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On good authority


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One of the common criticisms against Christianity from the atheist is that Christians do not think for themselves but take too much on external authority --- that is, the authority of Scripture.

I would like to ask such a person how he knows that the earth revolves around the sun, how he knows there are millions of galaxies, how he knows that Uzbekistan really exists, or that he has kidneys, or that Constantine was ever Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, or that there was a Holy Roman Empire, or that pi equals 3.14159.

Speaking for myself, I know all these things on authority. "Each man's experience is so limited that…of every hundred facts upon which to reason, ninety-nine depend on authority" (C.S.Lewis, The Weight of Glory).

The Christian has as his final integration point the word of God in the Bible. The atheist has as his final integration point his own mind. He lives four score and ten, inhabits a single zip code most of his life, and may not even know how to fill out his tax form without an expert, but pronounces in his heart, "I am the authority on whether there is a God."

Let us not pretend that Christians base their beliefs on "authority" while non-Christians base theirs on "knowledge." My apologies to you if you have been everywhere and seen everything, including Uzbekistan, and so are qualified to call your beliefs "knowledge." But if not, then you might consider God's answer to one man who briefly thought he knew better:

"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? (Job 38:4)


Andrée Seu Peterson

Andrée is a senior writer for WORLD Magazine. Her columns have been compiled into three books including Won’t Let You Go Unless You Bless Me. Andrée resides near Philadelphia.

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