Apologetics Sermon Illustration #51: The Person who denied the Sun

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Point: An argument in the arsenal of Presuppositional apologetics is the Transcendental argument.  John Frame describes apologist Cornelius Van Til’s transcendental argument in the following matter with one of Van Til’s famous illustration:

The non-Christian, then, in Van Til’s famous illustration, is like a child sitting on her father’s lap, slapping his face. She could not slap him unless he supported her. Similarly, the non-Christian cannot carry out his rebellion against God unless God makes that rebellion possible. Contradicting God assumes an intelligible universe and therefore a theistic one.

(Source)

I think what follows below is another illustration in explaining Presuppositional apologetics.

Picture: There once lived a blind rich man in the Arabian desert who did not like the sun.  In fact he vocally that he did not believe there was a sun.  He lived in a windowless palace where he vowed to make the point that even if there was a sun, at the end of the day it didn’t matter: He did not need the sun for his life.  He did not leave his house since it was a palace and he wanted to make the point he didn’t need anything else but himself and the things and servants he possessed to survive.  There was no window for sunlight to emit through.  His house was filled with servants attending to his every need.  He had electric power to light the otherwise dark building for his servants.  He also recieved his vitamin D for his skin via Vitamin D “sun” lamp.  He often tells his servants that this is an example of how he doesn’t depend on the existence of the sun and if there was a sun then with all these technologies around him this must surely mean the sun itself must be man-made.  He would regularly ask people why would humans need to acknowledge the goodness of the sun when supposedly it makes things hot, give people burns on their skin and allegedly makes people go blind if you stare straight into it.  This was something he regularly brought up during his meals in his dining room.

But is this person truly independent from the sun?

• The palace he lives in is made out of many materials including wood.  Wood that comes from trees.  Trees that grew outdoor where it receives water and…sunlight.  The very house that he resides in to shelter himself from believing he’s dependent on the sun is itself dependent upon the sun for its building materials.
• The light and other appliances in his house is powered by electricity.  Electricity that was farmed from solar panels and windmills.  Those windmills are blown by wind, wind that was the result of hot and cold air clashing.  The hot air of course is heated by the sun.
• His meals consists of vegetables.  Vegetables that grew from the process of photosynthesis.  That is, the biological process of turning sun light into food and energy.
• His meals also consists of meat such as beef.  Beef comes from cattle.  Cattle eat grass which depend upon sunlight for its growth.
• The man breaths heavily when he talks about how he doesn’t need the sun.  He breaths out carbon dioxide and breaths in oxygen.  Oxygen of course is produce by plants which convert carbon dioxide and sunlight.  To even voice his declaration of independence from the sun he needs the sun.  Actually he needs the sun to be alive.
• Obviously the guy is not frozen to death.  He’s dependent upon the sun to heat the Earth at a temperature that permits life.

In the same way people need the sun to survive even if they don’t know the details of how much they depend upon the sun to even have life, likewise all things are held together for life and meaning by God the Son (Jesus).

 

POSSIBLE SCENARIO FOR EMPLOYING THIS ILLUSTRATION DURING APOLOGETIC EVANGELISM

OPPONENT: I don’t get what you are trying to do.  What’s your point.

CHRISTIAN: I’m trying to show how your worldview is self-refuting and how you actually need God to even justify the tools and argument that you are trying to use against it.  I suppose an illustration would be appropriate.  Can I tell you an analogy to make point?

OPPONENT: Yes.

CHRISTIAN: <Insert ilustration>.  Do you think the man was rational?

OPPONENT: No.

CHRISTIAN: Do you think he was relying on the very sun he denied?

OPPONENT: Yes.

CHRISTIAN: In the same way I see you are doing the same thing, but with God.  You are going against Him and yet at the same time relying on Him for help.  That is, you are using things that He alone can provide for your communication, reasoning, etc.

(Note: For more information on this form of apologetics’ methodology check out these lectures here)

 

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