or, no amount of referring to the Words of Scripture will convince the Jehovah’s Witness that he is wrong on his understanding of John 1:1.
The words of Scripture are the “facts”, just as creation is a “fact” that by itself will never convince the unbeliever. Neither do the words of Scripture convince the Baptist of the error of his exegesis. Facts don’t convince anyone.
If the “fear of the Lord” is the necessary condition for determining the meaning of facts and the word images that describe those fact, how then can we discuss with others the great truths of the Bible?
All thought is philosophy, or a system of thought. Everyone has a system, even when they don’t recognize they have a system. To say “this is right, but that is wrong” is to express that system of thought.
The issue is how well you have mastered the art of thinking – of eliminating the internal inconsistencies in your system of thought. And there is only one epistemological foundation that makes rational thought possible.
The world thus needs more systematic theology so that those who express belief can destroy “speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and . . . take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5).
It is the rigor of your systematics that allows you to defend the faith by calling attention to the misinterpretation of the facts — including the “facts” contained within certain word groupings in Scripture.
Your task in defending the faith, or the words of Scripture in other areas, is to show the internal inconsistencies in the logic of others.
I don’t know about you, but it was questions I could not answer, or questions I discovered others could not answer, that caused me to shift over the years. “Facts” as such did not move me. Internal inconsistencies in what I believed did cause a change.
And that occurs when you maintain a presuppositional basis of defense in all areas of life and thought. Because when your presuppositions can’t handle the “facts” it’s time to change.
God bless you.
See also Oh My Gosh! I Did It Again . . .
