Here is part 3, the conclusion of Pastor Strevel’s article. Part 1 can be found here and part 2 here. Pastor Strevel concludes by showing how unbelievers are doomed to skepticism and despair since they reject God and His Word. He then summarizes his answer to the question “Why should anyone believe anything at all” in four points. I pray that this series has been a blessing to you.
Pastor Strevel is the pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Buford, GA and is Interim President of Christ College.
Why Should Anyone Believe Anything at All? Part 3
The Certainty of the Christian Worldview
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The Apologetic Implications of Certainty
The Impossibility of Certainty (for the unbeliever)
Because the unbeliever rejects God’s word, he is a fool (Proverbs 1:7). In biblical terms, a fool is one who builds his life upon the shaky, constantly shifting foundation of human reason and understanding. Such reasoning will not stand up under the pressure God will bring to bear upon him (Matthew 7:24-27). This foolishness is not just spiritual, though it is fundamentally that. Paul writes that God has made foolish the wisdom of this world. God has consigned all unbelievers and unbelieving philosophical to wallow in the mire of their own foolishness until they repent of their rebellion against God and are transformed by the renewing of their mind (1 Corinthians 1:20). Accordingly, as long as the unbeliever seeks to build upon the house of knowledge upon the foundation of autonomous logic, materialistic science, and subjective experience, he is doomed to intellectual skepticism and despair. There is no certainty for man apart from his recognition that he is a creature of God, totally dependent upon God for his next breath and for his next right thought, and that epistemic certainty is found only in self-conscious submission to the Law-Word of the Creator. One important aspect of the apologist’s task is to demonstrate this folly, to demonstrate that all unbelieving systems, whether religious or non-religious, are intrinsically foolish, not simply because the Bible says they are, but because they are filled with internal contradictions and logical impasses that are manifestations of the consequences of unbelief.
The Defense of Epistemic Certainty
The absolute certainty of the Christian worldview leads to several important implications for the apologetic encounter with unbelief. First, we do not encourage men to become Christians simply because it is the best possible option, gives the best answers to difficult questions, or brings man the greatest happiness. All of these are true, but such a methodology fails to do justice to the Bible’s insistence on the objective truth and certainty of the Christian worldview. Embracing Jesus Christ is far more than one stage in the personal quest for meaning. Second, we may not allow that the unbeliever’s problem is a lack of facts; his basic problem is his rebellion against natural revelation. Third, we may not follow the unbeliever’s methods, i.e., autonomous logic, science, etc., for they are foolish and undermine the foundations of knowledge, experience, and reason. Fourth, we must insist that unbelief is immoral and will bring the judgment of God. There is no such thing as intellectual neutrality. A man is either for God or against him. Fifth, we must rejoice in the fact that objective truth and certainty is available to man through faith in Jesus Christ and submission to God’s Word. There are answers for man and his culture to the difficult problems facing him, the vast majority of which are directly due to sin and modern apostasy from the Christian worldview. Science, logic, and philosophy, while useful, are tools. They serve man, but they cannot serve as the foundations for certainty in any realm. They must submit to God’s revelation in Scripture. Then and only then are they given a foundation upon which they may function effectively. Then and only then is man rescued from his uncertainty and despair so that the great task of cultural dominion for the glory of God and through faith in Jesus Christ may be pursued with every tool God has provided for man’s pursuit of his high calling.
The Charge of Circularity
The Christian answer to the question, “Why should anyone believe anything at all?” is in four parts. (1) Failure to believe anything at all leads to intellectual, moral, and cultural suicide (2) The triune God of the Bible is alone the source of all wisdom and knowledge. Man is God’s creature, and through self-conscious submission to his Creator, he may possess a foundation for knowledge. (3) Due to sin, this foundation must be rebuilt in man through submission to Jesus Christ as the Word of God, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. (4) The Christian must boldly give this answer; it is the hope of men individually, culturally, and eternally. The fundamental objection to this answer, of course, will be its perceived circularity. In setting for this the Christian theory of knowledge, we have freely utilized the Scriptures. We have not sought independent, psychological, or expert vindication of them apart from their own self-witness. Admittedly, there is a degree of circularity in this approach, yet all creatures necessarily reason in circles, meaning that their foundation, methodology, and conclusions are intertwined. For unbelieving systems of thought, this is hopeless or vicious circularity, for man’s reason, experience, or a combination are the authorities at all three points. The Christian does not reason in a vicious circle. The self-attesting authority of God is the beginning point; his revelation provides our methodology and conclusions. There is no other circle in which the creature may operate to avoid intellectual skepticism and cultural collapse. This circle is the offense of the cross. The very fact that men reject this circle is the reason they need to be redeemed from their sin, their arrogance, and their autonomy. If we fail to provide this circle, we capitulate to the rebellion of man that caused the fall in the Garden and finally demanded the gory scene at Golgotha.
