INTRODUCTION TO WORLDVIEW

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INTRODUCTIONTO WORLDVIEW
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PRESUPPOSITION

• Cornelius Van Til Christian Apologist and
  Philosopher at WTS
• For Van Til, God is the necessary presupposition
  for any intelligible human thought. All facts are
  revelatory facts indeed, there are no brute
  facts. The Christian begins with the
  self-contained God and the self-authenticating
  Scripture and seeks to conform his views of
  ultimate reality to that which God has revealed.
  Man is to think (analogically) Gods thoughts
  after him.

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PRESUPPOSITION

• The truth of theism is involved in this claim
  that Christians make with respect to the domain
  of history. And what is true of the resurrection
  of Christ is true with respect to all the
  propositions about historical fact that are made
  in Scripture.
• No proposition about historical fact is presented
  for what it really is till it is presented as a
  part of the system of Christian theism that is
  contained in Scripture.

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PRESUPPOSITION

• To say this is involved in the consideration
  that all facts of the created universe are what
  they are by virtue of the plan of God with
  respect to them.
• Any fact in any realm confronted by man is what
  it is as revelational through and through of the
  God and of the Christ of Christian theism. . . .
• Without the presupposition of the truth of
  Christian theism no fact can be distinguished
  from any other fact. C.V.T., Apologetics, 73.

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PRESUPPOSITION

• Greg Bahnsen A Christian philosopher and
  scholar in the study of epistemology
• Bahnsen sounded an important warning against
  neutrality.
• For Bahnsen, there is complete intellectual
  bankruptcy in the notion of a supposedly neutral
  starting point.

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PRESUPPOSITION

• Whatever some people may say with respect to the
  demand for neutrality in the Christians thought-
  the demand that believers not be set apart from
  other men by their adherence to Gods truth- the
  fact is that Scripture sharply differs with this
  demand.
• Contrary to neutralitys demand, Gods word
  demands unreserved allegiance to God and His
  Truth in all our thought and scholarly
  endeavors. Bahnsen, Always Ready, 3-4.

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STARTING POINT

• The Old Testament Witness indicates that the
  knowledge of the Lord is the only sufficient
  starting point.
• True knowledge is knowledge that begins with God
  and his self-attesting revelation. Even the
  creation itself bears unequivocal witness.

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STARTING POINT

• Psalm 8, the majesty of God is displayed in
  nature, O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your
  name in all the earth
• Psalm 19, No one is able to avoid the clear
  witness of God to himself in creation, The
  heavens declare the glory of God
• Psalm 336, In your light, we see light
• Psalm 119105, Your word is a lamp to my feet,
  and a light for my path
• Psalm 119130, The unfolding of your words gives
  light

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STARTING POINT

• Proverbs 17, The fear of the Lord is the
  beginning of knowledge
• Proverbs 51,2, Pay attention to my wisdom
• Proverbs 910, The fear of the Lord is the
  beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy
  One is understanding

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STARTING POINT

• The New Testament Witness reminds us that Jesus
  alone has authority and wisdom to speak truth.
• We are able to replicate truth in so far as we
  embrace the truth that God has given,
  acknowledging the clarity of his revelation in
  nature and the priority of his truth in
  Scripture.

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STARTING POINT

• Matthew 624, No man can serve two masters
• Matthew 829, Jesus taught as one who had
  authority
• Matthew 1230, He who is not with me is against
  me
• John 668, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have
  the words of eternal life
• John 146, Jesus is the Truth

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STARTING POINT

• II Corinthians 105, The weapons we fight with
  are not the weapons of the world. On the
  contrary, they have divine power to tear down
  strongholds. We demolish arguments and every
  pretension that sets itself up against the
  knowledge of God, and we take captive every
  thought to make it obedient to Christ
• Colossians 23, in Christ are hid all the
  treasures of wisdom and knowledge

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STARTING POINT

• Ephesians 422,23, to put off your old self,
  which is being corrupted by its deceitful
  desires to be made new in the attitude of your
  minds. See also Colossians 310
• II Timothy 225, Those who oppose him he must
  gently instruct, in the hope that God will give
  them a change of heart leading them to a
  knowledge of the truth
• II Peter 15, make every effort to add to your
  faith goodness and to goodness, knowledge

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SELF-ATTESTING WORD

• The Word is more certain than eyewitness
  testimony, II Peter 116-19
• The Word is sufficient/authoritative, even more
  convincing than the most compelling evidence,
  Luke 1631
• The Word does not need the witness of any human
  to verify its truthfulness, John 534-36

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SELF-ATTESTING WORD

• Christ, on the road to Emmaus, rebukes his
  disciples for their unbelief in Scripture, not
  for a failure to be convinced by the evidence,
  Luke 2424-27
• The creature is to accept the Word of the
  Creator- and not to question it, Romans 920

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WITNESS OF CREATION

• Even the Covenant Breaker knows that God has made
  all things
• Genesis 11, Exodus 2011, Psalm 10424
• No disputing that all of creation bears evidence
  of its derivative character
• All facts are revelatory facts.
• Colossians 116, in Him were all things created,
  in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible
  and invisible,
• Romans 1136, of Him, and through Him, and unto
  Him are all things

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WITNESS OF CREATION

• Romans 119a, Since what may be known about God
  is plain to them
• Romans 119b, because God has made it plain to
  them
• Romans 120a, For since the creation of the
  world, Gods invisible qualities- his eternal
  power and divine nature- have been clearly seen
• Romans 120b, being understood from what has
  been made, so that men are without excuse

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APPLICATION

• The principles which apply to the Christians
  walk (inclusive of his thought) are the same
  which applied to his previous reception of
  Christ. The Christian scholar, having been rooted
  in Christ by renouncing the authority of secular
  wisdom for the Lordship of Christ, must carry out
  his scholarly endeavors by continuing to be
  rooted in Christ in the same fashion. Bahnsen,
  Always Ready, 17.

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METHODOLOGY Atomistic Approach
FACT
Bible Verse
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The Teaching
Environment
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APPLICATIONS . . . andQUESTIONS
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INTRODUCTIONTO WORLDVIEW