Are there no “neutral” hypotheses? For or against the Christian faith

The Bible declares, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7). This profound statement reveals that true understanding and wisdom are rooted in reverence for God. For followers of Christ, this means that Scripture must serve as the basis for evaluating all systems of thought, including philosophy, ideologies, and worldviews.

Scripture is not just one perspective among many, but is the self-testifying revelation of the Triune God. As such, it is the foundation upon which Christians are called to build their entire understanding of the world. Without this divine revelation, human beings remain trapped in darkness, unable to possess true knowledge of God, themselves, or the world around them. This is because, apart from Scripture, all human understanding is fallible, based on incomplete information and finite reasoning.

My goal is to illustrate that all human reasoning is based on basic beliefs or presuppositions that are taken on faith. Therefore, there are no “neutral” assumptions; one’s presuppositions are for or against the Christian faith.

Get our latest news for FREE

Sign up to receive daily/weekly emails featuring the best stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know.

At first glance, this may seem like circular reasoning: basing our belief in Scripture on Scripture itself. However, this is inevitable for any belief system. Every worldview, whether secular or religious, operates from certain presuppositions. The key difference is that the Christian worldview is rooted in the revelation of the one objective, omniscient Being in the universe, the Triune Godhead. In contrast, all other systems are based on finite human reasoning, which makes them fundamentally incapable of providing the certainty and consistency that God’s revelation provides. Therefore, we are called to trust His Word rather than the limited scope of human reason.

When we turn to the Scriptures, it becomes clear that there is an inherent antithesis between Christian and non-Christian systems of thought. Because of radically different starting points, the Christian and the non-Christian approach life, ethics, and knowledge in fundamentally different ways. While the non-Christian begins with human autonomy, trusting in the authority of human reason, the Christian begins with the fear of the Lord, trusting in the authority of the Word of God.

This is why Christian apologist Cornelius Van Til and others have argued that the existence of the Christian God is the necessary precondition for any coherent understanding of reality, ethics, and knowledge. Without the Triune God, there is no basis for logic, morality, or science. Only within the Christian worldview can the universe be intelligible because God is the source and sustainer of all things.

The distorting effects of sin

A significant aspect of this contrast lies in the noetic effects of sin. Sin not only distorts human behavior, it corrupts the very way people think and reason. In their rebellion against God, non-Christians suppress the truth and distort reality, making them unable to properly understand the world. This distortion extends to all areas of life, including the perception of morality, knowledge, and ultimate reality.

It is only through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit that this blindness is lifted, allowing individuals to recognize the truth of the Christian message. The Holy Spirit overcomes the noetic effects of sin, transforming minds and hearts to embrace God’s revelation in Scripture.

The impossibility of the opposite

In light of these truths, the ultimate proof of the inspiration and authority of Scripture lies in the impossibility of any alternative system that makes rational sense of the world. No other worldview can satisfactorily answer the four fundamental questions of life:

1. where do we come from
2. How did evil enter the world?
3. What is the solution to the problem of sin and evil?
4. What is the consummation of human history?

Without the revelation of God’s Word, these questions remain unresolved or are answered inconsistently. Only the Bible provides a consistent, consistent, and complete answer to these questions, revealing the truth of our origin, the cause of sin, the means of redemption through Christ, and the future consummation of all things.

Therefore, when analyzing any theological, philosophical, or ideological system, the question is not whether it aligns with human wisdom but whether it conforms to the biblical worldview. As God’s self-testifying Word, Scripture is the ultimate standard by which all truth claims must be measured. To reject this foundation is to embrace intellectual chaos, because only in Christ do we find the “wisdom and knowledge” necessary to make sense of the world (Colossians 2:3).