Micro-Refutations Of False Worldviews
Bodie Hodge M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI
Biblical Authority Ministries, April 11, 2025 (Donate)
When we start with the Bible, Scripture calls Christians to
refute (i.e., prove false) false views (e.g., 2 Corinthians 10:4–5[1]).
And with just a little knowledge, they can usually easily refute false
religions and beliefs.
[1] Christians can refute false
beliefs by using God’s Word (the absolute standard). It is important to know
what the Bible teaches because using God’s Word is the best refutation method.
All other authorities are lesser authorities, so appealing to lesser authorities
to trump the ultimate authority winds up in a false authority
fallacy every time. Even so, sadly, many will still ignore
the Bible’s refutation of their religion and continue believing false
beliefs. Nevertheless, if a religion or worldview or belief system is
inconsistent with God’s Word or violates the precondition of intelligibility
that comes from God’s Word, then those views are false.
[2] Another way Christians can
refute a false belief or religion is by showing that the religion or belief is
fallacious internally within its own story or set of beliefs. There are three
ways this can be done (remember the AIP analysis!). These religions can catch
themselves in arbitrariness, inconsistencies, or by giving up their
belief system and borrow from the Bible to make sense of things (the preconditions
of intelligibility—my favorite type of refutation).
Refutation usually grabs people’s attention by showing that
these beliefs are really sinking sand. And any one refutation
of a false set of beliefs (e.g., worldview, philosophical system, or religion)
is enough to refute the whole thing. It’s that simple. So let’s look at some “to-the-point”
refutations in a practical way.
A Few Micro-Refutations
Materialism, a belief that asserts that all things
that exist are made up of matter and energy, is itself not material or energy,
but a nonmaterial concept. This means materialism cannot exist
within materialism. Thus, materialism is self-defeating and refuted.
Eastern religions, like Taoism and Hinduism,
have an impersonal “god” (e.g., Brahman or ultimate reality).
How then can anyone know that this “god” is impersonal? After all, this “god”
cannot communicate anything about itself to man since communication is
personal. This is arbitrary, to say the least, and self-refuting.
Agnosticism, which claims that one cannot know
if God exists, has no basis for the existence of knowledge and thus
is stuck in a catch-22. The agnostic cannot even know if he can or cannot know
if knowledge exists. Thus, he cannot even know if he is in a position to
determine if God exists or not. (Confusing, isn’t it?) Thus, it is
inconsistent and self-contradictory.
The Koran (Qur’an) affirms that the Bible is true and the
Word of God[2] but
then contradicts it,[3] thus
showing that the Koran has erred. The Koran says that no one can change the
Word of God (Surah 6:34, 10:64), but then claims the Bible has been changed
(Surah 2:75, 101; 3:70, 78, 187; 4:46), though there is no textual witness of
such an occurrence. Then the Koran states that its words have changed
(Surah 2:106; 15:90–93;[4] 16:101).
Thus, the Koran contradicts both the Bible and itself.
Atheists say there is no God. To make this claim, the
atheist must be omnipresent to observe that God does not exist in the
past, present, or future heavenly or physical realms (recall the disproof of
atheism!); the atheist must be omnipotent to have the power to stop an
all-powerful God from taking his place as God; and lastly, the
atheist must have all knowledge (omniscience) to finally know for sure
that God doesn’t exist. Therefore, the atheist must be an
omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscience “god” to say there is no omnipresent,
omnipotent, omniscient God. They must have the attributes
of God to claim God doesn’t exist. Thus, the atheistic
position is self-refuting.
Atheists continually attack God, whom they lump as
mythical with the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus in books, articles,
lectures, journals, memes, billboards, and so on—yet they don’t spend the
effort to do this with the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, and Santa Claus. This is
arbitrary and inconsistent. When it comes to suppression of the truth (Romans
1), actions speak louder than words.
I once had an atheistic evolutionist criticize me for
believing in a literal Genesis as he argued that we were no different from
squirrels. All the while, the evolutionist was wearing literal clothing—unlike
a squirrel—which was instituted to man (not animals) in a literal Garden of
Eden, after the first literal sin, with the first two literal people
(Genesis 3).
Naturalism, which is a belief that nature (all that
is physical) is all that exists, is itself not part of nature—being
conceptual and nonphysical. Thus, naturalism stands opposed to naturalism.
This is inconsistent and self-refuting.
Those in relativism criticize the absolute
truth of Christianity by arguing that “absolute truth doesn’t exist.” So ask
them why they are professing an absolute truth about absolute
truth not existing. It’s that simple to refute.
At this point, I want you to notice something. We were using
their own arguments against them (like an internal critique). But each [of
these worldviews] was already proven false because God disagreed with them in
His Word. So they are false on both fronts.
The Illogical Sequence
In our culture many false beliefs are being propagated by
government education to generations of students. And yes—even I was influenced
by government education! I witnessed it firsthand. In most of these schools,
Christianity has come under direct attack and there has been a concerted effort
to remove God and His Word and evaporate any teachings of Scripture from
classrooms.
If state schools really want to get all semblance of
Christianity out of the classroom (which is really a thinly veiled attempt to
replace it with a secular humanistic religion), they should stop having
weekends (which are really Christian holidays—based on the Sabbath and Lord’s
Day) and stop taking holidays (“holy days,” which are predicated on
a holy God). Animals don’t take weekends or holidays off.
Education itself is a Christian concept from the pages of
Scripture (e.g., Deuteronomy 6:7[5];
Proverbs 22:6[6]).
The fact that educational institutions exist in the first place is predicated
on the Bible being true! Rabbits don’t set up educational systems like
elementary schools, high schools, and colleges for instance.
Why don’t we see a constant barrage of lawsuits at schools
to rid the school systems of weekends and other Christian holidays?
It is very “Christian” for these schools to retain
these Christian holidays and agree educational institutions should
exist—but they give up their own professed worldview to do so.
State schools and universities generally teach children the
evolutionary position that they are animals, that there is no ultimate right
and wrong, no God. However, when these same kids do drugs, cheat, vandalize,
rape, dishonor faculty and staff, get drunk, shoot their classmates, and live
like animals, they are chastised for not “behaving” (i.e., acting
with Christian morality). Note the inconsistency.
Likewise, the transgender (being influenced by secular and
government education) is offended that I don’t accept them for who they are,
when they don’t accept themselves for who they are (hence, the attempted
transition from the gender from which God created them); furthermore, they do
not accept me for who I am (a double standard). Are they repentant over
offending me by their actions? No. This is inconsistent and thus false.
Naturally, immersing yourself in the Bible and its
teachings is of utmost importance (Hebrews 4:12[7]).
This is still the most powerful refutation—for the Word of God will
be the judge (John 12:48[8]).
So these were easy refutations of worldviews and religions. I now want to turn
to a more
hefty refutation of world religions and using God and His Word—destroy them
all.
[1] 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ. ESV.
[2]See Surah 2:40–42, 126, 136, 285; 3:3, 71, 93; 4:47, 136; 5:47–51, 69,71–72; 6:91; 10:37, 94; 21:7; 29:45–46; 35:31; 46:11.
[3]See Surah 3:35–36; 4:157, 5:17, 5:73–75, 116, 19:27–28; 66:12.
[4]Sam Shamoun, “The Quran Testifies to Its Own Textual Corruption,” Answering Islam, http://www.answering-islam.org/authors/shamoun/corruption_testimony.html.
[5]
Deuteronomy 6:7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall
talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when
you lie down, and when you rise. ESV.
[6]
Proverbs 22:6 ESV.
[7]
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper
than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and
of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the
heart. NKJV.
[8]
John 12:48 “He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which
judges him — the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last
day. NKJV.
