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11. PRESUPPOSITIONAL APOLOGETICS
How to Uncover Basic Flaws and Hidden Lies in Attacks against the Christian Faith
PART 4 - PRESUPPOSOTIONAL APOLOGETICS IN ACTION
27. Every way of a man is right in his own eyes (Proverbs 21:2) -- Or: Types of Worldviews
All worldviews we are going to come across - including our own - can be divided into three categories.
A - Materialistic Monism: These worldviews hold that there is only one reality, which is matter, whether it is a collection of atoms, a primitive, world-forming substance, or the so-called cosmic nebula out of which the world evolved. It holds that only the physical is real, and that the mental - including mental aspects and consciousness - can be reduced to the physical. Materialistic worldviews might have different flavours to them (Behaviorism, Determinism, Functionalism, or Structuralism); however, the differences don’t really affect our apologetical approach. It’s just a family squabble among them.
B - Dualism: Dualistic worldviews (including Christianity) hold that there are two types of reality: mind and matter (or spirit and body). While some things are physical in nature, there is another reality that is spiritual or mental, or consisting of ideas. Many unbelievers today have this mindset - some of them even unknowingly; they hold to an empirical approach, yet at the same time they believe in some sort of morality, logic, scientific inference or the like.
C - Worldviews of specific World Religions: It might seem difficult to have a handle on world religions, but it's not really that difficult, as we can divide world religions into three categories.
a) Transcendent Mysticism: this places emphasis on something that goes beyond man’s experience, denying reality and any kind of distinction (between ideas, people, objects - any one thing and another), not leaving any room for rational argumentation.
b) Immanent Moralism: this emphasizes what is close and nearby, such as Buddhism. Their gods or religious forces are close at hand, and some immanent moralistic religions are even atheistic. They stress a moralistic and ethical code that must be lived out.
c) Biblical Counterfeits: These religions have been influenced by the Biblical worldview, but have perverted the true revelation of God.
These in turn can be subdivided into:
- (i) Unitarian: Follow the Bible as long as it is corrected or supplemented by another book, or teaching, or translation. They deny the Trinity and say there is only one person in the Godhead (sometimes they don’t even call God a person). Examples are Islam, Jehovah’s Witnesses, or the Unitarian Church.(ii) Polytheistic: They have a Bible-like view of God, yet believe there are many gods. They either worship only one of these gods at a time (such as Mormonism) or all these gods (such as the ancient Egyptian religion).(iii) Pseudo Messianic: They do not follow Jesus, but have another savior. Examples are the Moonies (who follow Sun Myung Moon), the Ahmadiyya, or Imami Shia Islam (who follow the Mahdi).
We destroy arguments (2. Corinthians 10:5)
Applications of the method of presuppositional apologetics to specific worldviews