When assumptions are the basis of thought, the best you can have is opinion. A Secularist refuses to acknowledge God, so this rules out acknowledging Divine revelation. Yet, God is good and doesn’t allow all Secularists to die. God preserves them to allow them time to find Him. God reveals many things to Secularists, including the fact that He exists and that He judges evil, for instance. Secularists know, by Divine revelation, many things about good and evil. Yet, several differences exist between the way a Secularist reacts to Divine revelation and the way that a follower of Christ reacts to Divine revelation. While someone who is following Christ will acknowledge Christ as the source of all knowledge, the Secularist will assume that he or she has somehow deduced this knowledge through observation and take the glory for himself or herself. The person following Christ has the possibility to learning to discern the difference between that which his or her own mind fabricates and that which God reveals. The Secularist rejects God. Therefore, the Secularist believes that every interpretation of reality is based on human intellect. Interpretation adds to what can be observed, what God has revealed. For this reason, a Secularist can’t tell the difference between reality and fantasy.
I’m referring to made-up stuff as fantasy, since that’s what it is. Assumptions are fantasy. Bare assertions are fantasy. Circular reasoning is just a way to hide bare assertions, which are fantasy. False bravado is a way to hide bare assertions. Message control, which is carefully practiced on university campuses and among the scientific hierarchy, is a way to keep bare assertions from being exposed as being bare assertions. In fact, all logical fallacies are either some form of making stuff up or else they are ways to hide the fact that what’s being presented as “fact” is simply made-up stuff.
Consider a Secularist finding a fossil. The Secularist thinks of all the things that Secularist has learned about the rocks around the fossils and the age of the Earth and stories about molecules turning into people over time. The Secularist thinks that these are all facts. He or she was taught them as if they were facts. However, these so-called “facts” were derived using the same process that I’m about to define. If you think about this, it’s the way that most people try to reason.
Then, the Secularist tries to derive new learning from the fossil. The Secularist examines the fossil and comes to one or more conclusions about the fossil. The process is, “I am seeing this fossil and I observe [insert whatever the Secularist observes]. Therefore, [insert whatever the Secularist decides based on the Secularist’s worldview, a worldview based on all the previous learning that was based on the same kind of thinking].
The Secularist observes A. Then, the Secularist says that A means B. How does the Secularist know that A means B? Well, A means B because C is true. How does the Secularist know that C is true? C is true because of D. How does the Secularist know that D is true? Because of E, of course. This process goes on infinitely. There’s no way for a Secularist to prove a premise to be true. All Secularists can do is to hide the fact that they have no basis for thought. This is then called “science.”
Yet, we see many advances that are based on science. We see phones, cars, airplanes, and many other things. How can this be? Doesn’t this prove that Secularists can base thoughts on assumptions and find out things that are true and that work? No. It doesn’t prove any such thing. Let me explain.
Many years ago, God revealed the scientific method to scientists who were following Christ. They gave glory to God and discovered many things. Other scientists, who weren’t following Christ, were also able to use scientific method. God has revealed many things to humanity through scientific method. Revelation is true. The Secularist refuses to acknowledge God or to thank Him, so the Secularist can’t tell the difference between reality that has been revealed and fantasy that has been made up. Secularists can do science. They think that the many revelations that God has given, which make science possible, are simply assumptions. They call these revelations, “axioms.” Given these “axioms of science,” God reveals many things to Secularists using the scientific method. However, Secularists also tried to apply scientific method to things that can’t be observed, such as the past or the spiritual realm. As soon as the Secularists did this, the role of interpretation became much larger and the role of observation became much smaller. They distorted and misused the scientific method that God had revealed.
When checking to see if a certain engine design works well, interpretation plays a small role while repeated experimentation and observations plays a huge role. When calculating the age of the Earth, observations play a small role and interpretation determines the answer. The role of interpretation becomes huge. Those scientists who say the Earth is young and those scientists who say the Earth is millions or billions of years old are all observing the same things. The only difference is in interpretation. The Secularist intellect’s interpretation may contain some revelation, but it also contains speculation, which is made-up stuff. Some defend the use of assumptions using many irrational arguments. Some try to hide the fact that the entire thought-process is a house built on sand without a foundation.
There have been scientists who have given God the glory. In the process, they invited the Holy Spirit to be involved in their work. They asked Him to explain the things they were observing. As a result, many wonderful strides were made in science. No benefit has ever been gained through speculations about the past or speculations about the spiritual realm. God has, in His great mercy, revealed many things to scientists who were hindered by their worldviews and speculations. They weren’t granted those discoveries because of their speculations but in spite of their speculations.
In closing, let me say that the same principles apply in theology. Theologians can oppose each other fiercely while quoting from the Bible. The differences lie in the interpretations of Scripture. (pun intended) There are two ways to interpret Scripture. One is to allow the Holy Spirit to interpret it and to guide and to teach you. The other is to speculate. The human mind doesn’t have the ability to know the difference between reality (revelation) and fantasy (made-up stuff). This is actually the difference between good and evil. (Hebrews 5:14) The person who continually holds loosely to his or her theology and asks the Holy Spirit to reveal those beliefs that are false and to reveal the truth–that person who so humbles himself or herself will receive ongoing unfolding revelation of God’s will and of God’s knowledge. Since God is infinite and we are finite, this ongoing revelation is going to continue. We, as humans, must resist the urge to declare that our doctrine is the correct one. We must rather be open to the correcting influence of the Holy Spirit.
