Although I am writing this to help you, dear reader, defend your faith, yet, my main goal is to provide you with the infallible rock for your faith to rest upon. You need to know why the bible is infallible fact![1]  We must remember that our #1 goal as Christians is to love and place our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ crucified everyday, with all our might.  Yet, there are many people I find that do not take the time to work out how the bible is truly the only logical and intellectual ground of infallibility, in all the world.  God made us with intelligent minds, although corrupted by the fall; yet, they are renewed by God's Spirit.  This is the reason why some are so flimsy with their faith in the Lord Jesus.  They spend their precious time with entertaining themselves instead of trying to build their faith and love for their wonderful Savior with all their heart and mind.  God has not been arbitrary in giving us an absolute rock to rest our intellect on and therefore, our faith on.  God in His kindness has given His church, by no mere mistake, an undefeatable and infallible intelligent foundation to rest our faith on.  My encouragement is that you would take advantage of this, for the glory of your great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

        I have written a book about how the blood of Jesus Christ never fails us from the testimony of the bible.  Since this is true, then we must know if the bible is truly infallible.  Therefore, for this cause I present you this appendix. 

(1) Epistemology and Divine revelation:

• - The error of trying to find truth by empirical means:
• - What is the use for science:
• - Innate knowledge & occasionalism
• - Divine Revelation and Scriptural support:

(2) The scriptures are necessarily true:

• - Necessarily true like the law of non-contradiction:
• - Deduction & induction & true rationalism:
• - Only this is true logic, intelligence and rationalism (Summary):

(3) Application:

• - This teaches us to be humble people and to be authentic in our profession when we say we believe what the bible says
• - It teaches to be both loving and bold in our apologetics and preaching of the grace of Jesus Christ to the world.
• -  Apologetics assume sin:

Epistemology and Divine revelation:

(1) (a) Epistemology and the Error of Empiricism:

        No other worldview or system of thought is adequate to even understand truth or infallible fact.  The reason is only God with His Divine Revelation is able to give truth and fact to man, since He is infinite understanding and logic.[2]

The world empirical means you rely on proving things by means of observation or experiment.  This is where we get the word empiricism: meaning you believe that only by the use of the senses, through which you observe, can you discover knowledge. 

        Yet, there are many Christians I find that believe this by either knowingly doing so, or unknowingly.  This is a shame, for the bible does not teach such a thing.  People who loathed Jesus Christ, as the Divine sovereign Judge of world, thought up this idea.

        So the question is this: what is the first principle on which a human being knows or perceives knowledge (knowledge that you can know infallibly as truth)?  For this is what epistemology means.  What is the first principle that paves the road for infallible fact to be known?  Is it by observation, using our 5 senses?  Or is it something else?

          I wish to define what a circular argument is for those who are less familiar with this term.  Imagine I wanted to sell you a cell phone and then you asked me to prove the object I wanted to sell you was really a cell phone.  I then said I would call the supposed cell phone with another one of mine.  At this point you say how do I know this second object, that I said is a cell phone, is not a fake cell phone either?  This is what a circular argument is.  It is using the same thing to try to prove another object or logic just like it, is.  Yet, to overcome this, I the sells man, would suggest I will to give the serial number of the cell phone, offering to my potential buyer, to call the company and thus, verify from a stronger source of proof, to confirm this is in fact a cell phone. 

           An Epistemology that is based on observation as its lowest and most fundament point of proof, can therefore, only prove their observation with more observations.  But the question is how do we know, as absolute fact, these other observations are infallible?  Well, it would be by more observation.  And so on, so that I would have to use more observation to prove the other observations.  Yet, how do I really know these observations are absolute fact, more observations?  This is why this epistemology is a circular argument that is not capable of finding and knowing absolute or infallible provable fact!  How do you prove the senses are in fact able to know truth?  By the use of more senses?  But how do we know these other senses are absolutely reliable, by more senses?  The Christian, or biblical worldview's epistemology is not based on this foolish and flimsy foundation.  But the sad fact is that many Christians think their worldview is, and so do many non-christians.  The Christians worldview's epistemology is the Bible (Divine Revelation) which self-justifies itself by being necessarily true.

          Philosophers, not standing on the bible usually have two stances that I find by which they answer this question of first principles.  The first is the definition of empiricism as it states that only by observation by the senses can fact be known.  Secondly, many recognize that observation is rightfully a circular foundation and therefore, although you cannot know fact infallibly, yet very strong educated guess may be known strong enough that "fact" is basically established.  They believe, just like their foolish worldview, all worldviews are built upon this epistemology, or this first principle of observation.  Therefore, they blindly assume that it is ok for them to admit that observation is what it is, circular.  At this point, because they believe all worldviews are build on this flimsy first principle, they hope by using many overwhelming educated guesses to prove their humanistic, secular, or evolutionary worldview as true against mine, for example.

          Basing sensory input or the use of the senses for an epistemology is irrational for many reasons.  Secular scientist do not factor in their equation that humans have a soul and spirit united to their physical bodies, because they cannot see a soul with their microscope or x-rays. (As if this was the only way!)  Wow, this means over half of the data from their conclusions is not there! No wonder they have such stupid crazy conclusions.  Therefore, by this alone they show they are pathetic and poor scientists at best.  A second grader could come up with a better scientific model!  I say this bluntly because some Christians blindly think its conventional wisdom to believe a so-called scientist when they say only by observation and the use of the sense do we find knowledge, when more than half the data is missing from their sloppy evaluations!  Christians, made wise by the Spirit of Jesus Christ and His word, ought to be above from falling victim to such deception.

          In the biblical worldview, since the scriptures are necessarily true (which I will show later), if only one time in the bible it shows man being deceived by his observations or use of sense, then we know that these cannot be perfectly trusted!  And if they cannot be perfectly trusted then "truth" cannot be known through them.  John 12:29, "Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, "An angel has spoken to Him."  Many verses could be used to show this over and over but this one verse is all that is needed to show that the bible teaches man cannot use his senses and observation to find truth, because it is not absolutely reliable.  Man is deceived by his observations more than what he would like to fact up to!

           In summary what this means is that any worldview that is based on observation, being circular, as their epistemology (All major worldviews are), then they cannot prove anything as fact, or prove truth, or prove anything as absolute.  A secular scientist cannot even prove that he knows, for certain, that the color red is in fact red, because it is based on observation.  The only way observation can begin to grasp infallible fact, is if a persons has observed all things, in all eternity (past and future), in perfect precision, knowing what is already real and knowing what is deception.  Since this is not the case, therefore, no worldview, other than the Biblical one is able to satisfy the necessary requirements of a true epistemology.  The others simply do not have the ability to prove anything!

          This means, anything from any worldview that does not stand on an epistemology capable of knowing infallible knowledge, can or do nothing to threaten the biblical worldview, simply because it lacks the capability to prove fact, knowledge or truth.  This alone does not prove the bible is infallible fact, but what I will soon show, is that the biblical worldview standing on a true epistemology, using the method of rationalism, has the foundation making it, unlike all other worldviews, capable of knowing absolute truth.

        For example if a scientist says that the earth is millions of years old and evolved, (thus saying the world was not created)[3] this gives no viable threat to the biblical worldview.  For the scientist's worldview is based on circular observations and use of the senses, thus, he cannot prove anything as absolute.  Not only this, but he is not even able to prove absolutely that he is even alive, or if he is not in a dream world right now, or if apples are grown on trees.  Therefore, whatever he says is worthless in proving anything against the biblical worldview, unless he is able to justify his epistemology is cable of absolute truth.

        At this point in a debate, although I have not positively proven the bible as infallible fact, yet I have already won the argument by default, because my opponent's worldview is not able to prove fact or truth.  A worldview that cannot prove truth or fact exposes itself as false and not real.[4]  Can a society honestly work in real life without fact or truth?  No!  Things that do not work in real life expose themselves to be false, and as non-reality.[5]  I would argue, because God has revealed some of His Divine knowledge in the hearts of every man, that even though most men do not acknowledge God, their secular societies sometimes work[6], because inwardly they already have some absolutes truths imprinted on their souls, whether they know it or not. 

         The reason I say that a worldview, which cannot prove fact or that does not "work in real life,"[7] exposes itself to be false is because this is that the scriptures say, (which are self-justified) about such things.  The bible being necessarily true states that all other worldviews as false, but it also gives us logic for why they are false.  Only the logic we learn from the bible do we know for sure that it comes from God and, therefore, true logic untainted by our hearts or this world.  In Isaiah 47:10, God says that wicked people lost in a foolish false worldview say: "I am, an there is no one beside me."  Meaning all people who believe there is no true God, named Yahweh who in absolute Sovereignty rules the world and man believe and trust in a false worldview.   All who believe in a worldview where man is centered then its false.  Yahweh continues and says that: "Let the astrologers and prognosticators save you...Perhaps you will be able to profit [or] prevail." (Verses 12-13)  God is saying if your worldview of paganism or worldview of man (secular humanism) cannot save you, solve or help humanities hard problems then you are living in a lie and foolishness.  God then says in 48:5, "Before it came to pass "I proclaimed it to you. Lest you should say, ‘My idol has done it for them."  If your worldview has not saved you and does not work in real life then it's false.  But since I, God, say I am foretelling the future in scripture, and it actually happens in real life, then I prove Myself as real and you foolish and judged. 

          This is why we know worldviews that do not work in real life (as explained in the bible) are false, not because so-called common sense (which I do not believe in) says so, but because the bible, beings self-justified reveals God's logic about this. God says this after He began this conversation back in Isaiah 41:21-24, where Yahweh says: "present your case.  Bring forth your strong reason...Yes do good or evil that we may be dismayed and see it.  Indeed you are nothing."  God is saying while standing on your worldview if it cannot work in real life, or prove something in real life (on your worldview standards only) then it is worthless and therefore false.  False because God says watch as I foretell the future, by scripture, and then you will see I am true and you false. This leads us to our next point. Reason

          (b) In the biblical worldview our epistemology is Divine Revelation or that a person only knows absolute truth by God revealing any particular fact or truth to that person or persons.  The first principle that makes something absolutely knowable to a human, as infallible fact, is God revealing Himself.  Now, God Divinely revealing Himself to people comes in many forms and fashions.  The bible is the most obvious.  Another is innate knowledge that God imprints on all human souls when created and yet, another could be a private prophesy from the Spirit of God.  The ultimate foundation for human to know truth is God revealing to them.  Yet, because of the fall and sin entering the world, our first level of epistemology is simply the pure and untainted scripture, which holds all the necessarily universal truths for all of life and godliness. 

          Although, the use of our senses (such as our eyes to read the bible), are used by God much of the time, they are not ultimately needed.  The use of the senses is not needed for a human to have knowledge!  This is an entirely different epistemology than almost all other worldviews.

          Many times recorded in the bible are times where God revealed Himself and knowledge about Himself and other things about earth and the future in the form of dreams or visions.  During such times no uses of the physical senses were involved: yet, knowledge, absolute truth was made known to the person.  Although, this is not common all the time, yet it invincibly shows observation and the sense are not needed to acquire absolute knowledge.  This means there is a deeper foundation where knowledge finds this absolute footing and which is that God is revealing Himself.  More on this in section 4.

"This is an essential difference between the biblical or presuppositional approach and the classical or evidential approach. In biblical or presuppositional apologetics, we start with the answer, so that some of what we say in apologetics depends on the nature of the challenge, since our apologetics is really an adaptation of our theology to a particular situation."

"The classical or evidential approach starts from a point that is very far from the answer, and then it tries to get to the answer from there. It deliberately begins from the sinner's own starting point - from one's subjective intuition, fallible sensation, or a false axiom. Since its own starting point (common with the sinner's) is not the answer, and not a word from God, it must argue even if there were no unbelief, rebellion, or objection. This cannot be heaven's way of thinking, but we have the mind of Christ even now.

If revelation is really the answer, and if it is only through revelation that we can truly understand and interpret anything, then it is self-defeating to put aside this necessary revelation in order to get back to revelation from some non-biblical starting point, which starting point is adopted only because of man's sinfulnes and rebellion in the first place.

At the same time, the biblical system also logically excludes all non-biblical systems, so that as long as our system stands true and defensible, all others are false by necessity. Then, when there is a direct challenge against it, we only need to adapt its content to decisively answer it, both to defend our faith, and to crush our opponent.

In other words, in practicing a biblical or presuppositional approach to apologetics, we are acting as God's instruments to unleash his own revealed wisdom to vindicate himself and to defeat the enemy. Rather than using our intuition, sensation, or fallacious reasonings to testify about God, our apologetic is essentially an expression and application of God's testimony about himself, since God is his own best witness, and he can swear by no one higher" [8]

 

          (2) What is the use for science[9]: At this point, many who are not practiced thinking in this way, will throw up a flag and voice up that science proves fact.  To this I respond, along with the bible, that science is not able to give absolute or infallible fact.  Science was not designed by God to find truth, which is why such stupid conclusion are given by scientist, on such subjects as the origin of life.

         God at the beginning of creation had this to say to the first two humans, Genesis 1:28, "Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over every living thing that moves on the earth."  This is the official and true command of science to mankind from God!  God does not say that we are to us science to find out how the world was made did He?  God says: use science to take dominion over the whole world, in a usage that makes it better for man to be "fruitful and blessed." 

          In other words God commands man to multiply, live at peace and bless each other.  Science was invited by God, for us to use it to fulfill this command of God.  We take dominion of the Ox and mule to till our fields so that we are blessed and able to multiply.  We take dominion of rock and mortar to build roads, bridges and houses so that we can live, prosper and multiply.  By science we take dominion over the radio waves and build radios and cell phones to communicate better and so be blessed and multiply.  We take dominion of herbs and mold so that we can make medicine making us blessed and able to multiply.  Other times God commands people to use science to bring direct glory of Himself or to make a display of His beauty and truth, such as the extravagant building of the Tent of tabernacles and the Temple.

         This is Heavens command for the used of science.  Any other use of science is rebelling against God's command and therefore, sin.  Sin does not produce truth but lies.  Therefore, if we find fossil remains in the dust of the earth, we are to either use science to be blessed by this and multiply or to make a display of His fame.  If science has a different goal at this point, then a stupid conclusion has already been destined for it.  It would be like trying to use mathematics as a method to write English grammar.  Mathematics is not designed for such a thing, and neither is science designed to find absolute truth. 

         One can never observe all things, whether past, present, and future. Therefore, universal propositions can never be validly obtained by scientific observation. This is why science is hopeless to give infallible true statements.

        Yet, since God, in Divine Revelation has made it known that He has designed science to help man be blessed and multiply we have assurance to use science only in its designed ends![10]  Therefore, we know that, although quite fallible, science is reliable enough that we can build bridges with it that work ok, cars that work ok, and medicine that decently works sometimes (etc.).  God, by in scripture told Noah[11] that He has fixed nature.[12]  Therefore, only the biblical worldview gives any kind of assurance and footing for science to be used, knowing that it will work enough to be somewhat affective.

        Doubtlessly, one of the main reasons for the devil to stir secular scientist to use science to find truth is to hatefully cause man to go against God in His command that science is for blessing and multiplying and giving God glory.  The devil wants man to be cursed and destroyed (not blessed and multiplied), and thus, the miss appropriation of science will help this murderous goal of his.

            ( 3) Innate knowledge & occasionalism: Here's a question: can a blank physical mind, through empirical methods, obtain knowledge about God from the universe or another other knowledge? No!

          By innate knowledge I am referring to the knowledge of God and the laws of life that He imprinted into every soul of man.  This can be found in Romans 2:15, "[Sinful Gentiles] show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them."[13]

         Here, Paul is saying that all pagan nations throughout the history of the world are not guiltless toward the Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father, because God has divinely written knowledge of Himself and His general rules of life in their souls.  Furthermore, we are told that our consciences add prove that this is true.  The reason we feel good or wrong about something is more evidence of God's innate knowledge stamped or seared upon our soul. 

         Therefore, this is how the bible would answer the question of our epistemology.  We have knowledge and feel within our hearts and minds that we can know something as truth, because God has already written infallible truth about Himself in our minds and hearts.  Why do people, whether they believe in Jesus Christ or not, feel they know truth absolutely?  All humans feel this because absolute truth has already been written in their souls!  Without God doing this to us we would not have the feeling that we could know truth, because only God revealing truth does any creature or person find absolute truth.  Yet the reason we know we have innate knowledge in us is because the bible, being necessarily true, tells us.

          Earlier I said that by science you cannot know infallible fact, yet many will say in Romans 1:19, God says that the physical world proves to man that He exist and much more.  This is true that this verse says, "That which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-- his eternal power and divine nature-- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."[14]  What does this mean that God has "proven" to man His existence by creation, when mere observation is not grounds for infallible truth or provable fact?  Notice the phrase "is evident within them."  How did this observable creation become infallible proof "within" all humans that God exist? 

          In the next chapter (Romans 2:15) we are given how this is possible: the innate knowledge that God has Divinely stamped in every human soul about Himself and His laws of life.  This is how God has Divinely revealed Himself to all humans.  It is not, in itself, of observing creation that infallible proves God, but the innate knowledge of God in our souls that Divinely testify to every man that creation proves God.   Although you can badly singe and corrode our soul, so that your conscience is barely felt, yet no one can absolutely remove what God has written.

         Take for example that even sinful god hating man feels that creation is stable and the laws of nature constant enough that he confidently does scientific experiments knowing that they are reliable enough for strong educated guesses.  But, he does not get the confidence from observations and induction, which are not prefect.  So where does this confidence comes from?  The innate knowledge of God written on his soul, which testifies that a Supreme Being made the world and made very well!  So well in fact that science is doable!

          I am not sure that most people understand that science was largely started and made popular by Christian scientist!  This happened because they knew, because (of scriptures) an infinitely wise God made all things that it is stable enough, even with the consequences of sins effects, for science to work ok, when used for the right purposes.  The same thing can be said of why Christians largely are responsible for pioneering and making popular both in the fields of medicine and hospitals.  What secular man does is hijack this divine confidence[15] (although greatly weekend by sin and the fall) written within their souls, remove God, and suppose that this confidence came by their senses or observations, which is circular nonsense. 

           What this teaches us is that much knowledge of life is not necessarily learned, but is affirmed by the divinely knowledge already written in us.  When we observed something, much of time the knowledge written in our souls affirms this to be true or not, good or bad, ugly or beautiful, truth or lie.  As unbelievers this knowledge has been suppressed in their hearts, so that although it testifies within them, yet because they are spiritual dead they cannot understand or discern this knowledge.  There is not much use in having knowledge and yet not be able to understand it.  Indeed they even hate it, although they hijack some of its benefits while denying its source.  Yet, as a Christian the Holy Spirit, progressively shines knowledge in our hearts and also gives us the Divine power to understand this as well, so that we know for sure that Jesus did die for our sins!

          We know infallibly that creation proves God's (being on the other side of the fall and sin), because the bible or Divine revelation says so. Yet, even without the bible, because of our innate knowledge and that creation is Divine natural revelation, it proves God enough for all to be guilty for not believing and serving God.  Although our innate knowledge might be suppressed and confused by our sin, the bible is not.  The bible, being necessarily true, makes it absolutely known that creation proves God's existence, and not that creation is our first principle which proves God of itself.  This is why the existence of God is not itself our epistemology, but His scripture.  The existence of God, being our first principle, might make more since, as an epistemology, if sin was not here suppressing our innate knowledge, but since sin is here Divine verbal Revelation is our first principle.  Because of our sin and its effects the bible is the only self-justifying untainted communication of God in the world.

I affirm that man has an innate knowledge of God, with enough clarity and content so that he is without excuse in denying or disobeying God.  However, I deny that a system of theology can be founded on our innate knowledge of God. Or, to say it another way, I deny that our innate knowledge of God can be the first principle of a biblical worldview - there is insufficient content, clarity, and objectivity, among other reasons.

This is why I never appeal to intuition to justify any part of my theology or to perform apologetics. An accurate understanding of the content and the extent of our own innate knowledge of God comes from verbal revelation in the first place.

 Rather, I appeal to this innate knowledge only to explain why biblical presuppositions are not denied in practice but are implicitly assumed even by unbelievers, and to explain in what sense we have common ground or a point of contact with the unbelievers when preaching the gospel to them.

Thus, we refer to man's innate knowledge not to prove Scripture (rather, it is Scripture that proves the innate knowledge), but only to explain why we can communicate with unbelievers and how to properly relate to them.

When it comes to our innate knowledge of God, Scripture teaches that sinners know God in their minds, but they have, in a morally culpable way, suppressed or repressed this knowledge.

Greg Bahnsen called this the sinner's "self-deception." In regeneration and conversion, the elect sinner is awakened from his intellectual and moral slumber (in which he has sunk into deep irrationality and depravity), and into the light of Christ and Truth: But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." (Ephesians 5:13-14)[16]

             Occasionalism: Observing creation using your senses is just the occasion that God has happened to design to use in much of our experience of knowing knowledge.  Yet they are not needed.  God could cause a blind man to infallibly know that all the beautiful colors in creation reveals that God exist, in a dream accomplished the Holy Spirit.[17]  This physical body is not needed[18] for knowledge, but it is on the other hand a very kind and wonderful gift that God does in fact, most of the time, upon the occasion uses our physical bodies and senses in the process of revealing and affirming more knowledge about Himself to us.

         This is what I call occasionalism, which even Jonathan Edwards adhered to a from of this in his books and gospel preaching. 

Acts 17:28, "In Him we live and move and have our being." 

Hebrews 1:3, God is continually,  "upholding all things by the word of His power."

          "God is present everywhere where any other being is by his operation and influence.  God is in the continual exercise of His infinite power and wisdom everywhere throughout the whole of creation. Every moment is a continual act of infinite power to uphold things in being.  When we look upon anything that we can behold, we see the personal operation of infinite power.  The same power that made things to be, that first moment that they were, is now exercised to make them to be this moment and is continually exercised to make them be to be every moment that they are.  God's preservation of the world is nothing but a continued act of creation.

          He made all things so "by Him all things consist," Colossians 1:17.  As it is the continual operation of God to uphold things in being, so it is the divine operation that keeps them in action.  Whenever a body moves or a spirit thinks or wills, it is the infinite power and wisdom that assists it.  God has established the laws of nature, and he maintains them by His continual influence.

          When we see the sun shine, we see God's present operation and that which is the effect of his former operation but that is from his immediate influence every moment. ...

          So if we look upon ourselves and see our hands or feet and the members, these have and existence because God is there and by and act of infinite power upholds them. So that God not only is everywhere but is everywhere working where any created thing acts or is.  If we look on things aright, we may as properly see God act as we can see man when we see him walk or work. ...."[19]

        What Edwards is teaching from the scriptures is that God must in essence, recreate physical and spiritual creation every micro second to keep it into existence.  John 5:26, "For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself."  In other words, only God being infinite and the only necessary Being, has existence or life in its truest form.  God is the cause, (having life in Himself), everything else is an effect (God causes them to keep living by constantly recreating them every moment.

          Edwards goes on to say that: "Whenever a body moves or a spirit thinks or wills, it is the infinite power and wisdom that assists it."  In essence, when your brain tells your mussel to move, God must be in the mussel and brain and also in the nerves to cause the information to be sent both in a physical manner and Divine spiritual manner, or it will not happen.  Or when you think and read a book God must not only uphold and cause the physical eye and brain to work and operate, but must Divinely cause knowledge to be known by your soul (for physical matter does not have the power or ability to cause your soul to know knowledge), or it will not happen.  Acts 17:28, "In Him we live and move and have our being."   God must moment by moment uphold keep creating your thoughts into reality, for you do not have life of yourself.  In essence something that does not have life in itself does not have one ounce of self-sustained and self-producing energy of any kind.  Therefore, God who is infinite existence and infinite energy must keep putting His divine energy into all the He creates or they will be no more. [20]

          God must be not only be around demons and hell, but in them recreating them every moment or they would cease to exist.  But there is a difference between God's terrible presence in demons keeping them alive and His glorious loving presence in the souls of believers and angels.  When the bible says God in all sovereign it means it hands down, no exception.

          To further explain occasionalism, it would be like me using a straw to drink a beverage with.  The straw is not need in order for me to drink a glass of tea, but since I like straws I gladly use the straw.  The straw is not "causing" or is the fundamental reason for why I am able to drink.  I just use the occasion to use it, because I like to. 

          God did not have to create a physical world, but He did.  The physical world was created because it pleased God in His desires and wisdom that it was the best and most loving way for Himself to reveal the true beautiful colors of His glory to man.  God created mankind as a great public audience to showcase how famous and glorious He and His Son, Jesus Christ, really is.

          Yet, God in His wisdom concluded that, although no creature is able know true or fact about Him physically,[21] He would create a physical world, wrapping a physical body around the spiritual soul of man, and use this medium as a vehicle to heighten the wonderful experience of God revealing His gory to man.  This is why Jesus Christ can in human form.  It was the ultimate way God was going to reveal that He is a loving, kind and compassionate God.  He was going to take His own physical hand and touch the weak and heal them with His tender touch.  He even used His soft hand giving it freely up to be pierced for us by nails and so saving us! He even face to face cried physical tears showing His love for us.

           Again our physical observation of this does not infallibly reveal these truths to us, but it is Divine revelation and the Holy Spirit that ultimate makes us know this.  Yet, how wonderful and kind that God in great mercy, has chosen to use the vehicle of a physical would, which gives Him the most intimate loving way to reveal His majestic truths to us!  May we all see better the great love of our Lord Jesus Christ and His merciful wisdom to reveal the Fame of Himself, to us, like He did!  To Him be the Glory forever, Amen!

            (4) Divine Revelation and Scriptural support:  Lastly before we leave this topic of biblical epistemology I wish to give a basic scriptural support.  We must not be hypocritical by saying we believe the scriptures are absolutely true, and then not really believe what it says.  This does as much, or more harm to the name Christian as living practically in sin and thus showing yourself to be hypocritical.

            The first thing to note is that the Christians first level of epistemology is not the existence of God in of itself, but is that God has revealed Himself in verbal communication (a.k.a. the Bible).  This then is how we know absolute truth.

            I have already shown that we have Divine innate knowledge written in our hearts, which is a broad knowledge of God, His rules and life.  Therefore, I will not again rehearse this but move on.  I will work back words in logical order by starting with the fact that God divinely causes all true Christians to absolutely know His truth concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

          Corinthians 4:6, "God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."  This verse gives one of the greatest examples concerning how Divine and tangibly God works in us to make us know truth!  Notice that our verse says the "knowledge" of the glory of God, which quite frankly encompasses much specific knowledge.  Therefore, we are dealing with epistemology.

          If consider carefully the words of this verse you will recognize that it refers to the creation account of Genesis 1:1-3 where it says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth... And God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light."  The writer of Hebrews puts is similarly in this langue, Hebrews 11:3: "The universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible."[22]  God states that out of nothing He put physical matter and all its effects into existence.  Then in 2 Corinthians 4:6 God states that He does the same thing with knowledge, in particularly here, knowledge about the gospel of His Son. 

           This is amazing especially when considered that God says He creates this knowledge of Himself in our hearts and minds.[23]  This is done, in like manner, concerning how God made light to shine out of nothing.  In other words, no senses or observations were responsible for this or needed.  God, Himself, creates knowledge in human hearts.  When you create something out of nothing, no such things as senses or observations are need, although God kindly uses the occasion to have these as part of the possess. 

          Example I could read my bible, but unless God takes His Divine power and shines those truths, engraving them in me, then I cannot know these truths as absolute fact and be totally convinced of them.  This is why salvation is by God's sovereign choice.  For only if He creates and shines the truth of Himself, like the sun lighting up our solar system, will anyone know and be convinced of His truth.  Because of sin our innate knowledge, although it is still there, is confused and messed up by our sinful corrosion.  God shinning afresh His truth in our hearts, like the Sun lighting up the earth, causes us to see in perfectly clarity the knowledge of Himself and the gospel.  But this shinning and creating in our hearts absolute truth is promised upon our hearing, reading (etc...) the Divine truths from the bible.[24]  Although our innate knowledge is not prefect, yet the Bible is prefect; and the bible being necessarily true proves this.  Therefore, true epistemology is Divine Revelation.  The bible is the one verbally revealed communication from God that is untainted and unmixed by this world.  Upon the occasions of reading and hearing this the Spirit shines its words and makes us know its truth within our souls.

             Luke 10:21-22, "In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. "All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him."  Here Jesus Christ Himself says that no person will know the Father in experience or knowledge unless He reveals the Father to that particular person.  Matthew 16:16-17, "Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven." (NIV)  The knowledge that Jesus is the Son of God, was made known to Peter, not by observation or the senses (for Peter had observed Jesus for a long while in the flesh), but God revealed to Him.  God create this knowledge out of nothing into His mind, and therefore, Peter absolutely knew this knowledge.  Ephesians 3:5,  "[The gospel] which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets."  Here is the 3^rd Person of the Trinity revealing His by Divine Spiritual power knowledge to believers to know infallible truth, which is what I would argue is the creating power referred to in 2 Corinthian 4:6.

            But what about all other types of knowledge?  First, the divinely written innate knowledge that God has written in all our souls, does encompass all basic knowledge of God, His laws, of life and science.  Romans 2:15 in context is refereeing to the latter parts of Romans 1 and 2, which deduce that innate knowledge does in fact include all of these things.  Yet, unbelievers are spiritual dead and therefore, cannot understand this knowledge.[25]  Secondly, consider the verse below.

            Exodus 35:30,31,34 & 36:2, "The LORD has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri... He has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom and understanding, in knowledge and all manner of workmanship. And He has put in his heart the ability to teach... Then Moses called every gifted artisan in whose heart the LORD had put wisdom, everyone whose heart was stirred."

          God, by means of His Spirit, Divinely filled these persons with knowledge and understandings of skills and craftsmanship.  Noticed God caused this knowledge to "fill" these persons with specified "knowledge" about building and work.  Yet, how were they "filled?"  Were they filled with knowledge by observations and the uses of their sense in years of practice? No!  God "filled" them with "knowledge" Divinely by His "Spirit!"

          Lastly consider, John 11:49, "Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish." He did not say this on his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation."[26]  The High Priest was an unbeliever and hated God.  Yet, God caused Him to both (1) know knowledge and (2) physically speak something not of His own will.  This full display of God's sovereignty is a great way to end this section about the biblical worldview true epistemology which is Divine Revelation.

The scriptures are necessarily true:

(1) Necessarily true like the law of non-contradiction:

          Scripture is necessarily true in itself, like how the law of noncontradiction is necessarily true.  For example, you need to assume the law of noncontradiction to deny it or argue against it.  The law of noncontradiction states that something is not ultimately true and false at the same.  For example planet earth is not both planet earth and the Sun at the same time: or that I am at the same time existing and not existing.  To deny this law you would have to actually assume it.   To say for as a fact the earth is both the planet earth and the sun at the same time, as truth, you have already accepted the law of noncontradiction that's states something is true or false, which is what you have done.[27]

           In a summary the law of noncontradiction basically says that there is absolute truth and therefore there are things that are false.  Yet, if you try to deny this by saying there is no absolute truth, you are in this statement affirming the absolute truth that there is not absolute truth.  Showing you have to affirm this law to even deny it, which is why this law is self-justified or necessarily true. 

          The fact that the bible is necessarily true is the main reason why the bible is not a circular first principle, separating itself from almost all other worldviews.  Then when you add to this truth that the bible has enough universal propositions for all of life, and therefore, true rationalism or deduction is used without induction then the bible becomes different from all other worldviews. 

          Dear readers did you know that being necessarily true means in essence that something is "self-justified."  When something is self-justified you do not need something else to justify or add more proof to support it, it is already self-supported and self-proved, if you would.  This is why the bible is a true epistemology that needs nothing else to support it.  Unlike observations that need more observations and the senses that need more senses to back them up (being circular), the bible needs nothing to support it.

To affirm the proposition, "Adam is a man" (X), is to at the same time deny the contradictory proposition, "Adam is not a man" (Y, or not-X). Likewise, to affirm the proposition, "Adam is not a man" (Y), is to deny the contradictory proposition, "Adam is a man" (X). Now, to affirm both "Adam is a man" (X) and "Adam is not a man" (Y) does nothing more than to deny both propositions in reverse order. That is, it is equivalent to denying "Adam is not a man" (Y) and "Adam is a man" (X). But then this returns to affirming the two propositions in reverse order again. When we affirm both, we deny both; when we deny both, we affirm both. Affirming two contradictory propositions therefore generates no intelligible meaning at all. It is to say nothing.

 One occasion, as Jesus deals with the Pharisees, His challenge to them assumes the unity of Scripture and the law of noncontradiction:

 

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them,

"What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" "The son

of David," they replied. He said to them, "How is it then that

David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him 'Lord'? For he says, 'The

Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies

under your feet.' If then David calls him 'Lord,' how can he be his

son?" No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no

one dared to ask him any more questions. (Matthew 22:41-46)

 

Since David was "speaking by the Spirit," he could not have erred. But if Christ was to be a descendent of David, how could he be his Lord at the same time? That this poses a problem in the first place means that both Jesus and his audience assume the unity of Scripture and the law of noncontradiction. If they acknowledge that the Scripture contradicts itself, or that one can affirm two contradictory propositions, then Jesus would not be making a meaningful point at all. The answer here is that the Messiah is to be both divine and human, and therefore both "Lord" and "son" to David. But it is popular to encourage a tolerance toward contradictions."

            From what Jesus teaches us, in the scriptures, we learn that the law of noncontradiction is a necessary part of God, or how God thinks.  And by the scriptures, being the self-justified, being the untainted verbal revelation of God, from passages like the above the law of noncontradiction is the way God is and thinks, which is why its rational prefect.  The law of noncontradiction is so apparently true, by the laws of logic God as put into creation and rational creations that Jesus Christ assumes that the humans He created should already know and adhere to it.  This law being a part of God does inevitably permeates the entire universe. It is not as if you can think and talk in contradictions without the Bible, for you cannot do so with or without the Bible.  In other words, the law of noncontradiction is part of natural revelation or part of creation itself.  This means, it is a part of every person's worldview whether he acknowledges it or not.  Although, refuting the law of noncontradiction might be part of his worldview, yet the law itself is still part of his worldview.   Since he is in fact denying it, he acknowledges a difference between affirming and denying, which is already an application of the law.

            Now unlike the law of noncontradiction the Scriptures show that it is necessarily true by its contents.  In other words you must assume the universal truths within scripture to even deny it.  I have already discussed this in the section about science concerning the scientific law that the laws of nature are constant.  See if scientists admit the laws of nature are not constant, then they vividly show they cannot prove anything; since science is built on the fact you must observe and then test over and over too find something reliable.  But if the laws of nature are not reliable then none of their experiments are reliable ether (which is what they really are anyway).  But, by their own worldview, unless they can observe and test the laws of nature for all times, then they cannot "prove" they are constant by their own worldview.  But the bible does in fact say the laws of nature are constant.  Therefore, if scientist rely on the constancy and reliability of nature's laws to produce tests that say the bible is not true, then they self defeat themselves for they are affirming the bible to deny it!

          When people try to use moralist universals to deny the bible, they are often times standing on these universals that only come from and are only proven by the bible, which consequentially states all other worldviews as false.  Showing again they must affirm the Divine Revelation from the bible as true, while they try to deny the bible: what nonsense!  This is the pathetic and illogical world that all unbelievers live in.  For the bible says in fact say all unbelievers are fools.

          You can usually pick this up when people say they or society, or mankind feel entitled to something, or deserves something, or has the right to something or something is universal.  Christians who know their bibles well will know where in the scriptures it speaks of this (which is most of the time), if indeed what the unbeliever said was from the bible.  And if it was not, then ask them to absolutely prove their proposition from their inductive, circular worldview.  But the point remains that even the bear basics of life are propositions from the bible such as logic, consideration, right and wrong, langue and government (etc).

          This is why biblical apologetics depends on how well you know your bible.  For unbelievers are all the time affirming universal truths, that only the bible can rightfully produce as making sense of it and showing it as absolute truth.  In fact in almost everything they say and do in life are propositions from the biblical worldview.  Even such things as langue only are provable and make since from the bible and therefore, when an unbeliever even speaks a langue he is using a biblical proposition.  On this the Christian must show the unbeliever their worldview is not able to prove such universal truths nor make logical sense of them, but only the biblical worldview.  The unbeliever is acting in nonsense by saying he does not believe in God yet believes absolute truths from His spoken revelation that only the bible can prove.  In essence the sinners is saying, I do not believe in God but I believe what He says. Therefore, the bible is necessarily true.

          The prerequisites for language acquisition, rational thought, and theological contemplation are inherent in the mind of man. Therefore, no one can think or speak without assuming and using biblical premises that provide the recondition of intelligibility, so that even objections against any aspect of Christianity must first presuppose the entire Christian worldview to be meaningful. But once we presuppose the entire Christian worldview, the force and substance of all objections vanish.

No one can make sense of even false religions like Buddhism and Islam without first adopting the biblical presuppositions that allow logic, language, and ethics to be meaningful. It is necessary to presuppose Christianity, but since Christianity rules out other religions from the start, once we presuppose it, other worldviews cannot also be true. Without presupposing Christian premises, we cannot arrive at any truth or any knowledge, but then we cannot know that we can know nothing, and it cannot be true that nothing is true. Thus Christianity is a necessary precondition of intelligibility and knowledge; the whole Bible is true by necessity.

This is the basis for the previously stated assertion that every conceivable proposition is evidence, not only for the existence of God, but for the truth of the whole Christian worldview. "Murder is wrong" is a proposition that lacks any authoritative justification unless an omniscient and almighty person has verbally expressed his forbiddance of such an act to creatures who bear his image of a rational mind, and then enforces such a command with a punishment that he considers appropriate, such as everlasting condemnation. Atheism and Mormonism have no basis from which to declare murder as morally reprehensible. On their presuppositions, they cannot even make the word wrong universally applicable. They cannot authoritatively define murder, nor can they authoritatively enforce any rules against the practice.

"Murder is wrong" finds rational justification only within the Christian worldview.

Although many non-Christians also think that murder is wrong, if their non-Christian worldviews cannot lead to the conclusion that murder is wrong, and if only Christianity can produce such a conclusion, it can only mean that these non-Christians have presupposed Christianity in arriving at their conclusion.

In addition, although "Murder is right" is false according to biblical presuppositions, the proposition itself is intelligible only within the biblical system, because outside of the Christian worldview it is impossible to define or justify the concepts of right and wrong, and any definition of murder. Of course, we are using murder only as an example, and the above really applies to every proposition, so that unbelievers in fact employ biblical presuppositions in every proposition they utter and in every action they perform. Therefore, contrary to the objection that there is insufficient evidence for the existence of God or the truth of Christianity, the revelation of God is inescapable"[28]

          To say that God is logical means that there is no contradiction in the divine being, and the laws of logic is a description of how he thinks. This has tremendous implications for theology, as will be shown below. To say that his communication with us adhere to the laws of logic imply that biblical propositions and their implications are never contradictory.

           The Christian worldview maintains that God is logical in his nature - not that he is "subject" to logic, but that his nature is logical. Just as his nature is truth, truth proceeds from his own nature, but there is no one and nothing outside of him to hold him accountable for telling the truth. When God tells the truth, he is not doing so in obedience to anyone external to himself, but he is merely acting out of his own nature. In the same way, the laws of logic were not invented by man, but proceed from the mind of God. His nature is noncontradictory, and his communication with us is logical and coherent. Thus, God is always logical, and true statements made by and about him are always logical."[29]

 

"The world does not accept the authority of Scripture, and because of this some may be tempted to think that there must be other tests for truth that may appeal to the unbeliever. In addition, without other tests for truth, how may an unbeliever come to know any truth at all? But this is what we affirm, that unless one's thinking begins with the whole of Scripture as the infallible truth, no knowledge is possible at all.

This is to say that all systems of thought beginning from non-Christian presuppositions fail to make knowledge possible, and thus collapse into total skepticism. Now, skepticism is self-contradictory, since to say that truth is unknowable is to claim knowledge about the very nature of truth itself. Since all non-Christian worldviews collapse into skepticism, and skepticism is in turn self-contradictory, it follows that all non-Christian worldviews must be abandoned."[30]

          (2) Deduction & induction & true rationalism: The Bible is large enough with so much knowledge, that we have "enough" for this life.  The bible contains enough propositions to modify and explain one another so that there are no contradictions, even without further revelation.

          Some who are familiar with the term rationalism might believe that rationalism is against all spiritual revelation.  For the basic definition of rationalism is that logical reason and not scientific empiricism or spiritualism is the way to find truth.  Yet, rationalism or reason does not reject revelation if it is a true first principle or epistemology, which is what Divine Revelation is.  This means the biblical uses a true rationalistic system.

          There is a motive for why rationalism rejects scientific empiricism as a true way to find truth.  Rationalism rejects induction, which is what empiricism is largely based on.  What rationalism does is select a first principle or epistemology and then deduces from there.  But science uses the fallacy of induction.

          What induction does is try to find universal truth by looking at a very small particular instance.  It would be like me saying that since planet earth has life, then all planets have life.  This is inductive reasoning and it is foolish.  In fact the bible plainly portrays God very angry when men use inductive reasoning to attempt at figuring out truths about Himself.  Psalm 50:21, "You thought that I was altogether like you; But I will rebuke you."  These people using inductive reasoning thought if man is this way, then the Supreme Being must be this way as well!  And God of course rebukes them for using such wicked stupidity.

        Whereas deductive reasoning would start with God, who is a true source of infallible immutable wisdom and being, and then from there deduce what the smaller things are.  One of the oblivious differences between induction and biblical deduction is that deduction begins with a true epistemology that is not circular, and therefore, is able to produce infallible fact.  Inductive reasoning rests foundationally on observation and the senses, which as disused before, is circular and not able to produce truth.  See, induction pathetically tries to obtain a general law from particular instances, which is why science is necessarily inductive, for this is what it does.  Deduction, on the other hand starts with Divine Revelation, which already has enough universal truths about the whole of life. 

          Whereas other rationalistic systems have epistemologies, which might start with unbiblical revelation, yet, they never have enough universal propositions to properly deuce the whole of life with it, and therefore cannot be called a worldview.

          The bible on he other hand has enough universal propositions that it is truly not only irrefutable, uses a true system (rationalism) and true epistemology, but is a true "world"-view that encompasses all of life.  We know to be true, because the bible, which is necessarily true says this, and when you read the whole bible you find this is correct.  2 Peter 1:3, "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him [Bible] who called us by his own glory and goodness."

          Even when a Christian is made spiritual alive and renewed by the Holy Spirit our innate knowledge is not where we find our absolute first epistemology.  Sometimes our conscience, even as Christians, because we are not perfectly renewed, deceives us.

          1 Corinthians 8:7, "But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled."  Here some Christian men feel guilty when they should not, telling us that in fact we cannot trust our conscience written with God's laws was infallible fact.  This means, although we are renewed as Christians, we have not yet been made prefect, for this only happens when we see Jesus face to face as the scripture absolutely instructs us to know. 1 John 3:2, "Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."

          Therefore, the one true foundation of epistemology is Divine Revelation given verbally, whether by voice, written or even in a dream, where God speaks and at the same time divinely shines this knowledge in our hearts divinely willing that it stays and is understood.  But the scripture is not like innate knowledge, which as been suppressed and corroded by sin.  It is the pure, unified word of God.  The scriptures testifies to this itself, 2 Peter 1:20, "knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation."  We are told we must know this "first", because it is our epistemology.  God has spoken (what I call His first autobiography) and made sure to personally that it was unattained.  While all creation was tainted and defiled by sin, God in His mercy spoke in the form of Scripture giving too mankind an undefiled revelation of Himself.  This is why it says the no scripture is of "private interpretation", for it is undefiled by man's opinion.    

          Therefore, we have a true epistemology.  Not only this but also this untainted spoken Divine Revelation, being necessarily true, also contains all things that pertain to life and godliness!  This is why Rationalism is the true system, for it relies on deduction.  And because the scriptures pertain to all of life and godliness the only thing left to do is know what is says. 

            We know we are to use deduction (when needed) from the biblical revelation, because Jesus Christ Himself teaches to do so. (Remember in Psalm 50 we read how God condemned people for using induction to find truth)  In Matthew 15:21-28 a non-Jewish woman asked Jesus to heal her daughter and Jesus replies: "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."  Or in other words, My Father told Me only to look after the Jewish people.  Yet, this woman showed astonishing faith in the Sovereignty and mercy of Jesus Christ as God.  Then upon this Jesus said He would now heal her daughter.  What happened was that Jesus Christ deduced that even though His Father (His Fathers word being Divine communication) sent Him to look after the Jewish people that in cases of astonishing faith from non-Jewish people it would be good and glorifying to His Father to heal them.  Therefore, the scriptures pertain to all of life with enough universal propositions and we can deduce from there all we need to know.

(3) Scripture proven by its content:

          If anything the scripture says is untrue then the scriptures self-defeats itself and proves that infinite Wisdom was not behind its origins.  Biblical prophecy is one such way that it furthers add validity that the bible indeed is necessarily true and is a true epistemology.  Prophecy, of itself, is not the greatest most fundament proof that scripture is necessarily true (the entire scriptures including the prophecy in it are), but it does give strong enough support, combined with such things as our innate knowledge, that anyone is guilty if not convinced by them.  In this light, prophecy spoken of in Scripture and fulfilled outside of it (not recorded in the bible) proves God like creation proves God[31].  But prophecy spoken of in the scripture and also fulfilled (recorded) in the scripture IS Scripture.  Therefore, it is counterproductive to say prophecy itself proves the bible, when it is the Bible. Fulfillment of prophecy recorded outside of Scripture does not prove the Scripture, but the Scripture, being true, gives validity and proof to fulfillment of prophecy recorded outside of Scripture.  The recorded fulfilled prophecy is scripture along with all other content of the bible, and as one Bible it does prove itself to be necessarily true.  All of the Bible proves that it is self-justified, yet do not make the mistake that you just take one part of it such as prophecy as if it is the thing in the bible that proves it.

          To give prophecy of the future, sometimes hundreds of years into the future is a risky business, because if your wrong you are shown be false, rather easily.  Yet, most of the prophecies given in the bible have come true, primarily in Jesus Christ coming to earth.  Yet, there are many other prophecies given about Babylon and the events surrounding it that also have been proven to be true.  Yet, you might say this is empirical means.  Yes I know, more on that in just a minute.  Jesus was prophesied to come before the fall of the temple in the book of Daniel, (which fell in about 70 A.D) to die on a tree for the sins of the people, and it happed just like it was told hundreds of years before.

          Unbelievers like to stand on their empirical falsely so-called evidence and so God has given it to them in prophecy.  Yes, empiricism is not able to produce truth, yet it is able to have decent educated guess[32], because of our innate knowledge.  In the realm of empiricism (although I know it is self-defeating) what is more credible, even in the real of secular rationalism or empiricism, than prophecy given hundreds of years before and it actually comes true, over and over again, showing its reliability.  What this means is that God has taken the time to reveal Himself in a multitude of ways: creation, innate knowledge, prophecy and, therefore, all are without excuse on Judgment Day.

          Actually, God in Isaiah chapters 40-49 says that His foretelling the future proves He is a God, or the only living God.  Therefore, the bible being true, states God's logical way about thinking upon this subject.  God did not have to do this, but both in kindness to His church, and further condemnation to unbelievers gave man scrupulous evidence of Himself everywhere. 

              Innate knowledge is why man does know that biblical prophecy is absolute proof of God, and why he is guilty for not believing.  The laws of God on every man's soul testifies, being divine revelation, that the God of the bible perfectly foretelling the future is fact He is who He says He is: just as innate knowledge testifies within man that the created physical universe is proof that God is.  Yet, because of the corrosion and darkness of sin in man, he does not have the ability to understand this knowledge and so in hatred of God suppress this knowledge in His heart.  He does this by many ways.  Consider why some men occupy themselves every wakening moment with trivial entertainment, is to protect them from having to be still long enough to deal with the knowledge and conviction of God in their hearts.

(4) Only this is true logic, intelligence and rationalism (Summary):

          "The strategy of doctrinal preaching is mainly deployed by ministers of God, but every Christian needs to be involved in that they have the responsibility to learn from them the truths of God, be assured of these truths, and to contemplate their implications."[33] 

            My goal for writing this appendix is to help my readers be assured that the bible is the infallible word of God and therefore, become true students of the word.  Many Christians act as though they really do not believe the bible is the infallible verbally spoken words of God, coming from His mouth to us.  Many Christians act as though everything pertaining from life and godliness cannot be known and deduced from scripture; this is a shame. 

          If you really believe God has revealed this knowledge to us and given us the Holy Spirit cause us to understand His word, then you do not have to be like a ship tossed to and fro in this foolish, evil and confusing world we live in.  In stead we can walk humbly in peace and assurance for our lord Jesus Christ's love and mercy toward us being taught by His wisdom.  Therefore, do not dare doubt for one moment the great mercy and love and gospel of your wonderful Lord Jesus Christ and Father in Heaven! 

          I will quickly sum up what we went over together.  What I have written in this appendix is often called biblical presuppositionalism or scripturalism, which is ok to do so.  But what I have tried to explain would be more appropriately called Biblical Rationalism.  Why have I done this?  First, the bible is necessarily true, with universal knowledge that encompasses all of life.  Therefore, we must start with it.  In its pages we learned that God does not like induction particularly when used to find truth about Him and the meaning of life.  Instead, we are shown, even by Jesus Himself that deduction from God's revealed word is the proper method.  This is why I call this Biblical Rationalism. [34]

              In my summarily I will run the risk of trying to make this look to systematic.  Understand it is not a good thing to look at this type of apologetics as a 3-step system, and if you try to do so you will have already messed it up. 

          Furthermore, I will give this warning.  This form of apologetics starts with the answer: the bible.  Our epistemology, which is the Bible or Divine revelation, is also the answer.  Most logic or apologetics starts without the answer and then tries to find the answer from induction, which is folly.  Such as when fossils are found in the earth and from there people try to absolutely prove God, or the idol of evolutionally humanism.  The fossil record is not God's foundation to prove Himself, He revealing Himself by speaking is (a.k.a. the bible, or even such means as prophecy or in a vision, as long as they line up with the bible).

             Because the Christian worldview starts with the answer the actual process in real life in how we present our apologetics is different depending on what is said.  Did the sinner start with logic, or empirical opposition against the biblical worldview?  From here we give the specific answer, or God's revealed answer from the bible and then also show the sinner that his worldview is foolish. 

             Therefore, in summarily the bible is (1) necessarily true and, therefore, our (2) epistemology is Divine Revelation, and our method is (3) rationalism or deduction.  The biblical worldview is the only worldview that satisfies these demands for a true(1) first principle that is both (a)self-justifying and (b)encompasses universal truths for all of life and (2) use a true method that is not inductive and nonsense but rational and that is true logic.  It is not by mistake that the biblical worldview in the realm of logic and philosophy is undefeatable, so take this to strengthen your faith dear readers. 

Application:

          (1)This teaches us to be humble!  For we realize that we know nothing, and must entirely rely on the scriptures and God for everything and all truth!  We must be humble people in light of such knowledge.  All the absolute knowledge we have and the understanding of this is God's gift to His adopted children in Christ Jesus.  Therefore, we dare not boast or be proud of gifts, but instead be humble and thankful to our wonderfully glorious God, the Giver or all good things. 

          Furthermore, this teaches us to be authentic in our profession when we say we believe what the bible says, for often times I find most Christians do not believe and solely rely on God's words, (that it is really infallible). It is not loving to God to sound or live in a contradiction then drag God's Name down with you by bearing the name Christian.  The bible defines its own terms and teachings, which is why we use deduction and not induction.  We are the ones who are contradictive not God, who is infinite Wisdom itself.

          (2) This teaches us to be bold in our faith.  This type of understanding guards us against the foolish worldly wisdom directed to attack our faith in Jesus Christ.  It teaches to be both loving and bold in our apologetics and preaching of the grace of Jesus Christ to the world.  We have no reason to be ashamed or intimated by the world or its worthless and distructive wisdom.

          (3) Did you know that apologetics assume sin!  Yes, without sin there would be no reason for apologetics.  This is why I encourage all, that no matter how cool and great God's wisdom in apologetics appears to be, it is the gospel of Jesus Christ that is our first and most important study of our life.  In heaven you will not be able to use apologetics, because there will be no one to resist the word of God, therefore do not make it everything to you.  In general I find Christian are lacking too much in this department, of knowing their bibles or biblical apologetics, so I am not to worried that this will be a huge problem.

          We use apologetics when a person willfully resists the word of God.  A teachable person does not need apologetics because he wished to learn.  This person we preach more to than use sharp apologetics.

          To give the best example of this I point your attention to the book of Romans, which is basically a sermon.  The first thing Paul does, after saying he is going to preach the gospel is do some apologetics for people who might be resisting the word of God.  He shows in Romans chapter 1 that sinful man is a fool, then after this he shows the glory of the cross.  This is the biblical example for what the proper method of apologetics and preaching the gospel is supposed to be like.

          Paul starts with the answer, which is that God's wrath is coming against all you sinners who resist Him, for you are without excuse (verses 18-20).  He then shows how foolish the worldview of these resisting sinners are in verses 21-32.  In this exposition Paul even mocks them with sarcasm by saying that they turned from infinite glory and beauty to worship "birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies."  Paul mocks their worldview that lead them to worship birds and mankind!  He even goes so far to say that God gave them over to homosexuality as a punishment for being so stupid and sinful in rejecting the only glorious God.  It is not until Paul is finished demolishing their worldview that He moves on to positively expound the glorious truths of Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  But why do this?  Paul was doing something that God in the Old Testament and Jesus Christ both did.  He was humbling their pride so that they would receive the wonderful news of the gospel.  This is what apologetics is used much for.  As Christians we do this by boldness and humility.

          This is what apologetics does, it (1) shows the foolishness of the sinners worldview, (2) while not only proving the biblical worldview to be true, but then moving on from there (3) preach & exalt the messages of the Cross.  I am not saying this is only way and order to do this, but since it comes from scripture it is meant for us to, in the least, follow its general example.  Acts 17 where Paul talks to the Greeks is another clear biblical example to follow after.[35] 

            By relying with humility and faith on the Holy Spirit[36] to guide us in how and when to use apologetics and which forms of it, what answer to start with, (etc), we can effectively tear down the world's foolish thinking and preach the pure glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.

Sincerely Yours: Oshea Davis

End Notes:

[1]  I wish to explain use of my expression "infallible fact" in this essay.  Although I might be running the risk of sounding arbitrary I have a reason for this phrase.  When something is fact it is neither, in a sense, infallible for fallible it is just a fact.  Yet, the way in which I hear most people use this word, fact, it usually carries a sense of infallibility with it.  Particularly the way in which secular scientist and humanist try to use it to foolishly assert that their worldview is fact - trying to imply its infallibility or its truth.  Part of the definition, of the word fact, means something is proven by evidence.   But, as I will later show only the biblical worldview is able to prove anything.  Therefore, when our society (apart from standing on Divine Revelation) uses fact, in the sense of true infallibility, it distorts the definition and weakens it. 

Therefore, when I say infallible fact I am just countering this by stating the biblical worldview is not only fact but it does carry infallibility with it, it is timeless truth.  Also the biblical worldview is what gives us grounds for "infallibly" believing, learning, perceiving, or knowing a fact or timeless truth for what it is.

[2] Psalm 147:5, "Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite."  See also John 1:1 - the meaning of the word "Word" in this verse referring to Jesus also means logos or logic.

[3] Some as this point might say: how does the idea that the earth is old and evolved imply that it is not created?  The grounds for this is for the reason that, the bible being self-justified (because it is necessarily true), using deduction (which the bible teaches us to use), we conclude there is no example in the bible that shows a slow (millions of years) evolution to be synonymous with God creating something to exult His Glory anywhere in the bible.  When God said He formed or made Eve from Adams rib, while Adam was asleep, shows God's creating physical matter to be short.  The word for day in Genesis 1 is shown throughout the bible to be a typical 24-hour day.  Also the manner in which God speaks of creating the new Earth is spoken of being created in moments.  People speak of Genesis chapter one be a poem (although it is not), so what!  Poems or songs written in the bible (we do judge what poems are to be outside of the bible) are always speaking of specific and particular truths, which is the Genesis 1 is doing!

[5] (Works in real life, meaning: cannot save you, solve or help humanities real problems) Also, please do not misunderstand what I am saying.  This logic above is known to us as absolute truth, because the scriptures tell us this logic.  This logic does not come from outside of the bible and then proves the scriptures, as if this is common sense, for there is no such thing as common sense.  The scriptures make this logic known to us.  Therefore, it is the scriptures that proclaim all others worldviews as false, not in essence this logic standing by itself from the scripture, because it is the scriptures that makes it known to us.  If you do not recognize this you will become circular.  Now, on the other hand something like the law of noncontradiction is so necessary that you do not need special revelation to prove it, or as if without revelation, it would stand unproven.  It is not as if you can think and talk in contradictions without the Bible, for you cannot do so whether with or without the Bible.  In other words, the law of noncontradiction is part of natural revelation or creation, making it is a part of every person's worldview

[6] Honestly to be fair it depend what one means by works.

[7] Please read my entire explanation to understand what I mean by: works in real life

[8] Vincent Cheung (www.vincentcheung.com) From his book, Captive to Reason, pages 7 & 8.

[9] To know more about some of what I am about to say please see W. Gary Crampton's article called, The Biblical View of Science, which can be found at www.vincentcheung.com.

[10] I must give a warning here.  If you use science to find absolute truth, origin, etc., then you have already abused this.  Much abuse, even from Christians, are guilty of taking science to far from what God designed it.  God gave the scriptures as the untainted revelation of His truth.  I so much enjoy the seeing the depth of complexity of the physical universe, but it is not meant to reveal untrained truth to us, when it has be subjected to futility.

[11] Genesis 8:22, "While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease." Notice God mentions day and night, which includes our limited understanding of gravity, stars and all other forms of energy that keeps our solar system together for the earth to spin and revolve around the sun.  All these and more God promises will be constant because He, with His own power keeps them that way.  This gives us some confidence to do science knowing we can test the same things tomorrow knowing the same laws will be the same, by God's upholding maintaining power over them.  Empiricism cannot prove the laws of nature are constant and by stating it does, this worldview is borrowing something only the biblical worldview can claim.

[12]  You could call this the "laws of nature" but watch out for thinking that nature runs or maintains itself.  In Hebrews 1:3 is say that God upholds or maintains all of physical matter by His Divine power.  What this means is that, although in a sense, there seems to be laws of nature, ultimately it is God who is choosing to act with His power maintaining (very micro second) physical matter with regularity in great patients and perfection.  Therefore, when we say laws of nature (I personally do not call it this) it is a descriptive way of saying that God acts with regularity.  In reality there are no actual "laws" in nature.  When you understand this better it becomes easier to see God's absolute Sovereignty.  This understanding also is a lead-way to the notion of what I call biblical occasionalism.

[13] ESV

[14] Remember that it is the scriptures that ultimately prove that creation proves God not that creation proves the scriptures, which is why Divine verbal revelation is the Christians epistemology.

[15] Because of sin this confidence is not prefect but is there within man.

[16] Vincent Cheung  (www.vincentcheung.com) Found in, Captive to Reason, pages 54-55.

[17] The angels are spiritual, yet they are so in awe of God's glory, which they see and know spiritually (no physical sense or observations used) that they are constantly bowed before Him in worship, in great joy!

[18] I would even go so far as to say that our physical bodies, with our senses and physical brains are not cable of knowledge period.

[19] Jonathan Edwards, from his sermon: God is Everywhere Present.  From the book: The Blessing of God, editor Michael D. McMullen, Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2004, pages 110-112

[20] In other words God's sovereignty is total.  He decrees all things even all sins of men.  I have already writing about this in my book, The Divine Decrees, but allow me to repeat this.  Man does not need to be free (meaning their free in their choices) in order for him to be responsible to God.  NIV Romans 8:7, "The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so."  The sinner is not able or free to submit to God, because of His enslavement to sin.  Yet, he is responsible for all His sinful choices and choice in rejecting Christ and will go to hell.  The notion that freedom is the base reason why man is reasonable to God did not come from the bible.

[21] There is no power or power for causation in the entire physical world, the physical world is nothing more than a puppet that God most moment by moment exerts power into it to keep it into existence.

[22] Or that physical matter was not made or formed by physical matter.

[23] The word for heart also means, in a broad sense, a human soul, spirit or mind.  The combination of both your mind and heart, biblically, is what is often looked at as the soul, or spirit.

[24] Jesus Christ Himself preached the gospel to Paul (Acts 9) in a Divine Spiritual manner after Jesus had long gone from earth.  Jesus Christ if He wanted to could do this with every believer, but instead has the good desire to use His church to preach the message of His gospel from the scriptures (which is His infallible commutated word to the world) and use these occasions to then shine and create His Divine knowledge in the souls of each individual believer.  Romans 10:17, "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."  I brought in the example of Paul to merely prove our epistemology is that God reveals or speaks His truth to us.  But since God has given us the scriptures we have the means to properly fulfill the will of God by correctly speaking His truth (untainted), so that in these occasions He divinely shines His knowledge into the souls of man. 

[25] Ephesians 4:18, "[Unbelievers] having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart... have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness." See these people, although God's laws are written in their hearts, because of their blindness (meaning they are spiritual dead and cut off from God' presences) are "ignorant", and unable to "understand."  Therefore, in their stupidly and ignorance they game themselves foolishly to greed and sin.  This is why the bible speaks of sinners as both (1)guilty and stupid, and then also (2)ignorant and committing sin without knowing it. 

[26] See also 2 Chronicles 36:22-23

[27] Although what was said is nonsense yet it still assumes the law of noncontradiction.  This is why the law of noncontradiction is necessarily true.  And theoretically therefore has a potential of being a true epistemology, but this potential is never realized because of something we have already discussed.  It does not contain enough information for life, of the universe, or of morals be a worldview.  This means it cannot in the truest since attack another worldview since it is not one itself, not having enough information to pinpoint to prove anything.  It is just a simply self-justifying law, that's it: Whereas the bible is a self-justifying worldview.

[28] Vincent Cheung, Ultimate Questions, page 14. (www.vincentcheung.com) Emphasis added

[29] Vincent Cheung, On Good and Evil, page 61. (www.vincencheung.com)

[30] Vincent Cheung, On Good and Evil, page 21. (www.vincencheung.com)

[31] See section on innate knowledge and science.  Creation, along with the testimony of our innate knowledge proves God's existence to the point all are "guilty" who reject God.  Yet, creation, our innate knowledge and even fulfilled prophecy recorded outside of the bible cannot be the epistemology of a biblical worldview, for there is simply not enough content, clarity, and objectivity etc.

[32] The point remains, how good is a decent educated guess, when it is not able to know or find truth or timeless truths?  This keeps us from overvaulting science and other things, because for eternal truths and consequences decent educated guess have no value and are less than worthless.  What profit is it to a man to loss his soul and gain all the vain decent guesses in all the world?

[33] Vincent Cheung, On Good and Evil, page 26. (www.vincencheung.com) Emphasis added.

[34] Rationalism is basically in its definition using logic in the manner of deducing from a true first principle.

[35] Paul does a similar thing here with these rich, know it all Greeks, as he did in book of Romans.  He tells them that God is not worship with their hands nor needs their help!  Then after telling what God is not like, which they have foolishly assumed, he then moves on to expound on the attributes of the real God and then expounds on His Son and the glorious gospel.  Also I find it noteworthy that Paul in his preaching (verse 27, 30-31), did not attempt to find hardly any common ground when relating its messages.  Paul did find some common ground when he first began with his apologetics and in verse 29 (which I would argue both times were partly a mocking of the Greeks), but not when talking about the gospel itself.  The Greeks did not believe in a One time Judgment of mankind, yet Paul did not try to find common ground somewhere when preaching it.  Then on top of this Paul says that God proved this judgment will happen by raising His Son from the dead, which is something else (resurrection) the Greeks did not believe.  Paul at this point just straight up preaches the gospel.

[36] This is why we should in continual prayer that our Heavenly Father would fill us and pour out His Holy Spirit on us, being empowered with His gifts, leading, wisdom and power.