Fighting on the Wrong Ground: Epistemological Missteps
I realized I was getting nowhere with this guy. It was my first year of youth ministry and one of my students, sly grin and all, had just asked how I knew the Bible was true. I tried to explain that prophecies have been fulfilled, lives have been changed, science has never proven the Bible wrong, and, like G.K. Chesterton I found that the Bible explained everything in my experience so well as to be inescapably true. However, my reasons were unconvincing to this young man. Where had I gone wrong? I have rarely felt like more of a failure than that night—coming up empty-handed in front of a group of teenagers will do that to you.
After that night I spent a lot of time trying to discover where I went wrong. Later, while re-reading Leroy Forlines’ The Quest for Truth I realized that I was trying to answer an epistemological question with an empirical answer. What was really in question was how I knew what I knew, rather than proofs for what I believed. I was trying to give water to a plant that desperately needed to be transplanted to a new piece of earth. I defaulted the discussion from the very beginning by not dealing with the epistemic assumptions that both the young man and I held. Only then should I have proceeded to provide proofs of the Bible’s inspiration and inerrancy.
Similar situations present themselves on a regular basis for youth ministers and lead pastors alike. As Francis Schaeffer has written, the problem is that we often end up fighting “the battle on the wrong ground.”[1] We try to answer questions and work out our ministries based on the wrong epistemology. Therefore, every minister, youth worker, and Christian needs a robust understanding of his or her epistemology in order to answer the world’s questions, or even help the world ask the right questions.
What Is Epistemology?
The most common definition of epistemology is also probably the most helpful—the study of how we know, and how we know we know. Epistemology is the study of knowledge. By studying knowledge and how we obtain it, we determine what sources of information are valuable. From this trailhead a person’s worldview begins its development. As Forlines notes, “When a person determines how he or she thinks knowledge is acquired, much has already been determined about the worldview he will adopt.”[2] Therefore, our epistemology acts as a channel directing our engagement with the world around us.
In epistemology, the first questions we must answer are, “What sources of knowledge are valid?” and, ‘Where can I find truth?” Two basic responses give answer to these questions (although many other questions arise no matter the path we take). One answer is only to trust information that comes to us through the use of our five senses assisted by instruments (telescopes, microphones, and scales are all good instruments). This answer is called empiricism.
Though theories vary about the genesis of this epistemological approach, it clearly was present in the Southern (or Italian) Renaissance (1200s-mid1500s). Empiricism assumes if there is a God, the only way to find and know Him is through evidence we can obtain through our five senses. This path excludes revealed knowledge from God (anything claiming to be God’s Word) and innate knowledge (knowledge arising from within the human person). Even though we see these books with our eyes, we have neither personally witnessed nor can we recreate the events recorded in these books. Anything innately known is perceived to be purely subjective and therefore unacceptable. Empiricism then rejects the Bible and the imago dei as sources of truth (more on this below).
The other epistemological path asserts that we should not reject the possibility of revealed or innate knowledge. Rather, this approach suggests that we take claims of divine knowledge seriously. If a book claims to be God’s Word, it must be tested. Does it satisfactorily answer life’s inescapable questions? Questions such as, “Is there a God? If so, what is He like? How can I know Him? Who am I? Where am I? How can I tell right from wrong? Is there life after death? What should I and what can I do about guilt? How can I deal with my inner pain?”[3] If so, then divine revelation should be accepted as a trustworthy avenue for finding truth.
The inescapable questions of life also lead to innate knowledge. Because we are made in God’s image and likeness (imago dei et similitudo), we have “a knowledge of God and a knowledge of basic morality…indelibly written into our innermost being.”[4] While this does not mean that we are born with a full understanding of God’s nature, it does mean we cannot escape the idea of God and basic morality. Every human being must deal with the question of God. And every human being believes in basic morality, even if his or her understanding of morality has become twisted by their fallen estate.[5] In other words, everyone holds presuppositions and practices morality—even empiricists.
Christians should follow the second path. We believe God has spoken to us and is knowable through the Bible. Beyond that, we believe the Bible is the supreme source of truth and anything contradicting it must be false. The Bible is God’s Word and He cannot lie (Titus 1:2). This isn’t only important for philosophers and theologians, but for you and me too.
Is Epistemology Really All that Important for Me?
The relevance of epistemology for average men and women is a fair question. True, defining how we know we know does not seem readily applicable to doing laundry, dealing with coworkers, or enjoying family night. Yet nothing could be further from the truth.
Everything we think, feel, and do is directed by our epistemology. As we have noted, we believe that God has spoken to us through the Bible. His Word is truth and the ultimate source of knowledge and understanding (Ps. 119:104-105, 160; Jn. 17:17). Therefore, nothing in our human experience escapes Scripture’s influence. Yet we often behave just the opposite.
Many Christians claim the Bible is God’s inerrant Word and then completely ignore its teachings that directly influence aesthetics, business ethics, church attendance, job performance, music selection, parenting, and personal appearance. Whenever we act in this manner we may claim that God’s Word is revealed knowledge, but we are living empirical lives. To disregard the relevance of God’s Word for how we spend our free time is to make our decisions based on an epistemology that rejects divine revelation as a source of knowledge. Does that really matter though?
The problem is that empiricism is inherently atheistic.[6] If the only data that we allow to influence a decision is observation from our five senses and personal experience, then we are living atheistically—that is, without reference to God’s revealed Word and intrinsic revelation. We all do this to some degree every day. But some (perhaps even many) who claim Christianity live atheistically all day, every day. I believe it is for this reason that many sociologists and researchers can’t discern any remarkable difference in the behavior of American Christians and non-Christians.
Therefore, it is essential that every Christian man, woman, teen, and child understand epistemology. At minimum, we need to realize that our fallen estate defaults our epistemology towards atheistic empiricism. Once we realize our natural tendencies, we can be more intentional about taking the epistemic path that accepts divine revelation as information. In so doing we will begin to live lives that are holistically informed by Scripture.
Is Epistemology Really All that Important for My Ministry?
Beyond personal application, epistemology is important for our ministries. Whether we deal with senior citizens, children, teens, singles, or divorcees, epistemology is essential. Most of our questions, and most directed toward us derive from a bad epistemology. The young man in my youth group expected empirical proof for my belief in the Bible. He was thinking empirically as was I.
While knowing and explaining the evidence of the Bible’s trustworthiness is important, both my student and I should have begun by determining whether we were going to admit the Bible as a source of knowledge. This requires patience from both parties and a willingness to think through the results of each epistemological path. Only then can we walk together the “path of the righteous [which] is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day” (Prov. 4:18).
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[1] Francis Schaeffer, The God Who Is There 30th Anniversary Edition (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1998), 27.
[2] F. Leroy Forlines, The Quest for Truth: Theology for A Postmodern World (Nashville: Randall House, 2001), 7.
[3] Forlines, Quest, 1.
[4] Ibid., 33.
[5] For a fantastic discussion of innate knowledge of morality, see the chapter in C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity entitled, “The Law of Human Nature.”
[6] See F. Leroy Forlines, “Dealing with the Influence of Epistemological Atheism” (Nashville: Unpublished, October 25, 1996).
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