Escape From Reason

I read Francis Schaeffer's book, "Escape From Reason" yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed. I would recommend that you also read this book. It is short and easy to read (I read it in just over an hour). Here are some quotes from it to whet your appetite some.

"It is an important principle to remember, in the contemporary interest in communication and in language study, that the biblical presentation is that, though we do not have exhaustive truth, we have from the Bible what I term 'true truth.' In this way we know true truth about God, true truth about man and something truly about nature. Thus on the basis of the Scriptures, while we do not have exhaustive knowledge, we have true and unified knowledge."

This is an important point that Schaeffer makes because humanity at large is seeking "true and unified knowledge" apart from God. Albeit, the modern trend of "postmodernism" posits the impossibility of ever having "true and unified knowledge," but it has this belief due to humanity's failure over the centuries to establish a unified knowledge of the world. Thus in despair, post-modernity has thrown up its arms in disgust and cried it is not possible to have any "unified knowledge."

Scripture of course teaches the exact opposite. We can have a "true and unified knowledge" because God's word reveals God as the supernatural, infinite, being who is both heavenly (supernatural) and personal, who has given us knowledge concerning Himself and of men and nature. Thus humanity can have "true and unified knowledge" because God as the Creator has spoken and given truth on his earth and in His Scriptures, and because this truth speaks to the supernatural and the natural. There can be no split between what is rational truth (viewed as objective, and fact) and faith (often viewed as private, subjective, relative) because they both are from God and revelation of true truth. God's revelation is total reality, it is total truth or as Schaeffer says, "true truth."

One more quote from Francis Schaeffer, "We cannot deal with people like human beings, we cannot deal with them on the high level of true humanity, unless we really know their origin - who they are. God tells mans who he is. God tells us that He created man in His image. So man is something wonderful....Why is he so wonderful and yet so flawed? Who is man? Who am I? Why can man do these things that make man so unique, and yet why is man so horrible? Why is it? The Bible says that you are wonderful because you are made in the image of God, but that you are flawed because, at a space-time point of history, man fell."