Interview: What is Presuppositional Apologetics?

How would you describe your YouTube channel.

What you're trying to accomplish with it?

Yeah?

Well, I'm trying to promote two things one more broadly and one more with more

specificity, so I try to promote apologetics in general and Presuppositional apologetics more specifically, so I'm

very interested in like apologetic methodology.

So that's kind of the the main focus, but I do cover other areas of philosophy and theology

you know soteriology and Determinism and You know the Calvinism Arminian

ism debate.

We have Resources and interviews that relate to those topics as well now.

If someone is watching and and had no idea of what presuppositional apologetics was it

was had no reference point.

Even just kind of your common churchgoing person never heard that term.

How would you describe that in simple terms?

Yeah?

Yeah, there are different ways.

You can describe it Just very simply if I'm talking to a Christian, and I am kind of

going through the various views of apologetics.

It is a method of apologetics that just places a great emphasis upon one's starting assumptions like their ultimate

starting points.

And then also when I'm speaking with Christians about apologetic methodology I like to define

presuppositional ism as number one a top -down approach in which we start with the

authority of God in his word and The implications of that when we apply it to say

People who don't start with that authority, right?

We often make the biblical example of the difference between starting on a foundation of rock Versus

starting on a foundation of sand and so rock and sand can kind of be likened to Philosophical

perspectives.

What foundation are we starting on.

Are we starting on the foundation of human autonomy?

Human philosophy or is our foundation grounded upon the shore rock of God's Word.

Now just real briefly I like to summarize the methodology like this and because it sounds I'm

using biblical categories here.

I think makes sense.

It is an apologetic methodology that seeks to bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

Even the thoughts of the unbeliever.

So there's not something that we just do as Christians where we want to submit our thinking to God.

But we also want to show that unless the unbeliever does that there's some intellectual problems with this position.

Excellent.

So I'm gonna function the assumption that you didn't always think that way.

Over the course of your life, you know, I don't know your conversion story or whatever but there's a reason that you became

passionate about that specifically like.

There's a lot of different topics out there that a lot of people are interested in.

What made you passionate about that.

What were pivot points in your life.

That said this is me and this is this has done something for me so much.

So then I want to go out and share that with other people.

Yeah, well, I was very sensitive to the fact as to whether what I was doing was Consistent

with certain principles that I saw in Scripture and so I'm an issue of consistency is very important to me.

I've listened to a lot of debates from people who come from different apologetic traditions.

And I remember listening to William Lane Craig when I when I first started I greatly appreciate dr. Craig's work.

But I remember listening to a debate Against dr. Greg Bonson and

Gordon Stein now Gordon Stein was an atheist who's probably not the best representative of atheism.

But the argument that was being used in the in that debate was very different to me.

It really stood out as an argument that had strength and had a very firm biblical foundation that spoke

about God and the truth of Christianity in a way that I wasn't really Hearing from some of those other

approaches and so for me it seemed like one it was an approach that I think flowed out of the

consists the consistent application of Scripture and it had a Philosophical robustness to it.

That was in my estimation a very powerful argument in favor of the Christian worldview.

Yeah, is that is that debate?

It is a classic.

I have listened to it more than once and so is it available on YouTube?

Well, there is something and I kind of give a shameless plug here.

There is something called the Bonson project.

All of Bonson's lectures.

There's hundreds of them were behind a paywall that was owned by Covenant Media.

And I think it was dr Bonson's son and a group of other people wanted to make that information accessible.

And so they purchased the rights for all of those lectures and now they're all available for free on Sermon audio.

So if anyone's interested, even if you're not interested in presuppositional ism per se.

But you want to kind of understand.

Well, what's this all about?

All those lectures are available.

There's debates.

There's lectures on specific topics that cover, you know Various criticisms of the approach and the biblical foundations for the

approach.

Folks will find that to be a great resource.

Yeah, but if you go to the Gordon Stein Bonson debate if you're interested in even knowing what presuppositional it

is.

Because you can hear it in action in a context.

It was at a college and the crowd responds and it's it's it's fascinating.

Listen, so what the role of apologetics in your life?

Is that one of the primary reasons you came to Christ period or did you grow up in church?

And you just kind of drifted into it or what's your story behind your passion there?

Yeah, my earliest memories have been in church.

So I have a really good memory when it comes to like things from a long time ago.

But I forget everything my wife tells me he's like, is that what you said?

I'm so sorry.

I don't remember I remember the color of socks.

I was wearing on the first day of school, but I can't remember some things.

My earliest memory is of church.

And so I grew up in a Spanish Pentecostal church.

It's a very small church.

And I remember always really being interested in the Bible.

Now, the funny thing is growing up in a Spanish church I never caught on to Spanish.

I don't speak Spanish to this day.

I understand.

I Understand a lot of it.

So if you're gonna say something behind my back I could hear.

But we had church Tuesdays Thursdays and Sundays to search through two services on Sunday in the morning in the evening.

And each of them were about two and a half hours long.

And so I would joke around there in I would joke around that like Jesus would leave before the.

But the interesting thing about that is while I was sitting there as a little kid not understanding what was being said I would

take the time to open up my NIV Bible and I would just read and I remember since I was a little kid I

would do that from when I was a kid all the way up until like my 20s and Most of my biblical knowledge comes

from just sitting and reading my Bible and it was through that process.

That I fell in love with theology.

I fell in love with history.

I fell in love with the scriptures.

And so I often had conversations and arguments with my family on various theological topics.

But it wasn't until my first year in in community college where I took a course called The

literature of the Bible and I was like that's gonna be easy one.

I know my Bible.

I've read it since I was a little kid I'm gonna take that class is gonna be easy and the first 20 to 20 minutes to a half

hour was the professor just spewing all this information as to why he thought the Bible was just like false and

With my limited knowledge.

I was able to give some kickback, but it was like an uphill battle and for the first time I was exposed to

Questions and issues that made me have to think outside my own bubble.

And so I did a little experiment with myself.

I pretended for a short time to be an atheist and did some research From an atheistic perspective and

looked at criticisms of the Bible and then I sat back and said, okay Christianity has been around for 2 ,000 years.

Surely.

This isn't new and through some investigation.

I was exposed to Christian apologetics and that I mean just long story short that opened up a whole new

world to me in terms of understanding.

The foundation for the things that I was raised to believe.

Now, that's excellent.

Because you pretend to be an atheist in your mind.

Yeah, that's.

Too often.

People probably don't.

Go about you know examining different.

Even their own thoughts about.

I wished.

You know some atheists would do that with Christianity.

At least pretend to be that for a while and try to see it from that.

Sure vantage point.

So you've got a YouTube channel.

Tell us how to find you and where people can go.

Yeah, well, I'm the founder of revealed apologetics.

You can find my website at revealed apologetics comm.

I have a YouTube channel called revealed apologetics as well.

I'm on Instagram I'm on tik -tok and if anyone's wondering about the name revealed apologetics.

The name is based on the idea that not only are we biblically commanded to do apologetics I'm actually convinced that the Bible

as divine revelation actually gives us the method that we should that we should use in a way.

That's faithful and consistent to the the very scriptures.

Thanks for answering a question.

I should have asked where they come from.

That's awesome.

Thank you.

So thank you so much.

I appreciate it.