Impossibility of the Contrary Explained

Summary

This video explores the concept of 'the impossibility of the contrary' within the framework of presuppositional apologetics. It explains that the Christian worldview is deemed true because a non-Christian perspective cannot sustain rationality, knowledge, or meaningful human experience. The speaker uses the transcendental argument to assert the logical impossibility of any position contradicting Christianity. Biblical passages are cited to support the idea that the Christian God's omniscience and the presence of all wisdom and knowledge in Christ make any contrary position irrational. The video also discusses the method of internal worldview critiques to demonstrate the inconsistency of non-Christian views and the necessity of the Christian worldview for grounding logic and knowledge.

Takeaways

• 📖 The video discusses the concept of 'the impossibility of the contrary' in the context of presuppositional apologetics, where the Christian worldview is considered true because the contrary would be impossible.
• 🧠 The centerpiece of the presuppositional apologetic method is the transcendental argument, which argues that the Christian worldview is necessary for human experience to be meaningful and intelligible.
• 🔍 The term 'impossibility of the contrary' refers to the logical impossibility of a position that is not Christian, suggesting that rationality is not possible on a non-Christian presupposition.
• 🤔 The contrary is the contradictory of the Christian worldview; if a position contradicts Christianity, it is deemed impossible or irrational.
• 📜 The speaker believes that the Bible implicitly and explicitly supports the method of arguing by the impossibility of the contrary, providing a foundation for transcendental arguments.
• 📝 The script cites Isaiah 44:6-8 and Colossians 2:2-3 to illustrate the Christian belief in an omniscient God and the impossibility of any other god existing or any wisdom existing outside of Christ.
• 💡 The use of internal worldview critiques is a common method in presuppositional apologetics, where the opponent's position is hypothetically granted to be true and then shown to be self-defeating.
• 🤝 The goal of internal critique is to reduce the opponent's position to absurdity, showing it to be inconsistent or incapable of grounding rationality, knowledge, or the intelligibility of human experience.
• 🛠 The speaker acknowledges that while Christians claim their worldview provides necessary preconditions for rationality and knowledge, these claims must be demonstrated through rational argumentation and practice.
• 📈 The video is part of a series aiming to explain the presuppositional approach in apologetics, with the intention of helping viewers understand and engage in these discussions more effectively.
• 👍 The speaker encourages viewers to like, share, and support the content by donating or signing up for courses and conferences offered at revealedapologetics.com.

Q & A

What is the main concept discussed in the video?

The main concept discussed in the video is the 'impossibility of the contrary,' which is a central idea in presuppositional apologetics, arguing for the truth of the Christian worldview by demonstrating the logical impossibility of any non-Christian position.

What is the transcendental argument in the context of presuppositional apologetics?

The transcendental argument in presuppositional apologetics is an argument that the Christian worldview must be true because it is the necessary precondition for human experience to be meaningful, intelligible, and for there to be rationality and knowledge.

What does it mean to say that Christianity is true by the 'impossibility of the contrary'?

Saying that Christianity is true by the 'impossibility of the contrary' means that any non-Christian presupposition makes rationality impossible, suggesting that the logical impossibility of any position that contradicts the Christian worldview is the basis for its truth.

What is an 'internal worldview critique' in apologetics?

An 'internal worldview critique' is a method used in apologetics where the truth of an opponent's position is hypothetically granted, and it is then demonstrated that their own presuppositions undermine the very foundations of rationality, knowledge, logic, or the intelligibility of science.

How does the concept of the 'impossibility of the contrary' relate to the idea of an omniscient God?

The concept of the 'impossibility of the contrary' relates to the idea of an omniscient God in that if God knows everything, then there cannot logically be another god, as God would know of its existence. This demonstrates the logical impossibility of a contradictory position.

What is the purpose of using internal worldview critiques within an apologetic argumentation?

The purpose of using internal worldview critiques within an apologetic argumentation is to show that a non-Christian position, based on its own presuppositions, cannot provide a foundation for rationality, knowledge, logic, or the intelligibility of human experience, thus reducing the opponent's position to absurdity or inconsistency.

How does the video script use scripture to support the idea of the 'impossibility of the contrary'?

The video script uses scripture, such as Isaiah 44:6-8 and Colossians 2:2-3, to argue that the principles of the 'impossibility of the contrary' are present in the Bible, providing a basis for the transcendental arguments used by presuppositionalists.

What is the goal of the internal critique when engaging with a non-Christian worldview?

The goal of the internal critique when engaging with a non-Christian worldview is to expose the opponent's position as arbitrary, inconsistent, or incapable of rendering human experience intelligible, by demonstrating the failure of their presuppositions to ground concepts like rationality and knowledge.

How does the video script suggest that Christians should practice apologetics?

The video script suggests that Christians should practice apologetics by engaging in rational argumentation and discourse, asking questions, and interacting with the unbeliever's worldview and presuppositions, while also being able to explain how the Christian worldview provides the necessary preconditions for logic, knowledge, and intelligible experience.

What is the role of the presuppositionalist in demonstrating the truth of the Christian worldview?

The role of the presuppositionalist in demonstrating the truth of the Christian worldview is to show that it provides the necessary preconditions for meaningful human experience and rationality, while also showing that the hypothetical truth of a non-Christian position leads to the destruction of these very foundations.

Outlines

00:00

📖 The Impossibility of the Contrary in Presuppositional Apologetics

The video discusses the concept of 'the impossibility of the contrary' within the framework of presuppositional apologetics. It explains that the Christian worldview is considered true because the state of affairs where it is true is necessary for human experience to be meaningful and intelligible. The argument is transcendental, positing that rationality, knowledge, and other cognitive faculties are only possible within a Christian framework. The speaker breaks down the idea by explaining that the truth of Christianity is established by the logical impossibility of any non-Christian position. The video also touches on the concept of 'the contrary,' which refers to anything that contradicts the Christian worldview, arguing that such contradictions are inherently impossible. The speaker suggests that the Bible implicitly and explicitly supports this method of argumentation, citing Isaiah 44:6-8 to illustrate the deductive reasoning behind the impossibility of another god existing alongside the Christian God.

05:01

📚 Internal Worldview Critiques in Presuppositional Apologetics

This paragraph delves into how the concept of the impossibility of the contrary is applied in apologetic argumentation, specifically through internal worldview critiques. An internal critique involves granting the truth of an opponent's position and then demonstrating that their view, based on its own presuppositions, undermines the very foundation of rationality, knowledge, logic, or the intelligibility of science. The speaker uses Colossians 2:2-3 to argue that all wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ, implying that outside of Christ, there can be no wisdom or knowledge. This serves to show that any position contradictory to the Christian worldview is impossible from a Christian perspective. The goal is to expose the opponent's position as arbitrary, inconsistent, or incapable of grounding human experience in a meaningful way. The speaker acknowledges that while Christians can claim this, it must be demonstrated through rational argumentation and discourse, which requires practice and interaction with non-Christian worldviews.

Keywords

💡Presuppositional Apologetics

Presuppositional Apologetics is a method of Christian defense that argues the truth of Christianity based on the presuppositions necessary for meaningful human experience. In the video, it is the central theme, with the speaker explaining that the Christian worldview is true by the necessity of its contrary's impossibility, meaning that without Christianity, human experience lacks meaning and rationality.

💡Transcendental Argument

A transcendental argument is a type of reasoning that asserts the truth of a proposition based on the necessary conditions for the possibility of experience or knowledge. In the context of the video, it is used to argue that the Christian worldview must be true because it is the foundation for rationality, knowledge, and meaningful human experience.

💡Impossibility of the Contrary

The term 'impossibility of the contrary' refers to the logical infeasibility of an alternative position to the one being argued for. In the video, it is used to claim that the Christian worldview is true because the non-Christian worldview cannot sustain rationality, making the Christian worldview the only rational option.

💡Rationality

Rationality, in the video, is presented as a foundational aspect of human experience that presuppositionalists argue can only be grounded in the Christian worldview. It is the capacity for logical reasoning and is essential for the intelligibility of human experience, which the speaker argues cannot exist without the Christian worldview.

💡Internal Worldview Critique

An internal worldview critique is a method of argumentation where one hypothetically grants the truth of an opponent's position and then demonstrates that their position is self-defeating or undermines its own presuppositions. The video explains that this critique is used to show the absurdity of non-Christian positions when their own logic is applied.

💡Omniscience of God

The omniscience of God is the Christian belief that God knows all things, including the past, present, and future. In the script, the speaker uses the concept of God's omniscience to argue for the impossibility of another god existing, as God would know of any such entity.

💡Contradiction

A contradiction occurs when two statements cannot both be true at the same time. The video discusses how anything that contradicts the Christian worldview is deemed impossible, as it would undermine the rationality and intelligibility of human experience.

💡Isaiah 44:6-8

Isaiah 44:6-8 is a biblical passage cited in the video to illustrate the Christian doctrine of the uniqueness of God. It is used to argue that the existence of another god would contradict the omniscience of the Christian God, thus supporting the impossibility of the contrary.

💡Colossians 2:2-3

Colossians 2:2-3 is another biblical passage mentioned in the video, which speaks to the idea that all wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ. This is used to argue that any claim to wisdom or knowledge outside of Christ is contradictory to the Christian worldview and therefore impossible.

💡Revealed Apologetics

Revealed Apologetics is the approach or school of thought that the speaker represents in the video. It is based on the belief that the truth of Christianity is revealed in scripture and is the foundation for rational argumentation. The speaker encourages viewers to support this approach through donations or participation in courses and conferences.

Highlights

The concept of 'the impossibility of the contrary' is central to presuppositional apologetics, suggesting that the Christian worldview must be true as the alternative state of affairs makes human experience meaningless.

Transcendental arguments are used to argue that the Christian worldview is necessary for rationality, knowledge, and intelligibility.

The phrase 'impossibility of the contrary' refers to the logical impossibility of a non-Christian position maintaining rationality.

Contradictory statements cannot both be false; if one position is false, its contradictory is true, implying Christianity's truth and other worldviews' falsehood.

Scripture is believed to implicitly and explicitly support the method of arguing by the impossibility of the contrary.

Isaiah 44:6-8 is used to illustrate the concept that an omniscient God invalidates the possibility of another god.

Colossians 2:2-3 supports the idea that all wisdom and knowledge are in Christ, making any contradictory position outside of Christ irrational.

The goal of internal worldview critiques in apologetics is to show the inconsistency or absurdity of non-Christian positions based on their own presuppositions.

Presuppositionalists aim to demonstrate that the Christian worldview provides necessary preconditions for logic, knowledge, and the intelligibility of human experience.

The success of presuppositional apologetics relies on both showing the inadequacy of non-Christian positions and the sufficiency of the Christian worldview.

Practice and discourse are essential in apologetics to refine the argumentation and interaction with non-Christian worldviews.

The video aims to clarify the presuppositional approach and its application in apologetics for better understanding.

Support for the channel can be provided through donations or participation in courses and conferences offered at revealedapologetics.com.

The video concludes with an invitation for viewers to engage with the content and support the mission of revealed apologetics.

Transcripts

all right

um in this video I want to talk about

the concept or the phrase the

impossibility of the contrary what do

presuppositionalists mean when they say

that the Christian worldview is true by

the impossibility of the contrary now if

you know anything about presuppositional

apologetic methodology the centerpiece

of the apologetic method is

um the transcendental argument okay and

when we argue transcendentally we are

arguing by the impossibility of the

contrary so we are in essence arguing

that the Christian worldview must be

true the the the State of Affairs in

which the Christian worldview is true is

necessary for Human Experience to be

meaningful intelligible for there to be

rationality and knowledge these sorts of

things now that's the claim of course

right

um but the transcendental argument seeks

to do that but what do we mean let's

kind of break apart this idea of the

impossibility of the contrary

when we say that something is true by

the impossibility of the contrary this

refers to the impossibility of say truth

the truth of some position that's not

the Christian position when we say that

Christianity is true by the

impossibility of the Contrary we're

saying that

um on some other non-Christian

presupposition rationality is not

possible basically we're speaking of The

Logical impossibility of some other

position that is not the Christian

position so that's basically what we are

saying uh in essence now what do we mean

by the contrary what uh when we speak of

the impossibility of the contrary now

the when we speak of the contrary we are

basically um using informal language to

refer to uh the contradictory the

contradictory of the Christian worldview

position okay so anything that

contradicts the Christian worldview is

impossible that's basically what we're

trying to say so contradictory

statements cannot both be false at the

same time and in the same way if a

position is false then it's

contradictory is true and vice versa

okay so within when we speak of the

impossibility of the country within the

context of like the Christian worldview

we're basically saying that uh

Christianity is true and every other

position that's not the Christian

worldview is false or Christianity is

rational and every other position that's

not Christianity is irrational okay and

that's that's basically to say that only

the Christian worldview is rational and

that would have to be true if we're

arguing that Christianity is the

necessary precondition for human Intel

uh intelligibility or rationality or

whatever the case maybe that's just the

nature of the claim all right now why do

Christians or presuppositionalists more

specifically uh argue why should we

argue along these lines of um in

impossibility of the contrary well I

actually think that scripture both

prescribes and describes this method I

think scripture both implicitly and

explicitly argues in this way and I want

to show you kind of through a scripture

or two of my line of reasoning here is

uh so so I don't think that the Bible is

is

teaching us transcendental arguments and

like that philosophical sense but the

principles of this idea of something

being true by the impossibility of the

country is right there in scripture and

so scripture provides the soil out of

which transcendental principle arises

okay so let's take a look for example at

Isaiah chapter 44 uh verses 6 through 8

which reads

I am the first and the last besides me

there is no God who is like me let him

Proclaim it let him declare and set it

before me since I appointed an ancient

people let them declare what is to come

and what will happen fear not nor be

afraid have I not told you from of old

and declared it and are you my Witnesses

is there a god besides me there is no

Rock I know not any now notice from

within the Christian worldview we have

an omniscient God a God who knows all

things

um we're not including open theism here

I do not believe that open theism is a

Biblical position but that's that's the

topic for another video okay so we're

assuming that Christian theism teaches

that there is an omniscient God he knows

all things of the past all things of the

present all things in the future all

contingencies all these sorts of things

so um let's illustrate this idea of the

impossibility of the contrary or the

contradictory

um from this concept here so I'm going

to lay it out in a deductive form so you

can kind of see the reasoning behind

this okay so

um premise one God knows everything

premise two if there is another God then

God would know that there is another God

premise three God does not know that

there is another God four which is the

conclusion

therefore there is not another God and

so if you think about that

any position that posits another God

namely the contradictory to what we're

just asserting is false it would be

impossible for the um contradictory to

be true okay let's take a look for

example at Colossians chapter 2 verses

two through three which says Christ in

whom are hidden all the treasures of

wisdom and knowledge so let's break this

down in kind of a deductive form so you

can see the reasoning behind here uh

premise one if all of the treasures of

wisdom and knowledge are hidden in

Christ then outside of Christ there are

no Treasures of wisdom and knowledge

premise two all the treasures of wisdom

and knowledge are hidden in Christ and

this is believed by Christians on the

basis of scripture so if you're a

Christian you affirm the Bible this is

something we need to affirm from within

the Christian worldview three therefore

outside of Christ there are no Treasures

of wisdom and knowledge and therefore

wisdom and knowledge on the contrary or

contradictory position is impossible

from within the Christian Perspective

and that's why we as

presuppositionalists be trying to be

consistent will argue along these lines

okay so how is the impossibility of the

country are used within an apologetic

argumentation this is typically

um Illustrated through the use of what

we call internal worldview critiques

okay what's an internal critique an

internal critique is when you

hypothetically Grant the truth of your

opponent's position and show that on

their own presupposition their own view

they lose the foundation for whatever

we're arguing about whether it's

rationality knowledge logic or you know

the intelligibility of science the

inductive principle these sorts of

things and so we engage in an internal

critique to show that the non-Christian

position on his own presuppositions

can't ground those very things and so

the goal of the internal critique is to

reduce the opponent's position to

absurdity to expose the opponent's

position as arbitrary or to expose it as

inconsistent or incapable of rendering

Human Experience intelligible anything

along those lines now can the Christians

successfully do that yes does the

Christian always success fully do that

no right this is going to be this takes

practice as we're interacting with the

unbeliever and asking questions and

letting them lay out their world view

and kind of

um interacting with their worldview and

their presuppositions and these sorts of

things

um and the Christian of course is going

to have to also be able to explain how

the Christian worldview does in fact

provide what we call those necessary

preconditions for say something like

logic knowledge uniformity the inductive

principle

um and intelligible experience in

general okay so that's kind of the two

sides of the presuppositional coin we

show that the Christian worldview given

our presuppositions provides a

foundation for for these things and then

given the hypothetical truth of the

unbeliever's position

you know they can't ground those things

and in fact they destroy all of those

things and the meaningfulness of all

those things now again we can claim this

but that needs to be demonstrated

through rational argumentation and

discourse um and of course that takes

work and practice but that's you know

when we're doing apologetics it requires

us to you know practice you're going to

mess up a bunch of times and hopefully

you get better at it the more that you

do it I know that I don't do it

perfectly all the time either so

um so there we go that's what we mean by

the impossibility of the contrary that

kind of short little phrase which

encapsulates the transcendental

principle

um that the presuppositionalist is

trying to uh employ within the context

of apologetic interactions well I hope

this is helpful and I'm going to try to

do other videos in the future where I

lay out some aspect of the

presuppositional approach and try my

best to explain it so that folks can

understand uh what we're talking about

all right well that's it for this video

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um

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support what I'm doing uh but

nevertheless thank you so much for

listening and uh until next time bye