Haase_UZ_x007E_DTh (2).pdf - South African Theological Seminary

modernist illusion that there is available to us a kind of objective knowledge wholly
sanitized from contamination by any ‘subjective’ elements” (ibid.). Newbigin continues:
In a culture that has learned to accept as
authoritative only those truth-claims that can
be validated by the method of Descartes, it is
natural that Christian apologists should fall
into this trap, as some conservative Christians
have done.... We must let the Bible speak for
itself, opening our minds to be reshaped by
this listening (Newbigin, 1996:79).
The Christian faith is not about removing all doubts, for that would remove the need
for faith; something God has not seen fit to provide. Even science is a process of faith
steps, working through a series of tests and experiments until one proves, or disproves a
theorem. While the Christian faith can be supported and encouraged by historical,
evidential proofs, the faith remains rooted in a personal and corporate trust in God. God
has revealed himself through nature, the Bible and the historical Jesus. He also reveals
Himself every day, around the world, in and through the lives of those who are His own.
As J.W. Montgomery has argued for a life-time, faith in Christ in not rooted in absolute,
concrete, unquestionable certainties: it is based upon an overwhelming weight of
evidence, which makes judge and jury fully persuaded.
Theologian J.I. Packer affirms that God’s revelation forms the basis for trust:
“Throughout the bible trust in God is made to rest on belief of what he has revealed
concerning his character and purposes” (Packer, in Elwell, 1984:400). In the Evangelical
Dictionary of Theology, Packer defines three aspects of biblical faith: 1) Faith in God
involves right belief about God; (2) Faith rests on divine testimony; (3) Faith is a
supernatural divine gift (Packer, in Elwell, 1984:399; cf., 1Jn. 4, 5). Even life-time
student and critic of Christianity, Mortimer Adler, was forced to admit:
If I am able to say no more than that a
preponderance of reasons favor believing that
God exists, I can still say I have advanced
reasonable grounds for that belief... I am
persuaded that God exists, either beyond a
reasonable doubt or by a preponderance of
reasons in favor of that conclusion over
reasons against it. I am, therefore, willing to
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University of Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa