The Importance of Revelation in a Sophisticated Age

Introduction

It was once said, An estimated 20 million Americans in this age of science and sophistication, carry a rabbit’s foot or other good-luck charms. -Tan, P. L. (1996). Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (p. 1399). Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc. Yet, our current world struggles with the phenomena of the supernatural.

The time has come, again, when man has resorted to their own wisdom and, therefore, shun the importance of revelation. The reason for our reference to the sophisticated age is caused by the lack of tolerance for the supernatural in this current time. Many have concluded that reason is the means of knowing, and knowledge can only be acquired by relative and subjective reasoning. Here are a few quotes from skeptics of the supernatural:

“An ignorant mind is precisely not a spotless, empty vessel, but one that’s filled with the clutter of irrelevant or misleading life experiences, theories, facts, intuitions, strategies, algorithms, heuristics, metaphors, and hunches that regrettably have the look and feel of useful and accurate knowledge.” ― Steven Novella, The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe: How to Know What's Really Real in a World Increasingly Full of Fake

“So, while we cannot trust the stories we are told, tradition, faith, convenient or reassuring narratives, charismatic figures, or even our own memories, we can slowly and carefully build a process by which to evaluate all claims to truth and knowledge. A big part of that process is science, which systematically tests our ideas against reality, using the most objective data possible. Science is still a messy and flawed process, but it is a process. It has, at least, the capacity for self-correction, to move our beliefs incrementally in the direction of reality. In essence, science is the process of making our best effort to know what’s really real.” ― Steven Novella, The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe: How to Know What's Really Real in a World Increasingly Full of Fake

We can go on and on with quotes like these—from Thomas Jefferson to Richard Dawkins. There seems to be a familiar sense of skepticism arising and the answer is not simply found in the arguments of “Christian” apologetics.

The failure with Christian apologetics is that they have resorted to sharing useless arguments/ theories that seemingly serve no unique purpose in leading a person to Christ.

I have proposed a different way of doing apologetics. Rather than proving our opposers wrong, we should prove ourselves to be right. How do we do that? Christian apologetics should no strive to give individuals an answer. Rather, it should work to give individuals an invitation. This invitation is to experience the supernatural of God.

We get our idea of apologetics from 1 Peter 3:15. Yes, it is true that Peter teaches them to give a defense, ἀπολογία, of the hope. Yet, the ἀπολογία is simply a response to the request for a reason. In order to understand the question, we must first understand the question.

The word reason is λόγος, the same word for the term “Word” in John 1:1. It means a record or narrative description of past events, especially for the determination of accountability. So, when someone gives a defense, it is simply a response to a request for clarity regarding a record of events or narrative description.

So many times, I defense only justifies our theology, when it is supposed to elaborate on events concerned with Jesus. Therefore, we are not faced with the Proverbs 29:18.

Understanding Proverbs 29:18

Proverbs 29:18 CSB

18 Without revelation people run wild, but one who follows divine instruction will be happy.

The Septuagint has such an interesting rendering of Proverbs 29:18.

The Lexham English Septuagint Chapter 29

A seer will never come to a lawless people,

but those who keep the law are most blessed.

The word “seer” is literally ἐξηγητής in the Greek. It means exegete. Get this! An exegete is depicted as a seer in Greek Old Testament. Why? Because the exegete’s job is to communicate spiritual things; to communicate revelation to a people ready to receive the divine message of God. Yet, Solomon argues, he doesn’t go to lawless people, because he is to know that they won’t receive him. Furthermore, the law-keeping individuals are those that are met by the exegete to receive a divine word.

Types of Revelation: General and Special