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Enoch
Feb 7, 2009 - 10:27AM
Epistemology

People ask questions like
"How you KNOW that the Bible is true?
How do you KNOW that God exists?"

Such questions are part of the larger question:
"How do I KNOW anything at all?" How can I prove that a proposition is true?

Suppose that there is a proposition called "A." The proof that proposition A is true is reason B. But how do I know that reason B is true? Well, I believe reason B, because of reason C. But how do I know that reason C is true? It can easily be seen that this process has no end, and thus there appears to be no ultimate proof of anything. The best that can be done is to trace the proof back to some self-evident fact, like "I exist." Or: "The sky is blue."

Having read the Bible many times myself, I cannot recall the Lord Jesus during his earthly ministry ever offering a proof that God exists or that the Scriptures were true. Instead, He uses to Scriptures as an ultimate proof or as an axiom. "It is written" for Him settles all issues.

I agree with that approach. The fact that the God-of-the-Bible exists is self-evident. Humans are capable of directly perceiving this and using that axiom to prove other things. Likewise the fact that the Bible is God's Word is also immediately evident to the reader.

Consider some epistemological scripture:

Proverbs 28:5b:
"But they who seek YHWH understand all things."

Romans 1:18-25
". . . men . . . that which is known of God is manifest in them; for God manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of him since the the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, . . . that they may be without excuse; because that knowing God they did not glorify Him as God, neither gave thanks; but became vain in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened. . . . .

Compare Romans 10:14-20
". . . the word of Christ . . . Their sound went out into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. . . . I became manifest unto them who did not ask of Me."

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