How to use Evidences in a Presuppositional Framework

First of all, what is Biblical presuppositional apologetics? This is basically defined as starting with the authority of Scripture instead of human autonomy and then building our worldview from the basis of Scripture in all fields of study. This is to say that we start from the Bible. It is self-attesting, which means that it declares itself to be the Word of God so we take it to be that as God has empowered us to presuppose its authority through the Sovereign work of God by the Spirit in being born-again. In the same way, the yellow pages are self attesting; it declares to be a book of phone numbers, and we find exactly that within them. The difference is that the unregenerate man will reject the self-attestation of the Bible because it conflicts with his sinful desire for autonomy--which is to say his desire to be sovereign and authoritative. The Bible magnifies sin and rejects any works-based righteousness, which is unlike any other writing in human history, and sinful man hates this.

How then do we use evidences like every effect needs a cause, intelligent design, etc.? We explain that we cannot make sense of cause and effect, intelligence, etc. apart from a Biblical worldview. The Biblical worldview makes these things intelligible. All else makes nonsense out of everything and reduces all things to absurdity. Intelligibility ceases to exist outside of the Biblical worldview.

Ultimately, only the work of the Spirit can create a new heart (John 3). However, God is a Rational Being and uses rationality that He has implanted in man for His glory to communicate to man the absurdity of his worldview apart from God. In this way, God has a means by which the Spirit regenerates the heart. As we are pressing the Biblical worldview from a Biblical worldview we show sinners the absurdity of their humanly autonomous worldviews. The Holy Spirit uses this to convict hearts and expose them for all the wretchedness that they are. The reality is that the flesh detests God in spite of the the fact that human autonomy reduces all things to absurdity, and this testifies to how sinful the heart is. The rejection of the reality that only the Christian worldview can make evidences intelligible magnifies the reality of the unregenerate man being dead in trespasses in sin (Eph 2). He is in dire straights without the work of a Sovereign God to yank him out of his slumber by His grace alone.

For this reason, we declare the authority of the Scripture presenting God in Christ based on what God has revealed to us in the Bible. Regeneration is brought about through the Spirit working through the preached Word (Romans 10). Essentially, when we declare the Word of God, we are commanding men everywhere to repent (turn from sin to God) and worship God as He has revealed Himself in the Scriptures. John Piper says it rightly, "Missions exist because worship doesn't."

Therefore, evidences are used to leave man without excuse and to show the absurdity of his position in rejecting God. Man will always challenge this in his rebellion, yet they testify to the foolishness of his position in starting with himself instead of with God. They magnify the gravity of his sin and just how blind he is in sin.

Let us therefore, boldly declare the Word of God, and pray that God would work upon the minds and hearts of the unbelieving. To Him be the glory alone! Amen!