Do We Use Evidence In Apologetics?

Evidence, Worldview, and Ultimate Authority in Apologetics

That's fine.

Thank you, Jeff. My question is, when you debate a belief system that affirms absolute truth from another source, like the Koran or the Book of Mormon, by showing its internal inconsistencies, isn't that actually evidential apologetics and not presuppositional?

No, because it comes down to—so there's a confusion about what presuppositional or evidential apologetics is. Presuppositionalists believe in the use of evidence, but it's a coherent appeal to those evidences.

What we would say is you don't appeal to those evidences apart from the authority of Jesus Christ, the authority of Scripture. You don't appeal to those evidences apart from something that grounds those appeals to evidence, right?

Dinosaurs, Archaeology, and the Christian Worldview

So for example, let's take it—I'll get back to the Koran and Mormon question in a second. So let's say that I'm talking about the issue of, say, dinosaurs, right? Dinosaurs in Scripture. Someone says, do you believe in dinosaurs?

Of course I believe in dinosaurs. What do you think, I'm a dummy?

Right?

Of course.

Well, how do you make that work? Because we dig up these bones, they seem so old and all these different things. What I like to do in moments like that is actually show, well, in order to have any examination of history and archaeology and evidence at all, you have to have the Christian worldview and the Word of God, otherwise it's meaningless.

It's purposeless.

Like, if you assume something is true and we ought to pursue truth, you've got to have a worldview that makes sense of that. In order to do any historical examination at all and to use science and reasoning faculties, you have to have the Word of God to do that examination.

But also, I would say that only the Christian worldview can make sense of what we see about dinosaurs in the first place today. Like aren't, are you up to speed on what's been dug up over the last 20 years?

That's what I point out to people. I'd say, because from the Christian worldview, I can make sense of what we're finding. Like it makes sense to me that we're finding viable blood cells and tissues in the hip bones of a T-Rex in the last 20 years.

Like, of course, this is mind-boggling to people who believe they died 65 million years ago, right? They were finding viable blood cells and tissues. But I can make sense of that because my worldview has a framework through which I can make sense of finding viable blood cells and tissues in the hip bone of a T-Rex.

Or how come, great example, go find this video because it is so, it's a riot when you watch.

It.

They found a prehistoric shark and it was alive in an aquarium for 24 hours, right? So they find this prehistoric shark, they catch it, and it's alive, and it's behind this scientist, right? And he is so fascinated by this thing because it's a dinosaur swimming behind him.

By the way, just found another one the other day. Just amazing. We're just, now we're just digging these things up.

They're all over.

I thought they died 65 million years ago. So it's swimming behind this guy and this guy is like, this is the most amazing discovery in the history of mankind. These died 65 million years ago. It's swimming behind him, close enough to bite him in the butt.

And he's like, these died 65 million years ago. His worldview, right? He is viewing everything through the lens of his worldview to the degree that the evidence.

Could be there.

It could bite you in the back and you still won't see it, right? Why? You won't because you'll view the evidence through your ultimate authority and perspective. So we don't say in presuppositional versus evidentialist apologetics is that, you know, evidentialists use evidence and presuppositionalists don't.

A presuppositionalist wants to actually ground the entire discussion in a meaningful way for an ultimate foundation. So when I'm talking to say the Muslim or to the Mormon, we're talking about this in terms of ultimate authority, not in terms of evidence versus no evidence, but in terms of ultimate.

Authority.

So I'm taking Joseph Smith's claims of ultimate authority, and I'm actually filtering that through this ultimate authority. And in terms of the claims of Islam and Mohammed, same exact scenario. It's a question of ultimates, ultimates, yes.