The Futility of the Atheistic Worldview

Published: Oct. 15, 2008, 6:30 p.m.

b'Our presuppositions determine how we view our world and how we live in that world. We interpret everything according to our worldview or presuppositions. It is wrong to think that facts are neutral (or "brute facts") because facts do not "speak for themselves." People do not evaluate facts apart from their biases or assumptions made beforehand (pre-assumptions, or presuppositions). Presuppositions are not assumptions that we make but a personal commitment to the most basic level of understanding. They have the greatest authority in your life and are therefore the least negotiable (if only non-negotiable) belief that you have. The goal in apologetics is to approach a person on the level of his presuppositions. Therefore, the best way to deal with an atheist or any other non-believer is to discover the antithesis and then push the antithesis between the competing presuppositions or worldviews. To "push the antithesis" is to force the unbeliever to live consistently with his rationalistic and materialistic presuppositions. In other words, once you discover what a person bases his idea upon (naturalism, materialism, atheism), you then get him or her to see the inconsistency between that belief and the way they actually live life.'