Presupposition: to suppose or assume beforehand; take for granted in advance.
I’ve often talked about conversations I’ve had with people online. People of all different beliefs. Relatively recently, I had a conversation with a guy that comes from roughly the same background as me, that being fundamentalist Baptist. He experienced much the same on the negative side of things in that environment that I did. The difference between where he is today and where I am today is the result of what could be described as, “throwing the baby out with the bathwater”. He has gone through a process known as deconstruction.
It would take much longer than I care to take here to fully describe what that process is and his current status of belief , so I will just mention one thing that is apropos to the subject indicated by the title of this piece. As we talked through several subjects and issues, the primary difference that had reared its head time and time again is our approach to Scripture.
I believe the Bible to be authored by God using human writers. He, on the other hand, believes that the Bible is simply authored by human writers. Though he would say they were inspired, it was only inspiration to the same extent a person might be inspired to write a song or poem or any book.
His criticism of my approach is that I come to Scripture with a presupposition rather than an open mind effected by and that allows editing by the culture of the time, the limited knowledge of the time, and other time sensitive factors. He would tell you that he approaches Scripture with no presuppositions.
While he is correct that I approach Scripture, as I do many, if not most things in life, with presuppositions, he is deluding himself by thinking that he doesn’t, that his mind is open. Presupposition is unavoidable and is a necessary part of life for any creature that is not omniscient. His presupposition is that when he reads Scripture, he presupposes it to be a human document. He gives little, if any divine weight to the words found there.
We presuppose dozens of times a day. When you come into a room, and chose where you were going to sit, presupposition was involved. You don’t ask the people sitting nearby for the history of that particular chair to see if it was safe to sit in. Even if you hadn’t been here before, the fact that most chairs that you have encountered in your life did not collapse when you sat in them, gave you cause for presupposition, that being that it was safe to sit in this particular chair. Does presupposition allow us the ability to say that all chairs everywhere will not collapse when you sit in them? Of course not. But, just as you cannot live your life, in any normal fashion without presupposition, neither can you please and follow God without such. Hebrews 16:6 tells us, “And without presupposition it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must presuppose that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” If we can confidently sit in a strange chair without fear because of the presupposition we have developed over the years regarding something as simple as a chair, though we know that some chairs fail, how much more confidently should we be able to presuppose the goodness and faithfulness of God and walk in that.
When it comes to our faith, a faulty presupposition can be disastrous. It is important that our presuppositions be solid, meaning it should be based on evidence of some kind.
In my view, our faith in God is not only a presupposition in and of itself, but, as we see God’s faithfulness, it creates presuppositions that we can rely on along the way. To me, Job is the standout example of presupposition. Job had a relationship with God that, over time, had allowed him to come to that well known point in his life where, after losing everything, he could say, “though you slay me I will not change my presupposition that you are a good and faithful and worthy to worship.” (Kish translation)
Because of what we see in the life and words of Christ, we can make the same presupposition that Job made. Because of the Father’s faithfulness to the son, Jesus endured the cross. Because of that, the early church fathers developed presuppositions that allowed them to endure and even rejoice in their own martyrdom. Because of the history of the church and what we see in Scripture, we should have ample evidence to confidently have accurate presuppositions about God. As one popular church songs puts it, “Because I presuppose He lives, I can face tomorrow.”
To be continued….