A Train Robbery?

[shotgun]

In honor of Mr. Rauch and his outstanding article Footnotes or Flowers: viewtopic.php?f=55&t=1089 I've decided to begin a series of discussions that will highlight some of the fundamentals involved in thinking "presuppositionally." Enjoy:

Well meaning Christians have donned red bandannas, climbed onto their horses, and robbed at gunpoint that great Van Tillian theological steam engine, emptying the safe of all catchphrases…

They robbed the train of its terms, and then turned them over to their boss, Mr. Semi Pelagian, to corrupt as he sees fit!

To recover the stolen goods, take my hand and let’s stroll down memory lane.

There is a black lab I know. He LOVES playing fetch. When a ball was thrown into our swimming pool, he would enthusiastically dive in after it! For a brief moment, he was submerged! Let’s freeze this moment and examine it closer.

Held in our thoughts should be the image of a black lab, grinning for all he’s worth, completely submerged in the swimming pool, surrounded by wide eyed children.

I would consider the human condition to be in much the same state as that black lab. God, of course, can be compared to the water, while all the particulars of creation (everything from angels on clouds picking banjos to babies spitting up mysterious substances onto their victims) can be compared to the black lab. They are at all times surrounded and supported by, God…or, for the analogy to work…the water.

In such a metaphysical scheme, to speak of something “standing on its own” is to speak of something that is external to the water. This is the point where the sheriff will confront the train robbers in an all out gun battle that would make Doc Holiday proud! The lab does not float on his own nor do facts stand on their own, apart from interpretation. Like the lab, man is surrounded by, and supported by God. All of our empirical observations are first interpreted by God, and then re-interpreted by man.

Only by systematically critiquing a person’s view on its own basis, and seeing what philosophical preconditions that person holds as self evident or “granted” can we then truly claim to be critiquing it presuppositionally. We do not hold their presuppositions up in one hand, and neutral “facts” up in the other, and compare the two to see if they match. Rather, we see if their presuppositions (as they state them) are consistent with themselves and have sufficient warrant. (Greg Bahnsen has pounded the concept into my head. We are looking for arbitrariness, and inconsistency!)

Robbers have stolen Reformed concepts of "worldviews" and "presuppositions." Join me in a high-noon gun fight to retrieve our property!

***spits into a can...then tips his cowboy hat...***

[Lumberjack]

Cute! So it's us against them, hey. When are we going to come together and start obeying Jesus. When are we going to raise up a generation the Lord can use to install His Kingdom into the nations?

Satans whole strategy is to buy time. As long as he distracts the church, he rules! The only ones tipping their hats are the "religious spirits."

Regards, Lumberjack

[shotgun]

lol...religious spirits eh?

Watch it! Since becoming a Presbyterian, I'm allowed to enjoy the drink from time to time...and "religious spirits" has a different meaning for me than it may for you...

[Lumberjack]

Hey Cityboy,
Good comeback, I had to read the thing 3 times to get it. It's getting so d..n cold out up here that even my cognitive reasoning ability's are slowing down.
Regards, Lumberjack : from YOOPER COUNTRY USA.

[shotgun]

Ever hear the song: "The City Put the Country Back in Me?"

That's me! I can't wait to leave here and move out to the deep and uncharted lands of southwestern Virginia. (My family owns 80 or so acres of land down near the Carolina border.)

The greatest blessing God can bestow on a man is a beautiful wife, a yard full of kids, animals, crops...and a front porch by which to enjoy them all! (And maybe a good cigar or two...)

[Lumberjack]

Hey Shotgun,
On Amazon there is a book called Westering Man, The Life Of Joseph Walker by Bil Gilbert. It's the story of one of the greatest mountain men, explorers ever to come out of the area you live in. It's the story of the Scottish - Irish people brought over by the English to settle the Appallation Mtns[sp?] . the English were literally scared to move off the coast and move westward. Walker was a man of incredible bravery and character this nation has ever seen . If you want to know your" roots', here's a start.
Regards, lumberjack : a mountain man born 200 years too late.

[shotgun]

That sounds like a book I'd really be interested in! Amazon salutes you! (As do I!)