Forming a Christian Philosophy

(Originally written August 2, 2007 in Notebook 17)

Christian Philosophy vs. Pseudo Christianity

Any Christian philosophy or Christian intellectual theory must adhere to three rules which will ensure that they remain Christian and do not fall into the Pseudo-Christianity realm. What is non-Christian in an explicit sense is easy to point out. But what is non-Christian in an implicit sense or Pseudo-Christianity is difficult to see and whatever is Pseudo-Christian is not Christian at all, but heresy.

So, back to these "rules". The first and most important rule to formulating a Christian philosophy is that it must have its primary source or foundation in special revelation. This is all rational arguments must proceed from the text of the Bible. General revelation, reason and true mystic experiences must supplement the foundational textual argument. In thinking this I did not include, originally, mystical experiences or prompts from the Holy Spirit; but, then I realized that the Holy Spirit would never prompt that is counter-scriptural.

The second rule in formulating a Christian Philosophy is that whatever is incorporated into the scriptural foundation must be wholly consistent with that f;foundation. Any rational argument added to the base of Scripture is forming a theory must not contradict that part of the Scriptures. That is to say that we cannot use a single passage as a foundation then argue from that passage that contradicts another passage.

The third (and humbling) rule is that whatever philosophy we come to from the foundation of Scriptures is theoretical. We can be absolutely sure that the Bible is infallible and Truth. We cannot be absolutely sure that our inferences from it are absolutely true, despite how rationally inescapable they are. To believe that our individual philosophies are as sure as the Bible is to demand a canonical status for them that cannot be demanded.

Since our Christian philosophy is not absolutely true we must remember that it cannot be the source of our faith. Our faith in God and Jesus Christ must originate in the Scriptures and any rational argument we or anyone else formulates on this basis must assist our faith and supplement it. Our theories, no matter how probable, sound or rational are still humble opinions by very inadequate creatures and inferior intellects. We must not assume that we have the assurance of intellect as we may assume the assurance of faith.