Hi there!
Today I’m going to give a commentary on a portion of Greg Bahnsen’s Defending the Christian Worldview Audio Series 1 Disc 1. Greg Bahnsen an able apologist for the Christian Faith died in 1995. As with all authors and speakers there are some areas where I disagree, but the vast majority of what he says I am very pleased to recommend.
I’m sketching out here basically what Greg is talking about; but I’m putting it in my own words and adding some content while leaving out some, and improvising so if you want Greg’s exact words you’ll have to buy the CDs. I got them from Gary DeMar. If you notice any error's or mistakes they will be credited to me since this is my commentary.
Greg starts out with a story about a lady at the airport who was worried about getting on a plane that was going to a place where she did not want to go. He then compares that to people with secular worldviews that are going to land them in a place where they don’t want to go, but they seem deluded into thinking that the plane or worldview they are riding will get them to happiness or some place and they don’t realize their plane or worldview really can’t fly; really can’t get them where they want to go or adequately explain the way things work. The way they have chosen to think is headed for a crash or better yet can’t even get off the ground. The secular way of thinking not only leads to a future hell, but it lands them in a hell on earth, a way of living and thinking that does not lead to happiness, nor does it even harmonize with itself.
As a Christian it is not hard to demonstrate that these secular views are false, contradictory and do not lead to the imagined paradise which secular thinkers envision. On the college campus or the street we are dealing with worldviews or philosophies and not necessarily with actual facts. These worldviews usually claim to be based on fact, but upon examination the facts don’t prove to exist. It turns out to be a fabricated illusion of reality purporting to represent the truth; but is it? No, usually these college professors and gurus are so self deceived that they really aren’t interested in facts. They are just having their own little party, playing their own game and their own arrogance and cockiness blinds them to the fact of the phoniness of their own views.
As Christians we should be very studious and know the facts about reality just in case we find someone who is interested in the truth. Yes, it’s a lot of work but well worth the effort. College professors or self proclaimed know it alls; (there seems to be a lot of them running around) will try to fool you into thinking they are in the know; they’ve read all the important books, experienced everything and so on. Well, the reality is they usually don’t know what they are talking about; they may just be parroting something they heard their professor say, or something they saw on television or the movies and just assumed it was true.
Also they generally tend to isolate themselves and only read material that supports their pet view so as to maintain the illusions that their point of view is true; but they are going to try to give you the illusion that they are really in the know; but do the facts really support their point of view? They are usually just bluffing and they really don’t understand the philosophical implications of their own position. They are usually from one moment to the next making some comment about how stupid and ignorant Christians are, or mentioning something horrible that Christians do or have done and so we are supposed to assume that Christianity is evil and at best false. The problem here is that the college professor usually has never studied the Bible or the Christian faith and so he really doesn’t know what the Christian faith is all about; so how can he be in a position to tear it apart? He is just revealing his ignorance by parroting usually what some other misinformed philosopher, historian or newscaster said. They are just playing the game of superiority without the benefit of self-criticism. Greg says that in his long academic career by which he obtained a PhD in philosophy he is very sure that at least 90% of all the attackers against Christianity that he encountered as teachers and professors did not know what they were talking about. They simply assume the role of critic of Christian faith without having studied what they are trying to destroy. They have decided that the Bible or Christianity is not true on the basis of what some other skeptic said, but have they seriously studied the Bible? Give them a quiz to see if they know anything about the Bible and Christianity. Also the fact is that they do not have any facts with which to destroy the Christian Faith. They can point out evil things that Christians have done, true; but then to be fair they should also inform their students about all the evil things that have been done by pagans and atheists; but no, they would have their students think that Christians are the ones who have done evil and if atheists have done evil that is not important to know about it seems. No, they would rather cover up all the evil done by secularists and pagans; nor are they aware that their philosophies are self-defeating masses of contradictions that can’t stand the light of examination.
Christians know that many have done deeds in the name of Christ that were not righteous or holy deeds as well as many abominations and horrible things while pretending to be Christians. Christians repudiate those evil actions. We know that many pretending to be Christians really are not Christians. Jesus himself even warned us about this in the Gospels and the Apostles as well warn us about this very thing; so people having abused Christianity can never discredit or destroy the truth of the Christian faith. There are always imposters, but there also exists the real thing. Atheists and Darwinians have committed mass murder and genocide, but when they do such things they were acting in harmony with their worldview or philosophy; Christians on the other hand were violating their own worldview and the teachings of Christ if they did such things. When atheists and secularists require people to live morally responsible lives they are barrowing from the Christian teachings and worldview, because their own worldview does not support morality.
Everyone does philosophy but not everyone does it well; so philosophy itself is not the problem; the problem we face is that everyone has there own philosophy, but it is generally one that is self contradictory and therefore a self invalidated philosophy. What we want to do here is learn how to spot the errors and contradictions of the various non-Christian worldviews and demonstrate how they are not consistent with the facts or the truth or with their own stated beliefs.
Well, what do you think? Let me know if you have any questions or comments.
