The human mind wants control. It brings arguments against Divine revelation. The argument is that you could be deceived if you look to God for Divine revelation. The reality is that there are only two alternatives to Divine revelation. One alternative is the fallen human mind, one’s own or other’s, that is deceitful and desperately wicked. The other alternative is demonic deception. The two alternatives to Divine revelation assure deception. Yet, the problem of Divine revelation is indeed discerning the difference between Divine revelation and these other sources. Both of these sources try to mimic Divine revelation or else to denigrate it.
Regarding Divine revelation, here are some of the arguments that are used by Secularists:
- Your own mind could be deceiving you.
- A demon could be deceiving you.
- You must process that Divine revelation using your own mind. You don’t get it directly.
As far as demons, they are real and they are deceptive—as is the human mind. For that reason, demons and the failings of human intellect are really the same problem. In fact, if Divine revelation depended on human intellect, we would indeed be lost. There would be no scientific progress, because there could be no knowledge at all. However, discernment is not a matter of intellect. It’s the matter of the sovereign impartation of something that is called “faith” to those who acknowledge God when He’s speaking.
To clarify, God defines “faith” for us. It is not conceptual. It’s part of reality. It’s absolute proof. It’s certainty. It is progressive. It gives access into God’s grace, which is the power of God for righteousness. Grace is the free gift of righteousness.
For these reasons, Neither Münchausen’s trilemma nor Descartes’ demon present a problem for Divine revelation. They do present a problem for theological positions that add anything to what God is saying. It’s very easy to make assumptions. Assumptions are often hidden with various smokescreens. Münchausen’s trilemma and Descartes’ demon do present a problem for all Secularists. In fact, as skeptics argue for disbelieving everything or disbelieving God, the skeptic falls prey to both the trilemma and the demon.
A chain of thought is only as strong as its weakest link. An assumption is an unknown that’s treated as a known. Assumptions have no place in a premise. To put them there is irrational.
Divine revelation is ongoing and progressive. God has revealed that if any person thinks he or she knows anything, that person doesn’t know it as it ought to be known. In other words, there is room for correction by the Holy Spirit. The entire issue of Divine revelation isn’t to prove one person right and another person wrong. Divine revelation has much more to do with having a relationship with God than being the one who is correct. In that relationship and in the humility and openness to correction of the human, the Holy Spirit with teach, correct, and lead.
As far as deception is concerned, we can all be deceived. God has promised that if we ask for bread (a type of Christ), God won’t give us a stone (a type of the human intellect). If we ask for a fish (a type of Christ), He won’t give us a serpent (a type of Satan). Yet, we do get confused. If we continue to seek God, He will lead and correct us. When we think that we’ve arrived or we think that we know certain things, we stop seeking Him. We become stiff necked and dogmatic. The Holy Spirit won’t force Himself on anyone, so we get spiritually stuck. We know many things, but we don’t know any of them as we ought. We need to be open to correction.
