An Exercise on the Authority of Scripture
Why Protestants can't tell you why they believe in the Scriptures
The Groundwork
We believe non-properly-basic1 things by two ways: faith and reason. In other words:
Faith: Someone trustworthy told me.
Reason: I can reach this conclusion by reason alone.
Additionally, in citing each, we are confined by the following constraints:
Faith: I was told by this source. The reliability of this source corresponds the maximum degree of certainty that it’s true (and in the case of infallibility, the minimum degree).
Reason: The rules of logic and the proof of facts. The reasons themselves determine your certainty.
Or, put interrogatively:
Faith: Who told you? How reliable is this source in this respect?
Reason: What are your reasons?
The Exercise
We can now clearly see the simple exercise. Find something you believe to be true, cite faith or reason, and answer the follow-up questions.
An example: I believe I was born on December 9.
By what means? Faith
Who told me? My parents
How reliable is this source in this respect? They are very reliable in this respect, so I am extremely confident that this is true.
Or another: I believe that Socrates is mortal. I believe this by reason. My reasons are because all men are mortal and because Socrates is a man.
I believe my son had a dream about dragons last night. I believe this by faith. My young son told me so. He is moderately reliable in this respect, so I have a moderate confidence that it’s true.
I believe that Christ rose from the dead. I believe this by faith. The Sacred Scriptures told me so. These are perfectly reliable, so I have complete confidence that it’s true.
My question for Protestants
You and I believe that the New Testament:
Is inerrant.
Is from God.
Consists of the 27 books agreed upon.
How do you know this? By faith or reason? If by faith, who told you, and how reliable are they? If by reason, what are the hard reasons?
Properly basic knowledge is perhaps another terms for “obvious and sensory”. That I am typing on a computer right now is properly basic.
It would seem that certain first principles are known by neither faith nor reason, but must be presumed.