The Shadow of Presuppositionalism

Presuppositionalism, as a systematic method of Christian apologetics, is a relatively novel phenomenon (so much for the "new is better" fallacy). But presuppositionalist premises and assumptions cast a long shadow on most of the common arguments for Christianity. The errors of Plantinga, Bahnsen and Van Til are not new but in fact derive from very old errors which are easily observed.

1. Some cosmological arguments - such as the Argument from Change or the Argument from Contingency - assume that a self-contained universe is incapable of effecting a system in a state of change or contingency. More simply, that the existence of the material alone cannot account in some way for its own properties, and that the materialist cannot justify the existence of change or contingency.

The proper materialist answer is to point out that the universe, as the First Cause, does not require justification for its own nature, any more than God as the First Cause could justify its own nature. The Kalâm Argument, on the other hand, presupposes that the universe is not suitable as a First Cause because the material cannot be uncaused. Quantum mechanics has disproven this presupposition, making the point invalid.

2. Arguments from Design are pretty straightforward presuppositionalism, applied to nature. We cannot account for the "design" in nature - usually simple-mindedly expressed as "complexity" - therefore materialism is bankrupt.

Of course, they have no idea how actual scientists and detectives determine design, but they think there is design in the universe's complexity because "random processes" cannot create complexity. There is no such thing as "random processes" in science, but that doesn't stop Christans, who can't think beyond first-level order.

3. Some other arguments, like the Argument from Consciousness or the Moral Argument, are direct presuppositionalist arguments. Materialism cannot account for consciousness or morality, therefore God exists.

Same for many arguments based on emotionalism. The most common of these is the idea that God exists because of life-changing experiences - based on the implicit premise that material facts cannot produce life-changing experiences. And so on.

4. Arguments from the Bible also sometimes use presuppositionalist premises, especially when they point out features of the Bible. "Look how many books it has ! Look how consistent it is ! Well, forget about the contradictions and the different topics of different books... it's consistent ! Trust me ! And its words have been preserved throughout the centuries. Only God could write this book !"

Funnily enough, man assembled the book, according to his own doctrine. It makes you wonder how much worse it was BEFORE they took out the worst parts !

Is the Bible, the best-selling book in the world, also the most anti-scientific, immoral, ignorant book ever written ? Perhaps there is a god after all : by all standards of reason, it should have been thrown away to the dustbin of history a long time ago. But mythology dies hard...