Reason that can produce knowledge of the truth requires true premises. Even a single assumption added to an otherwise true premise results in an untrue premise. Most effective lies are almost completely true from some point of view.

Therefore, if we use made-up stuff to “prove” a conclusion, that conclusion is also made-up stuff. And if we use truth plus made-up stuff to “prove” a conclusion, that conclusion is made-up stuff as well. And if we use a true premise but the form of our logic is invalid so it adds made-up stuff to the premise, our conclusion will also be made-up stuff. Only a true premise and valid logical form can prove any conclusion. That true premise and that logical form can’t contain any made-up stuff.

Without divine revelation, true premises are impossible. How would anyone prove a premise true? No one can. Therefore, rational thought is impossible without divine revelation. Without divine revelation, science is purely pragmatic. It leads us to working products by trial and error coupled with God’s mercy and revelation, whether or not we acknowledge God and thank Him for that revelation. Naturalistic science never leads to knowledge of truth.

All arguments against divine revelation are based on made-up stuff. No argument against divine revelation is based on divine revelation since that would be self-refuting.

Wait a minute. Naturalistic science never leads to knowledge of truth? Doesn’t science lead to a knowledge of God and in return a knowledge of Truth? Natural Science exemplifies God. It shows us His character, His power, His glory in every single aspect. It was created by Him and for Him and through Him. Science is the study of our natural world, and it’s actually quite amazing how much He reveals about Himself in our natural world. It will always point us back to Him every single time. So, doesn’t naturalistic science lead to knowledge of truth?

Science as the study of nature can lead to truth—not on its own but as God uses it to reveal reality to us. God reveals reality through science, but NATURALISTIC science NEVER leads to knowledge of truth. The term “naturalistic,” which refers to the philosophy that expels God and tries to explain all creation without God is not the same as the term “natural,” which refers to having to do with nature.

It’s true that God speaks to us through the things He has created. We know that from the first chapter of Romans and personal experience.

Speaking of science using the word “science” as a noun often leads to a misunderstanding of what science is. The process of observing, experimenting, trying this and that, and testing, if it is devoid of the Spirit of God and if it doesn’t acknowledge God, will not point us to God. God reveals Himself and His truth through creation, through the observing, experimenting, trying this and that, and testing. However, the first chapter of Romans points out that we are perfectly capable of failing to honor and thank Him for that truth and perfectly capable of suppressing His truth in our unrighteousness.

That’s why naturalistic (Godless) science never leads to knowledge of the truth. It can only end up with something that works or doesn’t work, in other words, pragmatism. God, in His mercy, allows pragmatism so we can survive until we reach out and find Him. Therefore, the heart that’s hardened against God can do pragmatic, godless, naturalistic science, observing, experimenting, trying this and that, and testing. God may reveal some things that work, but a dogmatic ungodly thinker has determined beforehand not to acknowledge God or thank Him for this. These thinkers have purposely blinded their eyes to Him through the philosophy of naturalism. They will be ever learning but never coming to a knowledge of the truth.

All sexual perversions come from irrational thinking. All destructive religion and philosophy comes from irrational thinking. Historical storytelling is based on irrational thinking.

Historical storytelling would include all stories that go beyond what God reveals about the past. They lead to belief systems such as evolutionism and old-earthism. PatternsOfEvidence.com, Creation.com, AnswersInGenesis.org, ICR.org, and CREV.info are all excellent sources that expose many of the inconsistencies and fallacies of those who engage in historical storytelling.

Much of the issue comes up when trying to convince an unbeliever of God’s existence. However, God reveals that every person already knows. God may use us to lead a person back to Christ, but they are actually acknowledging the One Who already revealed Himself to them. We may present many truths from science or philosophy, but we can’t prove any truth using mere science or philosophy. All truth is hidden in Christ Jesus. The most certain way that any of us knows that Jesus Christ exists is because we know Him. Since that’s an inner experience, we can’t use our experience to convince anyone else.

However, we don’t ask anyone to merely take our word for it. Each person can have his or her own experience. We invite them to know Christ. Many people don’t want to know Jesus, and they’ll refuse to seek Him until they find Him. They’ll dream up some excuse. Yet, everyone who loves truth will find Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit will then begin teaching that person about reality. Christ leads, teaches, and corrects every person who follows Him. He speaks through Scripture and every means mentioned in Scripture without ever contradicting Himself.

Here’s a problem. In our immature spiritual state, we humans have trouble discerning the difference between our own minds and God’s revelation. Our own desires can pull us off the narrow Path—that narrow path being the leading and direction of Christ. That’s why Paul conferred with the other apostles. That’s why Peter didn’t attempt to establish doctrine on his own in the fifteenth chapter of Acts. That’s why we see a multiplicity of apostles establishing doctrine and a multiplicity of elders pastoring local churches in Scripture.

And yet, God knows our minds better than we do. He knows all our dark secret thoughts, and he knows our desires. He promises us that not even a fool will miss the way on this Path as long as they keep walking and seeking Him. If He hadn’t promised to never leave or forsake us, we would soon miss the Way. But He handles the revelation, and He handles the discernment between what He reveals and what our human minds make up. As long as we continue to be teachable before Him and desire truth over what we already think we know, the Holy Spirit will continue to lead, teach, and correct us.

Skeptics will argue against this truth. Generally, they will claim that their made-up stuff is true stuff or, at least, true enough for practical purposes. Then they will claim that, because we who follow Christ are sometimes unsure of the distinction between divine revelation and our own imagination, we have the same problem as they do to the same degree that they do. They may even claim that we can’t tell the difference between God’s Spirit and an evil spirit. We’ve already answered that argument in this article. We trust God and His promise. However, skeptics can become dogmatic about their arguments. And yet, they must base their arguments on made-up stuff.

Therefore, keep seeking the mind of God. Spend much time in Scripture, and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you and correct you as He speaks to you through Scripture. Scripture says that God speaks through His creation, so don’t be afraid of science. Pray to Christ and stand in His presence as you consider any claims of scientists, and He will impart His discernment to you. You’ll know the difference between human opinions and actual observations. Through Scripture, God tells us that He speaks through the members of His body, through our brothers and sisters in Christ. Ask the Holy Spirit to lead you to faithful men and women who follow Him and who will provide you with good counsel. Spend much time in prayer (asking) and supplication (listening), and seek Christ specifically. Avoid ungodly counselors of all kinds. They will seek to dilute the truth and confuse your vision. God tells us, through Scripture, that we become a servant of whoever we yield ourselves to. Through the first Psalm, He tells us to avoid the counsel of the ungodly. Yield yourself to God. Stand in His presence. Let Him speak to you through all the ways He mentions in Scripture.

SUMMARY DISMISSAL

Ungodly thinkers have a new way to keep themselves from thinking. They just declare this to be presuppositional apologetics, which they have already dismissed without considering the implications. Of course, anyone who has read the full article knows that it’s not presuppositional apologetics. We could call it revelational apologetics. It points out the made-up stuff of ungodly thinkers (which they can’t escape) and compares that made-up stuff to divine revelation (which is available to every person through Christ).

The Back of the Boxed Set

If you desire the truth, the Real Faith & Reason Library is for you. At the intersection of faith and reason is a place called sanity. As we focus on this intersection, we realize that we can’t separate reason and rational thought from faith.

The Real Faith & Reason Library will

demolish the lies of ungodly thinkers. show why rational thought is impossible without faith. explain how we know without question that the Bible is true. reveal how we know personal revelation won’t conflict with the Bible. establish the truth on the only firm Foundation, Jesus Christ. answer the questions and objections of those who are hostile to Christ. teach how to discern between truth and error. understand how to sort through the many voices claiming authority. This library is a deep dive rather than a superficial explanation. It doesn’t create a stalemate where neither ungodly thinkers nor Christians can prove their points. Rather, it explains how to prove the truth of Christ and the Bible with absolute certainty, and it leaves the ungodly thinker with bare claims and fallacies.

Six Books in One

The Real Faith & Reason Library consists of six books. Three books focus on our rational thought journey as followers of Christ. One book focuses on the logic of the Nye-Ham Debate. Two books are reference texts you’ll want to keep on hand.    

Why Have a Real Faith & Reason Library?

Real Faith

Real faith has power. Real faith establishes our understanding of reality on a firm foundation. But fake faith is powerless and worthless. When this powerless faith is substituted for real faith, it’s dangerous and destructive. In a world regulated under a secularist, naturalist mindset, much of the church has slumped toward a kind of fake faith, a make-believe faith. Real faith isn’t pretending. Without the living Christ active in our lives, faith becomes a mental exercise in which we make ourselves believe in various things. Real faith isn’t a leap into the darkness that lands us in the light. Real faith is not belief without evidence. Real faith is supernatural assurance and knowledge of truth that comes when God speaks to us. Christ leads, teaches, and corrects everyone who will listen to Him and follow Him. Whoever seeks Him finds Him. All may come. He speaks through Scripture and every means mentioned in Scripture. So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. ~ Romans 10:17 King James Version If faith comes by hearing the word of Christ or the word of God, then it’s important for us to know what God means by “word of God.” What term was translated as “word?” It’s the Greek term “rhema.” What does “rhema” mean? Rhema means utterance. The NAS New Testament Greek Lexicon defines it as “that which is or has been uttered by the living voice, thing spoken, word.” It’s “any sound produced by the voice and having definite meaning.” It’s “speech, discourse, what one has said, a series of words joined together into a sentence (a declaration of one’s mind made in words), an utterance, a saying of any sort as a message, or a narrative.” Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. ~ Hebrews 12:2 Jesus authors our faith. He originates it. We don’t. He’s also the finisher or completer of our faith. Notice how different this is from the make-believe faith that skeptics call “belief without evidence.” Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. ~ Hebrews 11:1 King James Version What Greek term was in the original text that the King James translators rendered as “substance?” The Greek term is “hupostasis.” What does “hupostasis” mean? It means essence. It means reality as opposed to concept. What about “evidence?” What word is in the original text? The Greek word is “elegchos.” Elegchos is absolute proof. Therefore, real faith is absolute by nature. It’s absolute proof. It’s substance or reality. The reason it’s absolute and powerful is that Jesus Christ originates it. It comes when we hear the voice of God through Scripture. God speaks to us through Scripture. Through Scripture, He tells us about other methods beyond Scripture by which He speaks to us. Faith also comes when He speaks to us through those methods. By faith, we know that the Bible is the utterance of God without error. By faith, we know that God never contradicts Himself. That means that one Scripture never contradicts another Scripture. It also means that no other form of revelation will ever conflict with any part of Scripture. For instance, God will never state one truth through Scripture and contradict that truth by revealing something contradictory in His creation. That is to say, true scientific observation will never conflict with Scripture.

Real Reason

Real reason is also absolute. Real reason also goes beyond inductive reasoning that can only speak of probabilities. It goes beyond the pragmatism of science that never deals with truth but only with what works in the natural realm. Real reason goes beyond opinion to absolute knowledge of the truth. However, the intellectuals have told us that no one can know anything absolutely. We’ve been discouraged from seeking absolute truth. Sound reason requires true premises because we can’t use unproven claims to prove other claims. And yet, the secularists say that sound reason doesn’t require true premises. They say that we can begin reasoning by establishing assumptions on which we all agree. What are assumptions? They’re unknown beliefs that we accept as if we knew that they were true. They aren’t known, but we pretend that we know them. In a sense, we deceive ourselves when we assume. Without true premises, our reasoning isn’t sound. With inductive reasoning, we can only speak of probabilities. With true premises and valid deductive reasoning, we can advance to the knowledge of the truth. We can’t know everything, but we can know some things with certainty.

The Connection between Real Faith and Real Reason

If we have to start our reasoning with assumptions or presuppositions, we can never go beyond opinions. Our reasoning will never be stronger than our assumptions. Since assumptions are unknowns, where does that leave us? However, the real faith takes us beyond assumptions and presuppositions to substance, truth, and absolute proof. The real faith is able to do this because it comes from the utterance of God. This is the same utterance by which God brought the universe into existence. The wonder is that we can have this assurance and certainty right now. With that knowledge, we can reason rationally. We can have sound reasoning. We can know the truth and the truth will set us free.

Christ reveals Himself to every person up to a certain point. When a person continually refuses to thank Him and glorify Him as God, Christ will finally turn that person over to his or her own reprobate mind. This reprobate mind is the natural human mind that’s incapable of rational thought. It can think. It can rationalize beyond observation and experience only by making up stuff and pretending the made-up stuff is true. It can do science and make products based on observation and testing.

God may even give such a person a revelation from time to time to help them, but a person who is determined to deny God will attribute the revelation to his or her own genius or some other source. The human mind without the anointing of the Holy Spirit has no path to a true premise. So it continually tries to reason beyond the five natural senses by inserting made-up stuff (assumptions, axioms, bare claims, etc.) into the reasoning. From that made-up stuff, we get such philosophies as atheism, agnosticism, naturalism, secularism, rationalism, scientism, evolutionism, and socialism. From this form of reasoning, we get rationalizations to justify murder, sexual sins of various kinds, and breaking, bending, and distorting every command of God.

God still provides revelation, some of which such a person accepts and some of which such a person rejects. Without this revelation, the person would die, so God provides it out of mercy. But the ungodly thinker refuses to acknowledge God’s revelation and attributes the divine revelation to the same source from which the made-up stuff comes. In that process, the person loses the ability to tell the difference between divine revelation and make-believe. In other words, the person loses the ability to know the difference between reality and make-believe.

Such a person goes to great lengths to create a worldview in which God doesn’t exist, or God doesn’t communicate. This problem in reasoning isn’t limited to atheists. Christians and other religionists also do this. They may even follow demonic voices and various forms of conjuring yet have a naturalistic worldview regarding God. The variations are endless. The thing is that worldviews seem more real than real reality, so they blind us all to some extent.

On the other hand, those who follow Christ (when they do follow Christ) hear His voice. In other words, Christ is leading, teaching, and correcting us moment by moment. He speaks through Scripture and every means mentioned in Scripture. We have a progressive experience in which the fleshly nature is dying, and the Holy Spirit is forming Christ within us, which is the definition of spiritual maturity.

As we progress in maturity, our spiritual discernment becomes greater. We can better know the difference between God’s voice and all the others.

Satan will sometimes accuse us of not being able to tell the difference, and that’s a half-truth that leaves out the most important factor. The most important factor is that God is in control of both the revelation and the discernment of the revelation. He provides both. He knows who has a sincere heart and who doesn’t. (I’m trying to explain the walk of a Christ-follower in broad terms.)

It’s personal and real. No Christ-follower can prove his or her walk to a skeptic through reasoning. However, if the Christ-follower speaks or writes by the power of the Holy Spirit, the skeptic is dealing directly with Christ rather than dealing with the Christ-follower. “Whoever listens to you listens to Me; whoever rejects you rejects Me; and whoever rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me.” Luke 10:16

As for the person who has blocked God from his or her consciousness, all is not hopeless. Such a person can at any time control his or her own will. Such a person can direct that will toward Christ in sincerity. Everyone who seeks Christ in this way will find Christ. I don’t say that it will be easy since a well-developed worldview and slavery to the fleshly nature, the world systems, and the subtle demonic influences aren’t easily overcome. But if such a person persists in seeking Christ, that person will find Christ. They will be born again. They’ll experience a change in their spirit, a joining to the Holy Spirit in a way that we don’t fully understand. From that point, the battle is for the mind/soul and is a progressive experience.

If you don’t already know Him, I invite you to know Christ. Everyone who seeks Him finds Him.

Real Faith & Reason Library will be out soon. It’s a six-book set containing two reference texts. Real Reality, Inc. will be offering the ebook version for free. This is the kind of book you want to keep in your library for future reference. We also plan an audiobook, and we’re going to try to make that free as well.

 

Those who have been following Real Reality know that I will use physical/material evidence to refute various lies about origins, sexual immorality, or abortion. I may use Biblical evidence. In all cases, I focus on Christ Himself. In the physical/material, we’re limited to inductive reasoning, which is never a final answer. But we can know the truth with certainty. We can be certain about the truth through divine revelation. Jesus Christ is real. We know Him.

When dealing with lies, an interesting problem develops. The ungodly thinker bases every opinion on made-up stuff then tries to hide this problem with smokescreen fallacies. But the ungodly thinker can’t reason to a true premise. It’s impossible for ungodly thinking to go beyond the brute beast pragmatic existence of reacting to sense data without the ability to reason rationally. Ungodly thinking can reason, just not rationally.

An ungodly thinker sometimes runs into a follower of Christ. The follower of Christ testifies of his or her ongoing experience with the living Christ who now resides inside of him or her since he or she was born again. Actually, the living Christ has become joined to the Christ-follower’s spirit and ministers from there to the mind of the follower of Christ. Here’s the interesting and ironic part. The ungodly thinker who can’t even reason rationally about his or her observations and experiences now tries to reason about someone else’s observations and experiences. The ungodly thinker claims that the follower of Christ isn’t experiencing what he or she is experiencing. By doing so, the ungodly thinker is, in effect, claiming to be all-knowing.

That’s ironic, but what’s more ironic is that the ungodly thinker already knows that God exists. The triune God of the Bible has already revealed Himself to the ungodly thinker in many ways. So the ungodly thinker knows and is without excuse. The ungodly thinker even knows that coming to Christ would be like coming into the light. Many of the things and ideas that the ungodly thinker cherishes would be exposed to the light as Christ would begin leading, teaching and correcting the ungodly thinker who now has come to Christ. So the ungodly thinker chooses to reject Christ even though the ungodly thinker knows and is without excuse.

As a result, the ungodly thinker can no longer tell the difference between reality and make-believe. The ungodly thinker does receive divine revelation. If that weren’t the case, death would follow quite quickly. However, the ungodly thinker can’t tell the difference between divine revelation and the made-up stuff in the ungodly thinker’s worldview. It’s all the same to the ungodly thinker. That’s ironic.

On the other hand, Christ leads, teaches, and corrects the follower of Christ moment by moment. Christ teaches His followers that the Bible is His Word without error. He speaks to His followers through Scripture and through every means mentioned in Scripture. As a result, we can know some things with certainty.

We can know that the Scripture’s account of the Creation and the Flood events is accurate.

We can know that God speaks His promises, His plan of salvation, and His standards for morality through Scripture.

We can know that God’s promises are true.

We can know that God’s plan for salvation is real and absolute.

We can know that God’s standards for morality are correct.

Real Faith & Reason Library will be out soon. It’s a six-book set containing two reference texts. Real Reality, Inc. will be offering the ebook version for free. This is the kind of book you want to keep in your library for future reference. We also plan an audiobook, and we’re going to try to make that free as well.

 

Scientists learn through observation. However, they can’t repeatedly observe or test the past. This fact drives evolutionists nuts, so they come up with weird rationalizations to try to get around this. They’ll say, “When we look into the sky, we’re looking into the past.” Well, that MIGHT be true, but we can’t test the one-way speed of light. But let’s pretend, for a moment, that we are looking into the past. We still can’t observe the animals being made. We still can’t observe the earth being formed. We still can’t observe the universe coming into existence. Those are stories and they either consist of divine revelation or made-up stuff. God has revealed some detail about these events, but we don’t have a way to go beyond what God reveals and still be sane.

Science works quite well when it leads to a product that we can test. For instance, science leads to a cell phone. The cell phone either works, or it doesn’t. We can also extrapolate, but then we start adding to the words that Jesus is saying through what we observe and experience. Extrapolation adds information to what Jesus is saying. That information ultimately comes from one of three places. What we can’t sense from our natural senses comes either from our own imagination, demonic influence, or divine revelation. As Christ said, “Those who are on the side of truth listen to Me.” And He said, “My sheep hear My voice.” Scientists do get information beyond what they observe.

Even ungodly scientists who don’t know Christ get information beyond what they observe, and they can get it from these three sources. That is, God reveals natural and spiritual truth to every person through the things that they observe in His creation. (Romans 1) For instance, He reveals Himself and everything that we can know about Him and the Godhead through His creation. We accept parts of what He reveals. We reject other parts. Sometimes we acknowledge Him and give Him the glory. Sometimes we fail to acknowledge Him and glorify Him. Some people always fail to acknowledge Him and glorify Him.

Some people try to extrapolate from what God has revealed through Scripture and His creation. They try to guess about amazing speculations such as the method by which God created all things or the specific nature of the image of God. We’ll fully understand how God created all things one day. We’ll fully understand the nature of God. Now, we do know that God is working all things together for His good purpose. His purpose is that we be formed into the image of His Son. (Romans 8:28) We know that as we all, with the fleshly veil removed from our eyes, look at the glory of the Lord as if looking into a mirror, are transfigured into the same image from glory to glory by the Holy Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18) We may not be able to comprehend the greatness of that yet, but we can already sense and experience the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.

 

The Reason Collection will be out soon. Watch for it. This five-volume set contains two reference texts and three additional books. It’s over 1,000 pages 8.5 inches X 11 inches with full-color images, so the print version will be fairly expensive regardless of how hard Petros tries to keep the cost down. Petros has agreed to allow us to distribute the eBook free. That’s a tremendous addition to your library. Keep your eyes open for it as we don’t have a definite release date yet.

A chain of thought is only as strong as its weakest link.

We can know the truth since Jesus is available, and whoever seeks Him finds Him.

Jesus isn’t a theory, concept, or theology. He’s real, and He speaks through Scripture and every means mentioned in Scripture.

The ungodly have no path to a true premise or sound reasoning, but what God reveals is true, and He’s well able to impart certainty to those who listen to Him in submission.

I think this set of books will turn the world upside-down because it takes the rules of logic seriously—rules that the whole world has been ignoring for millennia.

You can know for certain that Jesus Christ is real, is good, and is your Savior.

You can know for certain that the Bible is God’s word without error.

We can know that Christ is God, and the Bible is true, but no path to rational thought exists without Christ.

We can know for certain that Christ is God, and the Bible is true, but ungodly thinkers can’t know anything for certain.

As a follower of Christ, you can be fully rational as long as you never go beyond what God reveals, but ungodly thinkers can’t be rational to discuss anything beyond the information that comes from their five senses.

Real Faith & Reason Library will be out soon. It’s a six-book set containing two reference texts. Real Reality, Inc. will be offering the ebook version for free. This is the kind of book you want to keep in your library for future reference. We also plan an audiobook, and we’re going to try to make that free as well.

 

We could discuss origins and debate continually without coming to a final conclusion. There is no silver bullet in this argument. Note how dogmatic those who oppose your own position can be. They don’t quit no matter what you say. One of the problems is that science is inductive rather than deductive. The answers of science are never absolute. There’s no such thing as settled science since tomorrow’s discovery could overturn today’s opinion. And yet, we can use science if the science actually produces a product that we can test. Origins science doesn’t produce products we can test.

I’m not concerned with knowledge if it’s not knowledge of the truth. Truth is absolute and exclusive by nature. It’s reality itself. It’s very different from opinion. There are two ways we can reason. We can reason based on presuppositions/assumptions/made-up stuff, or we can reason based on divine revelation.

God speaks through Scripture and every means mentioned in Scripture. For instance, He speaks through His creation as we see in Romans one. But He also says not to add to His words, or He’ll expose us as liars. Why? Because there are two possible foundations for reason. One is divine revelation with nothing added. The other is made-up stuff by whatever name we call the made-up stuff.

Axioms consist of made-up stuff that is so much a part of our worldviews that we think they’re obvious. And yet we can’t observe them. They aren’t divine revelation.

I’m learning to discern God’s voice. I’m learning to discern the difference between His voice and my own voice or all the other voices in the world. Christ leads every person who follows Him. He leads us moment by moment in every situation. We hear His voice, but we have trouble with discernment right now. We need to seek His face and turn all our hardened beliefs over to Him. Hold tightly to Him and hold our theories and theologies loosely. He’s the only source of truth, so only in Him can we think rationally. Without that, we’re at the level of brute beasts as the apostle Jude said.

So, I seek Him and His righteousness. If you don’t have that relationship with Him in which He leads, teaches, and corrects you moment by moment in every situation, I invite you to know Him in this way. Everyone who seeks Him finds Him. He won’t give a serpent to the one who asks for a fish. If you seek Christ, you’ll get Christ. He’ll then begin leading you into all truth just as He’s leading all who humble themselves before Him. If you already have that relationship, I want to encourage you to continue to allow Him to take you to higher heights and deeper depths in Him.

 

Ice Cores

My scientific colleagues go to places like Greenland, the Arctic. They go to Antarctica. And they drill into this ice with hollow drill bits. It’s not that extraordinary. Many of you have probably done it yourselves, drilling other things, hole saws to put locks in doors for example. And we pull out long cylinders of ice, long ice rods. And these are made of snow. And, by long tradition, it’s called snow ice. And snow ice forms over the winter as snowflakes fall and are crushed down by subsequent layers, they’re crushed together, entrapping the little bubbles, and the little bubbles must needs be the ancient atmosphere. There’s nobody running around with a hypodermic needle, you know, squirting ancient atmosphere into the bubbles, and we find certain of these cylinders to have 680,000 layers. 680,000 snow winter-summer cycles. How could it be that just 4,000 years ago all of this ice formed? Let’s just run some numbers. This is some scenes from lovely Antarctic. Let’s say we have 680,000 layers of snow ice and 4,000 years since the great Flood. That would mean we would need 170 winter-summer cycles every year for the last 4,000 years. I mean, wouldn’t someone have noticed that? [laughing] Wow! [laughing] Wouldn’t someone have noticed that there’s been winter-summer-winter-summer 170 times one year? Six-hundred-eighty-thousand years of snow ice layers, which require winter-summer cycle. ~ Bill Nye

This argument is easy to handle since it depends on three assumptions, and the first two assumptions are hidden assumptions. First is the assumption that there was no Genesis Flood. Second is the assumption that the earth is billions of years old. Of course, Bill is trying to prove those two assumptions, so those assumptions are the basis for a form of circular reasoning known as begging the question. In other words, Bill is assuming the conclusion to prove the conclusion.

Bill also assumes that one ring in the ice is one year, and this assumption fits in with the first two hidden assumptions. This assumption is like the tree-ring-per-year fallacy since it doesn’t work this way in real life. In real life, a single large storm can make many rings in the ice, and we can observe this fact.

Using knowledge of proved formulas gathered from scientific testing, scientists have created models of the Genesis Flood. And they’ve used those models to calculate that the Genesis Flood would have caused many violent storms per year. The storms would have caused many rings. Bill may not have been aware of this scientific research. Ungodly scientists usually insulate themselves from information that might conflict with what they already believe. Of course, no model or theory can prove anything. They just present ideas to consider.

Another important piece of evidence that Bill also left out is the evidence of the Lost Squadron. In July of 1942, Americans abandoned a squadron of P-38 Lightening airplanes in Greenland after making an emergency landing. Then, fifty years later, in May of 1992, a salvage crew went back for the planes and found that the planes were under 75 meters (250 feet) of ice in just 50 years. From this observation, we can calculate the age of the ice cores Bill Nye mentioned by comparing the depth of the planes (75 meters) to the depth of ice in the ice cores (3,000 meters).

The planes were there 50 years and were 75 meters deep, which means that every 75 meters of depth represents 50 years.

3,000 meters is 40 times as deep as 75 meters.

3,000 meters / 75 meters = 40 times as deep

40 X 50 years = 2,000 years

Using assumptions, Bill Nye calculated an age for the ice cores of 680,000 years, but using observation of the P-38 Lightening airplanes, we calculate an age for the ice cores of 2,000 years. We must admit that both calculations use assumptions, so neither one provides real knowledge. The only way we can know that the Genesis Creation and Flood both occurred is by divine revelation.

This post is adapted from a book called “Exposing the Nye-Ham Debate.” That book will be included in the soon-to-be-released boxed set called Real Faith & Reason. Real Reality, Inc. will have rights to distribute and promote the ebook and audiobook versions of Real Faith & Reason, and it will be free. Because of the amount of research material in Real Faith & Reason, the print version will be fairly pricey, but many may want a copy for their libraries.

 

 

The following is taken from the book “Exposing the Nye-Ham Debate,” which is one of five books that will be included in “The Reason Collection” by Petros Scientia. The debate ended with a question and answer session in which the audience was allowed to ask questions of both Bill Nye and Ken Ham. That session revealed much about the difference between the way evolutionists and creationists reason.

Loaded Questions

To illustrate the fallacy of loaded questions, we need only observe the dramatic difference in the quality of questions in the Q & A session. These were questions from the audience, and some challenged Bill Nye, while some challenged Ken Ham. We want to notice a tendency. Those participants who questioned Bill Nye asked straightforward questions, but those who questioned Ken Ham asked questions loaded with emotion and presuppositions. We also notice this same pattern in online discussions. This difference is inevitable since people who think rationally don’t use fallacies. Those who think irrationally use fallacies. How different for ungodly thinkers who must always base all thinking on fallacies! We see this when we look at the following questions from the Q & A session:

Question to Ken

How does creationism account for the celestial bodies: planets, stars, moons moving further and further apart, and what function does that serve in the grand design?

That’s a loaded question. The questioner presupposes that everything is moving further apart. This presupposition commits the hysteron proteron fallacy. The conclusion that everything is moving further apart is an interpretation of observation based on assumptions, but if we change the assumptions, we change the conclusion. The questioner also embedded the loaded word “creationism” into the question. Do we ever hear evolutionists mention the word “evolutionism?” The second part of the question also is irrational since it asks Ken to read God’s Mind and to understand God’s wisdom and plan completely.

It’s always possible to dream up a question that someone can’t answer. Debates usually have each debater asking questions to stump the other debater. They probably think they’re masters of debate, but they’re just asking ad ignorantiam questions. Ad ignorantiam is irrational thinking, but it works for politicking. And since debates aren’t usually about finding truth but rather about swaying opinions, debaters use fallacies such as ad ignorantiam to sway opinions. Ken had no problem answering this question or any other question, but Bill had a problem answering the same question.

There’s nothing wrong with asking questions. For instance, we ask questions to understand the basis of another person’s thinking. We ask questions to point out that a claim doesn’t have a basis in a true premise. Again, we need a true premise (only available by divine revelation) for rational thought. In this case, Ken bases his understanding of the Creation event on a true premise. God gives Ken this premise by divine revelation through Ken’s relationship with Jesus Christ and what Jesus Christ tells Ken through Scripture and science.

Question to Bill

How did the atoms that created the big bang get there?

That was a straightforward question to explore the foundation of Bill’s case, and Bill couldn’t answer, yet Bill sold his inability to answer as if it were a benefit. In this case, Bill bases his understanding of the big bang story on knowing how to account for such details as the origin of the supposed big bang. Therefore, this question is legitimate. Bill claims that the big bang story is science, and since this question hits this exact point, it’s not a red herring. In contrast, in the previous question to Ken, the audience member asked Ken to speculate about God’s purpose for spreading out the heavens. However, Ken doesn’t base his understanding of the Creation event on knowing such details. Ken bases his understanding of the Creation event on divine revelation. So, the previous question to Ken was a red herring.

Ken pointed out that the Bible does have the answer to this question, but no one can answer the question from ungodly science. Bill couldn’t answer. But Bill’s inability to answer doesn’t disprove the big bang story. The fact that Bill couldn’t answer should make Bill reconsider his dogmatic stance since the question reveals the lack of substance in his belief, though. Bill can’t prove the big bang story since the story runs into a limited depth fallacy and a limited scope fallacy. Of course, divine revelation disproves the big bang story.

Question to Ken

The overwhelming majority of people in the scientific community have presented valid physical evidence, such as carbon dating and fossils, to support evolutionary theory. What evidence, besides the literal word of the Bible, supports creationism?

This questioner asked a loaded question with an embedded and presupposed bandwagon fallacy. The question also contains the loaded words “literal” and “creationism.”

Both evolutionists and creationists use the same observations. Scientists presuppose the validity of carbon dating. They don’t prove it.

The claimed “valid physical evidence” is presupposed, phantom evidence. However, this so-called “valid physical evidence” consists of confusion between interpretation and observation. True evidence must prove the conclusion without the need to add any information to the evidence. Of course, the way ungodly science uses the word “evidence,” it’s a waffling word that’s used to confuse.

Question to Bill

How did consciousness come from matter?

That was a straightforward question to the root of Bill’s case, which Bill couldn’t answer even though his entire dogmatic belief system demands an answer to this question.

Question to Ken

What, if anything, would ever change your mind?

That’s a vague question that also implies that Ken has a closed mind or dogmatism on some unstated issue, yet the questioner didn’t specify the change of mind. Change his mind about what? Possibilities would include:

• Ken changing his mind about the reality of Ken’s experience with Christ
• Ken changing his mind about believing Christ as He reveals the validity of scriptural history
• Ken changing his mind about rejecting one of the specific stories of the ungodly historical narrative

Ken confessed his belief in Christ and belief in the authority of Scripture, a belief that he bases on divine revelation. However, Ken denied dogmatic belief in theologies and theories. He said that he’s flexible on any models that go beyond what God reveals through Scripture. In contrast to Ken’s open mind, Ken pointed out that Bill admits dogmatic belief in billions of years.

As followers of Christ, we can be fully confident in exposing all of our beliefs to examination and challenge. Hopefully, we do that before Christ every day since His absolute truth can destroy the deceptive strongholds in our minds. So if someone asks us what would change our minds, we can answer that absolute proof against it would change our minds. Absolute proof would change our minds about what we currently believe that God says through Scripture about the history of the universe. Of course, we wouldn’t accept any so-called “proof” that contained made-up stuff since that wouldn’t be proof. We wouldn’t accept assumptions, stories, concepts, ideas, or mental constructs as proof. In other words, the Holy Spirit would need to reveal it to us.

On the other hand, never be afraid to ask an ungodly person about the basis of their beliefs in molecules-to-humanity evolution, billions of years, or atheism. Probe to find something solid and immovable in their answers. You never need to fear drawing them out and getting to the basis of their beliefs. You’ll always find that they base these beliefs on premises that won’t hold up to scrutiny and that fall apart under examination. At the root of all ungodly thinking is the axiomatic thinking fallacy, in other words, made-up stuff.

Question to Bill

Outside of radiometric methods, what scientific evidence supports your view of the age of the earth?

This straightforward question explored Bill’s basis for believing in an old earth, but Bill couldn’t answer it. However, Bill’s lack of ability to answer doesn’t disprove an old earth. It only proves that Bill shouldn’t be so dogmatic about his old-earth concept. We covered Bill’s inability to answer this question in more detail under Scientific Issues earlier.

Question to Ken

Can you reconcile the change in the rate continents are now drifting versus how quickly they must have traveled at Creation 6,000 years ago?

This questioner asked a loaded question that presupposes tectonic plate movement at Creation. We don’t see evidence that the tectonic plate movement existed before the Flood. So this question tries to imply a problem or conflict where no problem or conflict exists. For example, one Creation-Flood model proposes continental sprint during the Genesis Flood, suggesting that continental sprint moved at the pace of a fast walk. And in this model, the mountains rose, and ocean bottoms went down at the end of the Flood, and volcanic activity caused both the Flood and the tectonic plate movement. However, the Creation-Flood model doesn’t speculate about tectonic plate movement at Creation. Rather, in the Creation-Flood model, any present tectonic plate movement is residual movement from the Flood.

Question to Bill

How do you balance the Theory of Evolution with the Second Law of Thermodynamics?

This questioner asked a straightforward question, not a loaded question. In answer to this question, Bill implied that the sun stops the Second Law of Thermodynamics from operating, but that’s magical thinking. Adding energy doesn’t solve the problem of the Second Law of Thermodynamics for Bill but rather intensifies it. And the Second Law of Thermodynamics works in both open and closed systems since cars deteriorate and people age despite the sun’s energy.

We can put a book out on the lawn. We observe whether natural forces add information to it through the sun’s energy. We can try that. We won’t find the sun adding information. Instead, natural forces and the sun’s energy will eventually destroy the information in the book. That’s a poor example since a book contains coded information, but it doesn’t contain coded information systems as we have in every living cell. Coded information systems are much more complex than mere coded information, so they’re much less likely to form by chance. Scientists have tested the Second Law on earth. It works here even with the sun’s influence. In fact, no one has found a single exception to the Second Law of Thermodynamics on the earth.

Scientists haven’t observed new coded information creating itself by natural processes in any living cell. However, entire coded information systems would need to create themselves repeatedly if molecules-to-humanity evolution were to happen. Molecules-to-humanity evolution couldn’t even take the smallest step without creating new information systems.

Ken pointed out that Bill can add all the energy he wants, but it won’t bring life to a dead stick.

Question to Ken

Hypothetically, if evidence existed that caused you to have to admit that the earth was older than 10,000 years and Creation did not occur over six days, would you still believe in God and the historical Jesus of Nazareth and that Jesus was the son of God?

This questioner asked a loaded question that presupposes the ability of science to prove facts about the distant past. The loaded question does that by using a hypothetical contrary to fact. Hypothetical contrary to fact is a fallacy. The questioner’s hypothetical question presumes that science can produce absolute proof that would prove the earth is older than 10,000 years. Science can’t produce any certainty about the distant past.

Evolutionists have a problem with the word “evidence.” They use the word “evidence” as if it meant absolute proof. However, when they bring “evidence” for the stories of an old earth, the “evidence” they bring doesn’t prove the stories. The “evidence” is circumstantial and requires assumptions to give the illusion of real evidence.

Ungodly thinkers often use hypothetical questions as fallacies since hypotheticals always launch into the world of make-believe. So, whenever anyone asks a hypothetical, there’s ample room for fallacy in the question.

Bill was so sure of his assumptions that he claimed he could prove the age of the earth with great robustness, yet he didn’t even try to prove it. Instead, he just made the bare claim and then attacked the Bible and the history in it without giving a rational reason for his attack.

Question to Bill

Is there room for God in science?

That’s another straightforward question with no presuppositions or loaded language. In answer, Bill made it clear that he has nothing against any gods except for the God of the Bible, and he doesn’t want the God of the Bible to exist.

Ken pointed out that God is necessary for science since, if God didn’t exist, we would need to assume the regularity of nature, and we would have no cause for the laws of nature. If we based all thinking on assumptions, we could have no rational thought. Science couldn’t be rational. On the other hand, with God, we can do science and still be rational since, by revelation, we know that God will faithfully continue to enforce the laws of nature and logic. And God reveals the laws of mathematics, so, with God, we aren’t stuck with just assuming these critical foundations of scientific method.

Question to Ken

Do you believe the entire Bible is to be taken literally? Should people who touch pigskin be stoned? Can men marry multiple women?

That’s a loaded question for several reasons. “Taking the Bible literally” is an ungodly thinker’s straw man, and it’s a straw man fallacy because it oversimplifies reality. Consider the Cambridge Dictionary definition of the word “literal.”

having exactly the same meaning as the basic or original meaning of a word or expression

Google gives this definition:

taking words in their usual or most basic sense without metaphor or allegory

However, God uses metaphor and allegory, and yet He records history accurately as He presents spiritual truth through the history. There’s no mutual exclusivity between God speaking through history, using types and shadows, and God accurately stating what happened.

The questioner asked about the interpretation of Scripture. The Holy Spirit alone can interpret Scripture, and the Holy Spirit always interprets sanely. The Holy Spirit doesn’t interpret Scripture by explaining Scripture away since God says what He means, means what He says. He doesn’t mean what He doesn’t say, nor does He say what He doesn’t mean.

This question is a loaded question because the word “literally” isn’t the right word, but rather, the word should be “rationally” or “reasonably.” Taking the Bible rationally would be taking it without assumptions. It’s also rational to prayerfully and respectfully, acknowledge God as He speaks through Scripture since our thoughts are rational only if they’re guided by the Holy Spirit. However, it’s irrational to try to figure out Scripture using the fallen, deceptive, and wicked human mind that can’t receive spiritual truth.

Besides these problems, the questioner loaded this question by including popular straw man fallacies from Bible-denier websites. The question also consists of three loaded questions, so it’s a form of tossing the elephant fallacy.

Question to Bill

Have you ever believed that evolution was accomplished through way of a higher power?

This questioner asked a straightforward question. This theistic evolution question asks Bill whether he thinks God guided evolution. Is theistic evolution a viable hypothesis? We know some Christians think that the stories of theistic evolution will make atheists accept Christ as Savior. However, we also know that those who reject Christ reject Him for the reasons stated in Scripture. And they do that even though He has revealed Himself to them through the things He’s created. God has revealed that those who reject Christ love darkness more than light. They reject the light because their deeds are evil, and they’re willingly ignorant. He also reveals that they’ve suppressed the truth in their unrighteousness, and as a result, their senseless minds become darkened.

Question to Ken

Name one institution, business, or organization other than a church, amusement park, or the Creation Museum that is using any aspect of creationism to make its product.

This questioner asks a loaded question. The question implies that some institutions, businesses, or organizations other than ungodly universities, amusement parks, or ungodly museums use aspects of evolutionism to make products. But no one uses anything that’s exclusive to evolutionism to make anything real. In making this statement that no one uses evolutionism to make anything real, we must realize that it’s a universal negative. However, it’s not a fallacy because God reveals this universal negative. God reveals that the ungodly story is a lie, and lies have no value for doing useful work in the real world.

In answer to this question, Ken rightly stated that all products depend on biblical revelation. That’s because the Bible reveals the regularity of natural laws, laws of mathematics, and laws of logic. We can’t do science without knowing that these are dependable. And all three of these make sense to a follower of Christ since God reveals these three, but these three are mere assumptions in an ungodly worldview. Evolutionism doesn’t predict these three, and it also violates all three.

Question to Bill

Mr. Nye, since evolution teaches that man is evolving and growing smarter over time, how can you explain the numerous evidences of man’s high intelligence in the past.

This questioner asked a loaded question and added the presupposition using the word “since.” Does evolution teach advances in human intelligence? Sometimes. It depends. The story changes depending on what evolutionists are trying to prove. In this case, Bill said the story of evolution doesn’t teach that man is growing smarter over time. At the same time, Bill based some of his earlier arguments on the presupposition of humanity growing smarter over time. That shows the inconsistency of Bill’s presentation.

Question to Ken

What’s the one thing more than anything else upon which you base your beliefs?

This questioner asked a straightforward but vague question. We can’t tell whether the question is about all beliefs, origins beliefs, beliefs concerning God, or beliefs about something else. At the same time, this question should reveal a lot about both men because, once we dig through the smoke, they base their beliefs either on divine revelation or made-up stuff. That would be a great question for each of us to ask ourselves: Do we base our beliefs on divine revelation or made-up stuff?

Summary

Almost every attempt to challenge the Creation-Flood account was a loaded question. All but one of the questions to challenge the big-bang-molecules-to-humanity story were straight-forward questions. Those in favor of evolutionism embedded fallacies in their questions. We see this tendency to resort to fallacies in not only their questions but their statements. It’s as if someone is teaching classes in this technique. In the same way, when Bill Nye made his arguments, he loaded them with nested fallacies, but Ken Ham didn’t do the same with his arguments. What could be the cause of this difference?

Personal Feelings Prove Evolutionism

Bill Nye’s personal feelings were a huge part of his argument:

Your claim . . . is, for me, not satisfactory.

and I understand that Mr. Ham has some explanations for that which I frankly find extraordinary

So, that is not enough evidence for me.

You did not, in my view, address fundamental questions.

Then, as far as Noah being an extraordinary shipwright, I’m very skeptical.

but to me, it’s just not reasonable.

And it’s just not reasonable to me

It’s just not reasonable to me

is an extraordinary claim.

I hope you find that troubling. I hope you’re concerned about that.

That, to me, is unsettling, troubling.

It’s a troubling and unsettling point of view

This is very troubling to me.

that is a troubling and remarkable fact

It’s very troubling.

And something I’ve always found troubling.

Basing belief on personal feelings is a fallacy because no matter how troubled, unsettled, astonished, or disbelieving Bill is, his inner feelings don’t affect reality. Here’s another, more subtle, example:

You can prove the age of the earth with great robustness by observing the universe around us. This is to say, nature has its mediocre designs eaten by its good designs, and so, the perception that there’s a designer that created all this is not necessarily true because we have an explanation that is far more compelling

Bill thinks that he can prove the age of the earth with great robustness, and he thinks that he can do it by observing the universe around himself. However, even though Bill is certain about the age of the earth, he didn’t prove it. We call this fallacy “autistic certainty.” Bill bases his certainty on the fallacy of personal conviction. And we know that Bill is using his personal feelings because Bill said his favored story is “far more compelling” but gave no rational reason for his inspired conviction to believe the favored story. Oh, he gave many reasons, but not one of those reasons was rational. Instead, he expressed a feeling that these stories are compelling.

But why does Bill find the favored story more compelling to himself? It’s because Bill has made the favored story part of his worldview, so it seems like reality to him. So, Bill automatically rejects what God says because it doesn’t fit into Bill’s worldview. As God says, “Their senseless minds are darkened.”

We should have good reasons for what we believe. A good reason has a true premise and valid form. Bare assertions prove nothing, and yet most of modern thought is based on bare assertions with smokescreen fallacies giving the illusion that make-believe is reality.

This quote was adapted from Exposing the Nye-Ham Debate, which hasn’t been published yet. The Nye-Ham debate took place at the Creation Museum and focused on creationism versus evolutionism.

 

(Excerpt from Reason, Beginning the Journey)

Apologetics

Our journey isn’t about apologetics, and yet it does touch on apologetics so we’ll look at a few quotes from across the Christian spectrum of opinions. For those who want to study apologetics, they’ll find many books on the subject that take one stance or another.

Apologetics may be simply defined as the defense of the Christian faith. The simplicity of this definition, however, masks the complexity of the problem of defining apologetics. It turns out that a diversity of approaches has been taken to defining the meaning, scope, and purpose of apologetics. ~What is Apologetics, Bible.org

Although our journey isn’t a journey to apologetics, we all ought to be thankful for the work of the apologists. And all of us who follow Christ should be able to give a rational response when someone asks us about Christ Who lives in us. So we’ll find that this journey is linked and related to apologetics in many ways. Our journey is about knowing with certainty that God is real, Christ is real, and the Bible is the word of God without error. It’s about knowing that what God has revealed is true. It’s about discerning truth from error. Apologetics defends all of that.

Every form of apologetics has value. Consider the following:

Classical apologetics attempts to use reason and logic (for example, the cosmological argument, the teleological argument, the moral argument, and the ontological argument.) to defend the Christian faith. Experiential apologetics gives testimonies of the ways that Christ has acted and worked through the experiences of those who follow Christ. Presuppositional apologetics points out that all worldviews base their positions on presuppositions, and then it seeks to show that Christianity is more consistent than other worldviews. Cumulative apologetics uses all the various forms of apologetics.

Apologists point out that we do not have to put our minds out to pasture in order to be Christians. Indeed, some of the greatest thinkers and scientists throughout history have been Bible believers, and many have been biblical creationists. Wisdom begins with God (Prov. 1:7); all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Christ (Col. 2:3), not with man’s philosophies (1 Cor. 1:20). Proponents of evidential or classical apologetics (the differences are negligible for our purpose here) wish to present a wagon train-load of evidence with the hope that the unbeliever will come to repentance. ~ Cowboy Bob Sorenson, Honoring God in your apologetics

While every form of apologetics has value, not every apologist does the work of God in a way that’s pleasing to God and effective for bringing the unsaved to Christ. It’s easy for an apologist to lose touch with Christ in the process of trying to make a defense. We can never go wrong by focusing on the living Christ.

Thus, it is appropriate to argue against evolutionary theories by pointing out that they are based on presuppositions.  However, we should not allow ourselves to be cornered into accepting that the case for the truth of the Bible is also based upon presuppositions. ~ Tim Newton

We don’t use presuppositions as proof that the Bible is true. We don’t use presuppositions as proof that Jesus Christ is real or as proof that God is real. We have a firm Foundation. No other Foundation can be laid than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

The problem with the debate between presuppositionalists and evidentialists is that both sides tacitly admit there is no evidence for God.  Presuppositionalists make the subjective argument that they can see the reasons for presupposing the existence of God, but unbelievers cannot.  Evidentialists argue objectively from the evidence they think secularists will accept.  However, neither side acknowledges the Bible as evidence. ~Tim Newton

While we don’t want to enter into any debates about which of the many methods of apologetics is best, we do know that God wants every follower of Christ to testify of Jesus Christ. Our journey will go into considerable depth on that topic. And those who love apologetics will find great value on this journey as well.

Let’s pray.

Lord, please make my heart tender toward You so that I can hear Your voice and have confidence in Your leading when You call me to testify of You. Whether I’m testifying to the lost or building up those who are born again, keep me in Your will. Give me the words to say and let Your Holy Spirit abide in my words. Thank you, Lord, for Your goodness in these matters. I trust You. I believe that You’ll open up doors of opportunity and guide me and give me the power to be Your ambassador. Amen.