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God Does Exist!: Defending the Faith Using Pre-Suppositional Apologetics, Evidence, and the Impossibility of the Contrary
GOD DOES EXIST! You will encounter Van Til's and Bahnsen's Presuppositional argument through a fresh street-level approach that allows you to: - Refute atheism and agnosticism - Demonstrate that the triune God exists - Intellectually defeat vain philosophy - Learn how to share your faith with confidence - Discover how logic, morality, and mathematics presuppose God - Apply presuppositional apologetics to disprove Darwinism Michael Allen Robinson: Now a Reformed pastor and teacher at Christ Covenant College, Las Vegas, Nevada, Michael has trained numerous average Christians in using presuppositional apologetics for witnessing to the unbeliever. He is available for speaking and teaching seminars. 800-647-9030
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First published May 16, 2005
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May 28, 2024
AN “EVANGELISTIC” PRESENTATION OF PRESUPPOSITIONAL APOLOGETICS
Michael A. Robinson is a Reformed Pastor and teacher at Christ Covenant Bible School in Las Vegas.
He wrote in the Introduction to this 2006 book, “I have stood on the shoulders of great scholars and apologists as I have witnessed, debated, and [sic] during the writing of this book. I hesitate to mention that I stood on their work and scholarship because I know these pages are far below the academic excellence that mark the work of Cornelius Van Til, Greg Bahnsen, R.C. Sproul, Robert Morey, and John Frame… My evangelistic application is not invented by me. It is the derivative of Michael Horton, Ray Comfort, and many others… The truth of their greatness and my weakness is self-evident when you compare their books with this book… My hope is that the following pages will stir up your passion for evangelism, missions, and apologetics.” (Pg. xiii)
He continues, “This work is written in a simple way so that all believers would understand its contents and use its approach in defending the gospel. My hope is that that the following pages will inflame the personal outreach of the new Christian as well as the mature cerebral believer, the simple faithful disciple, and the erudite Reformed scholar.” (Pg. xxiii)
He explains, “The conversations that are recorded in this book have had some of the names changed for privacy. Some of the conversations were reduced to edit out the parts that were not essential. The main arguments of the dialogues were not changed… Frankly, with a trained believer, the unbeliever doesn’t have a chance. Like Doug Wilson said at the start of his debate with the atheist Dan Barker, ‘You have lost the debate before it started.’ Barker lost the debate because he could not justify the act of debate. He did not have a worldview that justifies the necessary precondition for the logic he used in the debate. Only the Christian worldview can account for logic and debate.” (Pg. xxviii)
He summarizes, “One statement that is asserted in this book more than any other: The Christian worldview alone can account for reality and the knowledge of that reality. All other systems of thought cannot account for anything in the world. Christianity is not just probably true or hopefully true, it is the only possible foundation for all truth. Only Christianity can provide the necessary precondition for the intelligibility of human experience. It is impossible for Christianity not to be true, for without it nothing can be known. Reason, ethics, meaning, and any predication can be real and can be known, only if the God of the Bible lives… Deny the God of scripture and nothing is knowable or intelligible. The necessary precondition for truth, science, value, and personhood is the triune God of revelation.” (Pg. xxx)
He suggests, “Some atheists are skilled debaters. They are like a ‘good lawyer with a bad case.’ … They can win the debate, although, their argument is the weakest… Christians have the truth, and we can learn to share it with great zeal and clarity. As you read this book, you will discover that you do not have to learn to marshal volumes of evidence… You will learn to demonstrate that without having Christ and God’s word, as the metaphysical pre-commitment, the atheist cannot make sense of anything… We can demonstrate that the Lord is the source of all law, order, logic, mathematics, truth, goodness, beauty, science, and philosophy. The atheist, in reality, has no argument. God must live or we could not argue at all.” (Pg. 9)
He outlines, “The contrary of Christianity is impossible inasmuch as all other worldviews fall into absurdity, since they are self-contradictory. They lead to conclusions that are contradictory on their own assumptions. A very important strategy… is to ask the nonbeliever some questions… The primary question you must ask: What will supply the preconditions to make reality intelligible? Without God, nothing comports and nothing can make sense. This is the biblical truth… We are not to ‘swap evidence’ with the non-Christian. We should graciously attack their assumed starting points in all that they postulate... We do this by demonstrating the self-defeating nature of their presuppositions.” (Pg. 30-31)
He asserts, “Most of the questions that unbelievers ask are not sincere inquiries, but excuses that they hoist to justify their sinful lifestyle.” (Pg. 38) He continues, “The fact is atheists hate God. They know He exists, and they want to malign and defy Him… most of the famous atheists had difficult or non-existing relationships with their earthly fathers. Thus they attempted to take their hurt and frustration out on their heavenly Father by disbelieving in His existence.” (Pg. 45) He goes on, “The Bible makes it clear that there are no real agnostics or atheists. All men know that God exists, and they are attempting to suppress this truth in unrighteousness. Philosophically there cannot be atheists. For one to propose that God does not [exist], anywhere at any time, one would have to know all things, and be omnipresent, eternal, and infinite. That would make you God… and that is theoretically, logically, and rationally absurd.” (Pg. 75)
He states, “The God revealed in Scripture is the standard for truth, philosophy, and science. This is not a debatable predication. We must begin, move, and finish with God, or we cannot justify anything we do. The Trinity is the solution to all questions, and the source of all true knowledge. All thought presupposes the true God… [This] doesn’t mean that we must construct a theological postulation just to perform simple mundane tasks. Yet every simple task… presupposes the triune God because we use logic and morality in all those endeavors.” (Pg. 147-148)
This book is largely an expanded version of Robinson’s 'The Necessary Existence of God: The Proof of Christianity Through Presuppositional Apologetics]' in a somewhat better-edited, and fuller edition.
Michael A. Robinson is a Reformed Pastor and teacher at Christ Covenant Bible School in Las Vegas.
He wrote in the Introduction to this 2006 book, “I have stood on the shoulders of great scholars and apologists as I have witnessed, debated, and [sic] during the writing of this book. I hesitate to mention that I stood on their work and scholarship because I know these pages are far below the academic excellence that mark the work of Cornelius Van Til, Greg Bahnsen, R.C. Sproul, Robert Morey, and John Frame… My evangelistic application is not invented by me. It is the derivative of Michael Horton, Ray Comfort, and many others… The truth of their greatness and my weakness is self-evident when you compare their books with this book… My hope is that the following pages will stir up your passion for evangelism, missions, and apologetics.” (Pg. xiii)
He continues, “This work is written in a simple way so that all believers would understand its contents and use its approach in defending the gospel. My hope is that that the following pages will inflame the personal outreach of the new Christian as well as the mature cerebral believer, the simple faithful disciple, and the erudite Reformed scholar.” (Pg. xxiii)
He explains, “The conversations that are recorded in this book have had some of the names changed for privacy. Some of the conversations were reduced to edit out the parts that were not essential. The main arguments of the dialogues were not changed… Frankly, with a trained believer, the unbeliever doesn’t have a chance. Like Doug Wilson said at the start of his debate with the atheist Dan Barker, ‘You have lost the debate before it started.’ Barker lost the debate because he could not justify the act of debate. He did not have a worldview that justifies the necessary precondition for the logic he used in the debate. Only the Christian worldview can account for logic and debate.” (Pg. xxviii)
He summarizes, “One statement that is asserted in this book more than any other: The Christian worldview alone can account for reality and the knowledge of that reality. All other systems of thought cannot account for anything in the world. Christianity is not just probably true or hopefully true, it is the only possible foundation for all truth. Only Christianity can provide the necessary precondition for the intelligibility of human experience. It is impossible for Christianity not to be true, for without it nothing can be known. Reason, ethics, meaning, and any predication can be real and can be known, only if the God of the Bible lives… Deny the God of scripture and nothing is knowable or intelligible. The necessary precondition for truth, science, value, and personhood is the triune God of revelation.” (Pg. xxx)
He suggests, “Some atheists are skilled debaters. They are like a ‘good lawyer with a bad case.’ … They can win the debate, although, their argument is the weakest… Christians have the truth, and we can learn to share it with great zeal and clarity. As you read this book, you will discover that you do not have to learn to marshal volumes of evidence… You will learn to demonstrate that without having Christ and God’s word, as the metaphysical pre-commitment, the atheist cannot make sense of anything… We can demonstrate that the Lord is the source of all law, order, logic, mathematics, truth, goodness, beauty, science, and philosophy. The atheist, in reality, has no argument. God must live or we could not argue at all.” (Pg. 9)
He outlines, “The contrary of Christianity is impossible inasmuch as all other worldviews fall into absurdity, since they are self-contradictory. They lead to conclusions that are contradictory on their own assumptions. A very important strategy… is to ask the nonbeliever some questions… The primary question you must ask: What will supply the preconditions to make reality intelligible? Without God, nothing comports and nothing can make sense. This is the biblical truth… We are not to ‘swap evidence’ with the non-Christian. We should graciously attack their assumed starting points in all that they postulate... We do this by demonstrating the self-defeating nature of their presuppositions.” (Pg. 30-31)
He asserts, “Most of the questions that unbelievers ask are not sincere inquiries, but excuses that they hoist to justify their sinful lifestyle.” (Pg. 38) He continues, “The fact is atheists hate God. They know He exists, and they want to malign and defy Him… most of the famous atheists had difficult or non-existing relationships with their earthly fathers. Thus they attempted to take their hurt and frustration out on their heavenly Father by disbelieving in His existence.” (Pg. 45) He goes on, “The Bible makes it clear that there are no real agnostics or atheists. All men know that God exists, and they are attempting to suppress this truth in unrighteousness. Philosophically there cannot be atheists. For one to propose that God does not [exist], anywhere at any time, one would have to know all things, and be omnipresent, eternal, and infinite. That would make you God… and that is theoretically, logically, and rationally absurd.” (Pg. 75)
He states, “The God revealed in Scripture is the standard for truth, philosophy, and science. This is not a debatable predication. We must begin, move, and finish with God, or we cannot justify anything we do. The Trinity is the solution to all questions, and the source of all true knowledge. All thought presupposes the true God… [This] doesn’t mean that we must construct a theological postulation just to perform simple mundane tasks. Yet every simple task… presupposes the triune God because we use logic and morality in all those endeavors.” (Pg. 147-148)
This book is largely an expanded version of Robinson’s 'The Necessary Existence of God: The Proof of Christianity Through Presuppositional Apologetics]' in a somewhat better-edited, and fuller edition.
December 9, 2018
Applied apologetics, plain and simple.
Michael A. Robinson's book God Does Exist! stands out in the sea of books on apologetics namely due to its practical nature. Not only does Robinson teach apologetic methods, but he also give examples of how they are to be used. His motivation for doing so is compelling. Why should someone gain knowledge if they aren't going to use it? Michael makes this convicting remark in the introduction to his book.
I have observed numerous members of the Reformed wing of the church and I have been overwhelmed at the brightness of their wit, the depth of their theological sophistication, and their vivid, vigorous defense of the faith. But I am often grieved at the lack of passion for person evangelism in the lives of many who delight in the intellectual quality, brilliance, and penetration of the books authored by the most orthodox scholars. It breaks my heart to see the believers, who have the best understanding of scripture, leave the work of evangelism to the anti-intellectual churches as the bright and brainy remain holed-up in their compounds of abstract academia.
There are apologetic junkies out there who attend the conferences, read the books, write the reviews, and maybe even leave comments on facebook and youtube, but fail to meet the most basic requirement of a follower of Christ: to go make disciples. This isn't to say any of the aforementioned activities are negative. In fact, they are extremely helpful and useful for the task of evangelism. If they are separated from this task, they loose their purpose. This is the reason I like Robinson's book. It's evangelism focused. There are numerous "man-on-the-street" transcripts of actual encounters with unbelievers that serve as an example for what we should be doing. They not only help us grasp the apologetic concepts, but they force us to envision ourselves using them. I can't overemphasize enough the reason God Does Exist! was written. It's not to convince the skeptic, or teach the Christian some new apologetic- though it can do both. Rather it's meant to show how the Christian should apply his or her apologetic.
Let's take a look at just a couple apologetic arguments Robinson lays out for us to use. I should mention that Michael is well-versed in Van-Tillian apologetics, and that seems to be his main thrust. The transcendental argument for God's existence is his favorite- and mine as well- because it gives the unbeliever no room for rejection. It doesn't deal in probabilities, but absolutes. If the God of the Bible did not exist, nothing could be proven. The universal invariant laws of logic, morality, science, etc. all depend upon the Trinitarian God of Scripture. Robinson gives us the tools necessary to do an "internal critique" of the unbeliever's worldview with five pages of non-stop examples of "self-refuting" statements. One whole chapter is dedicated the Trinity and how it's actually an asset in proving God (since it makes unity in diversity possible) not a problem. One of the more amusing proofs the author uses against materialists is seen in this quote:
Rejecting the notion of man having a spirit has applications for our penal system as well. According to the atheist's worldview, the only thing that exists is the material world. If this is true, the state after seven years, should let all the murderers out of prison.
The reason for this you may ask?
. . . humans physically change every moment, hence under a physical-only worldview, I am not the same person I was a second ago. In seven years time, every atom in a person's body has been replaced by new ones. Thus the person is a new and completely different being, within the worldview of the materials atheist (faster if you visit the dentist frequently).
The fact is, if all you believe exists is physical material, you have no reason to love your child after one minute let alone seven years. He or she is now a different person. Yet, atheists function as if the spouse they married after seven years is still the same person. They cannot account for this because of their disbelief in the soul.
The book contains many such internal critiques of non-believing worldviews, and shows how you can approach someone who believes in such things. The Bible is coherent and contains no internal contradictions and can make sense of reality and the way in which we actually function. For anyone wanting to know how they can preach the Gospel with more confidence, or wondering how they might go about applying apologetics to witnessing encounters, I suggest picking up a copy of this book.
Michael A. Robinson's book God Does Exist! stands out in the sea of books on apologetics namely due to its practical nature. Not only does Robinson teach apologetic methods, but he also give examples of how they are to be used. His motivation for doing so is compelling. Why should someone gain knowledge if they aren't going to use it? Michael makes this convicting remark in the introduction to his book.
I have observed numerous members of the Reformed wing of the church and I have been overwhelmed at the brightness of their wit, the depth of their theological sophistication, and their vivid, vigorous defense of the faith. But I am often grieved at the lack of passion for person evangelism in the lives of many who delight in the intellectual quality, brilliance, and penetration of the books authored by the most orthodox scholars. It breaks my heart to see the believers, who have the best understanding of scripture, leave the work of evangelism to the anti-intellectual churches as the bright and brainy remain holed-up in their compounds of abstract academia.
There are apologetic junkies out there who attend the conferences, read the books, write the reviews, and maybe even leave comments on facebook and youtube, but fail to meet the most basic requirement of a follower of Christ: to go make disciples. This isn't to say any of the aforementioned activities are negative. In fact, they are extremely helpful and useful for the task of evangelism. If they are separated from this task, they loose their purpose. This is the reason I like Robinson's book. It's evangelism focused. There are numerous "man-on-the-street" transcripts of actual encounters with unbelievers that serve as an example for what we should be doing. They not only help us grasp the apologetic concepts, but they force us to envision ourselves using them. I can't overemphasize enough the reason God Does Exist! was written. It's not to convince the skeptic, or teach the Christian some new apologetic- though it can do both. Rather it's meant to show how the Christian should apply his or her apologetic.
Let's take a look at just a couple apologetic arguments Robinson lays out for us to use. I should mention that Michael is well-versed in Van-Tillian apologetics, and that seems to be his main thrust. The transcendental argument for God's existence is his favorite- and mine as well- because it gives the unbeliever no room for rejection. It doesn't deal in probabilities, but absolutes. If the God of the Bible did not exist, nothing could be proven. The universal invariant laws of logic, morality, science, etc. all depend upon the Trinitarian God of Scripture. Robinson gives us the tools necessary to do an "internal critique" of the unbeliever's worldview with five pages of non-stop examples of "self-refuting" statements. One whole chapter is dedicated the Trinity and how it's actually an asset in proving God (since it makes unity in diversity possible) not a problem. One of the more amusing proofs the author uses against materialists is seen in this quote:
Rejecting the notion of man having a spirit has applications for our penal system as well. According to the atheist's worldview, the only thing that exists is the material world. If this is true, the state after seven years, should let all the murderers out of prison.
The reason for this you may ask?
. . . humans physically change every moment, hence under a physical-only worldview, I am not the same person I was a second ago. In seven years time, every atom in a person's body has been replaced by new ones. Thus the person is a new and completely different being, within the worldview of the materials atheist (faster if you visit the dentist frequently).
The fact is, if all you believe exists is physical material, you have no reason to love your child after one minute let alone seven years. He or she is now a different person. Yet, atheists function as if the spouse they married after seven years is still the same person. They cannot account for this because of their disbelief in the soul.
The book contains many such internal critiques of non-believing worldviews, and shows how you can approach someone who believes in such things. The Bible is coherent and contains no internal contradictions and can make sense of reality and the way in which we actually function. For anyone wanting to know how they can preach the Gospel with more confidence, or wondering how they might go about applying apologetics to witnessing encounters, I suggest picking up a copy of this book.
September 30, 2013
Jesus said "You WILL be witness of me..." the question is, will you be a good witness because your life reflects who God really is, and will you always have an answer for the hope that is within you; or will you be a false witness, will your life only show the imperfections of all human flesh, and will you be left ashamed when asked about your hope of eternal life? This book is there to show you how to give an answer for your hope of eternal life. This is great; I have finished the introduction - so full of good advice and information that every Christian needs to know. This is another good book for group study. It will surely motivate the student to action. Do you fear reason when it scrutinizes religion? Then you need this book. Find out just who is living in blind and un-reasonable faith. Find out why your faith is reasonable, and how to present the reasons why you believe what you do with a calm and logical approach.
The author makes a statement I think is well worth quoting here: “We are never to attempt to force conversation, or fence someone in so we can preach to them. … We have the Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts by faith… Beating someone into submission intellectually or physically is sin...God elects his people, we do not.”
But if you want to be a good witness – used of the Holy Spirit to help his elect to find the way to Truth and Life, you need to be prepared. And you can be sure God will use you to glorify his name (reflect his truth, mercy, grace, love, and wisdom) to the world around you, wherever you are, every minute of your life.
This book is a good tool that you will refer back to again and again.
The author makes a statement I think is well worth quoting here: “We are never to attempt to force conversation, or fence someone in so we can preach to them. … We have the Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts by faith… Beating someone into submission intellectually or physically is sin...God elects his people, we do not.”
But if you want to be a good witness – used of the Holy Spirit to help his elect to find the way to Truth and Life, you need to be prepared. And you can be sure God will use you to glorify his name (reflect his truth, mercy, grace, love, and wisdom) to the world around you, wherever you are, every minute of your life.
This book is a good tool that you will refer back to again and again.
January 10, 2015
This is the first book I read on the topic of Pre-Suppositional Apologetics, after being a little bit more versed in Evidential Apologetics. This is a GREAT read for the layman as an intro to the topic or as an intro using practical approaches for defending God's existence in everyday, casual conversations. A lot of the book is based on the idea of using logic to show that the Atheists' arguments are self-defeating. If you are brand new to logic and reasoning, this book will be a solid teacher. If you are like me and are already versed on the concepts of logic and reasoning, some of these chapters might seem to be a bit too elementary and repetitive. But again, the author even states that this book is meant to be a layman's guide to use at the "street-level." Overall, the content is excellent and I learned some new stuff. My only small complaint is that I wish it was a bit more detailed and academic in some places. In other words, the content that is there is rock solid, I just wanted MORE!
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