Sabinet | Can we know God is real? : original research
n Koers : Bulletin for Christian Scholarship = Koers : Bulletin vir Christelike Wetenskap - Can we know God is real? : original research Navigate this Journal About Current issue Previous issues Submit a paper Contact the editor ISSN :
Abstract HTML Metrics Related Content Abstract This article examines the question as to what ground we have for believing that God is the only true Divinity. A re-evaluation of the misconception of faith as &apos;blind trust&apos; or belief without reason is provided. From this it is seen that faith, as used in the Bible, may refer to the whole of Christianity as &apos;the faith&apos;, to trust based on expectation (not &apos;blind trust&apos;), or to faith as genuine knowledge derived from experience. Based on the idea of faith as knowledge derived from experience, this article investigates religious experiences and the self-evident beliefs often arising from these experiences as possibly forming a valid part of our knowledge of God. The traditional restrictions on self-evident truths (that a truth must be recognised by all who understand it, that it must be a necessary truth and that it must be an infallible truth) are shown to be unsupported and contradicted by experience. The definition of &apos;self-evidence&apos; defended is that such beliefs are simply produced in the mind by experience instead of being inferred from other beliefs, that they are experienced as prima facie true, and that they are irresistible or impossible to disbelieve for the person who had the experience. If we accept this definition of self-evident truths, which corresponds to the way they are actually experienced rather than the version that includes arbitrary restrictions imposed by a few philosophers, not only will beliefs such as that other people have minds, or that our names are what they are, be allowed as self-evident. The experience of the gospel as the truth about God will also be a genuine self-evident truth to those who experience it as such.
Hierdie artikel ondersoek die vraag na die gronde waaroor ons beskik om te glo dat God die enigste ware Goddelikheid is. &apos;n Herevaluering van die wanopvatting van geloof as &apos;blinde vertroue&apos; of geloof sonder rede word verskaf. Hieruit kan gesien word dat geloof, soos dit in die Bybel gebruik word, na die hele Christendom as &apos;die geloof&apos; kan verwys, dus, na vertroue wat op verwagting gebaseer is, en nie blinde vertroue nie; dit kan ook verwys geloof as kennis wat van ervaring afgelei is. Hierdie artikel maak gebruik van die idee dat geloof kennis is wat van ervaring afgelei word om ondersoek in te stel na die religieuse ervarings en die self-evidente oortuigings wat dikwels vanuit hierdie ervarings ontstaan as &apos;n moontlik geldige deel van ons kennis van God. Daar word aangetoon dat die tradisionele beperkings wat op self-evidente waarhede geplaas word (dat &apos;n waarheid deur almal wat dit verstaan erken moet word, dat dit &apos;n noodsaaklike waarheid moet wees en dat dit &apos;n onfeilbare waarheid moet wees) nie oortuigend is nie en nuwe kriteria word voorgestel. &apos;Self-evident&apos; is dan oortuigings wat eenvoudig deur ervaring in die verstand geproduseer word en dit is vir die persoon wat die ervaring beleef onmoontlik of onweerstaanbaar om die oortuigings nié te glo nie. Indien ons hierdie definisie van self-evidente waarheid, wat ooreenstem met regte ervaring eerder as met daardie weergawe waarin arbitrêre beperkings deur &apos;n paar filosowe voorgeskryf word, aanvaar, sal nie net oortuigings soos dat alle persone &apos;n verstand het of dat ons name is wat dit is, as self-evident aanvaar word nie. Ook die ervaring van die evangelie as die waarheid omtrent God sal as &apos;n egte self-evidente waarheid aanvaar kan word deur diegene wat dit as sodanig ervaar.