Biblical Rationale

Introduction

Acts 17:24–25 ESV

24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

The Christian worldview originates from God. He is the true beginning of all things. Our failure to accurately understand this world is a result of our failure to accurately understand God.

In order to reason, we must begin with the cause of all reason - God. Contrary to popular belief, we do not reason our way to God, rather our faith in God leads us to reason.

Otherwise, we have no basis for reason.

The Christian worldview is the truth. It is God’s intention for the world. That means that the OT & the NT is the narration and detail of God’s will upon the world.

It is history & prophecy, glory & fury, exaltaion & destruction, and faith & hope & love.

Acts 17 shows us that the world is not man’s agenda, but God’s agenda.

Introduction

Read

Because we are trained to start with reason, this affects the way we read the Bible.

Instead of starting with Scripture, we start with a reasonable understanding and work our way back to the Bible. In this case, we are often established on our convictions even before we reach the text.

This often makes reading the Bible difficult. We ought to start with the Bible and let the Holy Spirit convict us.

Understand

Our understanding is often biased.

Trust

This ultimately affects how much we are willing to trust the Bible.

Inductive Method

For reading & understanding

Are we a generation that is diligent in the pursuit of truth, and not in the pursuit of holiness?

Galatians 4:1–7 ESV

1 I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, 2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. 4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.