Approach To Atheism

TWO APOLOGETIC METHODS

1. NATURAL THEOLOGY 2. PRESUPPOSITIONAL

DEFINE PRESUPPOSITIONAL APOLOGETICS

Prove God’s existence by showing the impossibility of the contrary. An indirect form of argumentation that claims if you do not begin with the Christian God as revealed in nature and Scripture, then you destroy the intelligibility of our reasoning. So that without God you cannot prove anything.

WHAT THREE SPECIFIC AREAS ARE AFFECTED BY THE "IMPOSSIBILITY OF THE CONTRARY".

SCIENCE MORALS LOGIC You must presuppose God to reason at all.

DEFINE NATURAL THEOLOGY

By the correct use of reason and evidence the unregennerate man without assistance (autonomously) can arrive at elementary religious truths. TO prove that God “probably” exists based on the knowledge of the natural world.

WHAT ARE THE SIX MOST PROMINENT ARGUMENTS USED IN NATURAL THEOLOGY?

1. COSMOLOGICAL 2. TELEOLOGICAL 3. MORAL 4. ONTOLOGICAL 5. ARGUMENT FROM NECESSARY TRUTHS 6. CUMULATIVE

COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT

This argument reasons from the existence or beginning of the universe to the need for a first cause or necessary being.

TWO TYPES OF COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT

1. Kalam Cosmological Argument: Everything that begins to exist has a cause. The universe began to exist; therefore, the universe has a cause (often identified as God). 2.Leibniz’s Contingency Argument: Everything that exists has an explanation, either in the necessity of its own nature or in an external cause. Since the universe exists, it must have an explanation, which is ultimately a necessary being—God.

TELEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT

(Argument from Design):This argument claims that the order, complexity, and apparent purpose in the universe point to an intelligent designer. The fine-tuning of physical constants and the complexity of biological systems are often cited as evidence.

MORAL ARGUMENT

This argument suggests that the existence of objective moral values and duties is best explained by the existence of a moral lawgiver—God.

ONTOLOGICAL ARGUMENT

This is a philosophical argument that starts with the concept of God as the greatest conceivable being. If it is possible for such a being to exist, then God must exist in reality, not just in the mind.

ARGUMENT FROM NECESSARY TRUTHS

Some philosophers argue that the existence of necessary truths (such as mathematical truths) points to a necessary mind (God) as their foundation.

CUMULATIVE CASE

Many natural theologians argue that these arguments, when considered together, provide a strong cumulative case for the probability or existence of God, even if each argument alone is not conclusive.

WHAT IS A PRIMARY DIFFERENCE RELATING TO REVELATION BETWEEN NATURAL THEOLOGY AND PRESUPPOSITIONALISM?

These arguments are based on reason, observation, and philosophical reflection, rather than religious revelation, and have been central to classical and contemporary discussions about the rationality of belief in God.

WHAT IS THE BASIC ARGUMENT OF NATURAL THEOLOGY?

Everything must come from something. This must be God…The First Cause

Four Objections to Natural Theology

1. What counts as proof of God's existence? Sound argument vs Convincing argument 2. Is it the living God or an idol that is being proved? 3. Natural theology assumes that some partial elements of truth about theism can be reached at the end of an autonomous reasoning process. 4. Two methodological errors. Improper Assumptions. - Granting Autonomy - Assumes proof is needed

DEFINE A SOUND ARGUMENT

1. PREMISES MUST BE TRUE 2. FORMAL VALIDITY (I.E. LOGICAL)

DEFINE A CONVINCING ARGUMENT

1. PREMISES MUST BE TRUE 2. FORMAL VALIDITY (I.E. LOGICAL) 3. PREMISES MUST BE UNIVERSAL THIS IS A RIDICULOUSLY HARD TASK.

EXPLAIN "Is it the living God or an idol that is being proved?"

Is that something is more certain than God? We are giving that something a more privileged status, more authority, and more certainty than God Himself.

CRITIQUE OF POLLYANNA VIEW OF SIN IN ASSOCIATION WITH NATURAL THEOLOGY?

UNREALISTIC OPTIMISTISM NAIVE 1. UNREALISTICALLY OPTIMISTIC ABOUT HUMAN REASONING 2. DOWNPLAYS THE NOETIC EFFECTS OF SIN. NOT NEUTRAL, BUT SUPPRESS TRUTH

WHAT MUST A SINNER DO?

HE MUST BOW AND GIVE UP HIS AUTONOMY

IS NOT PARTIAL TRUTH GOOD?

Truth must be comprehended in the light of God’s total self-revelation—otherwise it ceases to be truth at all Van Til "All or nothing epistemology". Van Til’s epistemology is built on the principle that God alone possesses exhaustive, self-consistent knowledge, and all human understanding must be analogical — a finite reflection of that divine knowledge. Thus, human statements or reasoning are only true when they correspond to reality as God knows it.

NATURAL THEOLOGY ASSUMES BRUTE FACTS

A brute fact is understood as a piece of raw, uninterpreted data that supposedly “just exists” without reference to any mind, meaning, or overarching interpretation. It is the foundation upon which secular science or naturalistic philosophy claims to build neutral, objective knowledge. 1. BF can be understood apart from any interpretive context or worldview. 2. Everyone interprets facts in the same way. There are no raw, neutral facts apart from God’s interpretation. Every fact derives its meaning, order, and truth from the Creator, making epistemic neutrality—and autonomous human reasoning—impossible.3.

STATE COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT

1. EVERY EVENT HAS A CAUSE. 2. THE WORLD IS AN EVENT. 3. THE WORLD HAS A CAUSE.

CRITIQUE OF COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT

This does not prove an unnatural cause. What must be added: God is not an event, but the First Cause. The question will become is the world an event?

WHY IS PRESUPPOSITIONAL ARGUMENT SUPERIOR TO CLASSICAL ARGUMENTS?

A presuppositional approach that begins with the self-attesting revelation of God, rather than relying on autonomous human reasoning.

WHAT IS CONTINGENT EXISTENCE?

Contingent existence means something exists, but it could have not existed; its existence depends on something else.

WHAT IS NECESSARY EXISTENCE?

Necessary existence means something must exist and cannot not exist; it exists by the necessity of its own nature.

Summary of Critique of Natural Theology

1. Tries to provide convincing proof which is impossible. 2. What is being proven is not God but an idol (more certain and independent of God). 3. Unrealistic view of human reasoning.Two Methodological errors: 1) Granting autonomy to the unbeliever 2) Assuming proof is needed rather than un. masking unbelief.

The Adequate Argument/Presuppositional

Showing the impossibility of the contrary and the conditions for intelligibility. The unbeliever assumes God’s existence all the while trying to disprove it.

Doesn’t Romans 1 demonstrate the use of a cosmological argument?

No. Paul is not endorsing any argument. Paul is saying God is known directly in creation rather than creation progressively reveals God. All men immediately know God rather than having the raw materials to get to know God.

Does God ever use a moral argument (like C.S. Lewis’s) to break down resistance against God?

Yes. The Holy Spirit can even use bad arguments.BB Warfield “God can strike a straight blow with a crooked stick. ”Lewis’ moral argument is related to presuppositional: “You know in your heart right and wrong because God put it in there.”

Old Princeton (Hodge and Warfield) used evidential argument (the Resurrection of Jesus)? Why do not we use it?

Presuppositionalism is not contrary to historical reasoning. Van Til thought Hodge and Warfield did a better job than him. So he focused on the presuppositional argument. However, the historical argument is only good in a particular framework. “If you prove to me that Jesus rose from the dead, it only proves some strange things happen in this world. Give us time and we will be able to explain it”

WHAT WAS THE OLD PRINCETON APPROACH?

1. Proved “a God exists” 2. Proved the Christian God with theology proper The first stroke was natural and the second stroke was theological.

"Brute facts are mute facts" Van Til

Facts apart from God’s interpretation are silent, meaningless, and unintelligible. He argued that a “brute fact” — a fact allegedly existing independently of God’s revelation — cannot communicate truth or meaning to human beings. Only God’s revelation makes facts intelligible.

"All Facts Are Covenantally Structured" Van Til

Creation itself is covenantal — every fact reveals something about God. A brute fact, therefore, is a contradiction in terms: if it doesn’t reveal God, it reveals nothing. He likened it to “beads without holes and a string with no ends”—separate pieces that cannot connect into a meaningful whole.