Firmly Planted in Midair June 24, 2013
In lastweek’s column, I argued that people who try to argue against Christianity arelike the all-good Calvin (from the strip Calvin and Hobbes) who “poofed”out of existence when he had an evil thought. Even though they don’t realize itis happening, as soon as they begin to argue for their view, they actuallydestroy it. Here’s why.
When God’sword is rejected, we are left in foolish ignorance because only God—Hisexistence and character—provides us with an adequate foundation for all of ourother beliefs. In other words, without God, we cannot really justify anythingwe think. There are no “plain and simple facts” without Him. Belief in God andHis truth (the Bible) is the only presupposition that can give us trueknowledge. The wisest man who ever lived put it like this: “The fear of theLord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”(Proverbs 1:7)
Why is thistrue? Why do we have to believe in the God of the Bible to have any realknowledge? Because without belief in a moral, rational, faithful God, thefoundations of all human thought are left hanging in midair. Without God, whatbasis do we have for the universality of the laws of logic? The laws of nature?The laws of moral behavior? The fact of the matter is that only the existenceof the Creator God accounts for these things. Laws of logic have their basis inthe rationality of the Creator. Ethical absolutes and natural laws are rootedin the goodness and faithfulness of our God. And for people to argue againstthese things, they have to assume the very points they are trying to disprove.
Take, forexample, the (understandable) indignation of atheists when they talk about theproblem of evil: “Tornadoes, mass shootings, childhood diseases—if there is aGod, He sure has some explaining to do.” But given the premises of theirworldview, what is the basis for their indignation? If there is no God andeverything is really just atoms randomly banging around, why should it matterwhich way the atoms bang? But instead of living within their worldview, theseatheists borrow belief in moral absolutes and human dignity from Christianityand then use their borrowed presuppositions to attack Christian belief. Thewhole argument is irrational. Or, as the Apostle Paul put it, “Claiming to bewise, they became fools…” (Romans 1:22).