(January 20, 2010 at 6:12 pm)Tiberius Wrote: As you have demonstrated (and I agree with you), observation / science is no way of knowing objective truths. Everything we observe or experience is subjective, since it requires us to interpret at some point.
I don't think I would go so far as to say that. I think one can know some objective truths via observation/science. I just think it has its limits in determining objective truths. I think science/observation/logic are tools God has given us to interact with creation but they are not the ultimate standard/determiner of objective truth.
Let's face it, even those who argue that objective truths are not knowable, generally live their lives and use language to the contrary.
My whole point in the questioning was that I do not think atheism can account for objective truth, only relative truth, and, therefore, self-destructs as a worldview.
(January 20, 2010 at 6:12 pm)Tiberius Wrote: However, you also have stated previously that the Bible is an objective truth, as it is God's word. My question is how reading the Bible to obtain truth isn't a subjective action (since reading the words requires both interpretation of the language as well as of the meaning), and how you can objectively state that the Bible is the word of God, and therefore objective, without resorting to assumptions and subjectivity?
Reading the Bible to obtain truth is a subjective action for the reasons you cited, especially for the unbeliever but even to some degree for the believer. The believer, however, has the promise of the Holy Spirit to guide him into all truth (John 16:13). So to the degree that a believer lives a Spirit controlled life and studies the Word of God, the believer can know objective truths beyond the common objective truths we know from observation/science, i.e., those found in the Word of God.
As to the second part of your question, from within my worldview I can objectively state that the Bible is the Word of God because of the above noted promise of the Holy Spirit. In Romans 8:13 it also says that the Holy Spirit bears witness without our (believer's) spirit that we are the children of God. So from the witness of the Holy Spirit, I can know I am a child of God and that the Bible is God's Word and I can state this as confidently as I could state that I have a hand (I do, by the way...I have two of them).
However, from outside my worldview, I realize all of that would seem to imply assumptions and subjectivity, especially since I cannot prove to you what goes on inside me. But, the fact remains that any worldview begins with some unprovable premises, things that we take as self-evident or self-attesting, and from which our worldview flows. The unprovable premises that provide the basis for an atheistic worldview seem always to lead to relativism which self-destructs or cannot otherwise account for any intelligibility of the universe.
I hope this answers your questions and doesn't sound too preachy (I was trying to just answer the question without preaching.)
