From my friend, Vincent Cheung.
"...God has chosen to reveal information to us through the Bible – in words rather than in images or experiences, to tell instead of to show. His revelation to us is rational and intellectual in nature, and not mystical or empirical. Verbal communication is superior because it can be precise, accurate, and extensive. Since the Bible assumes this form of communication, a worthy theological system must be derived from biblical propositions, and not from a non-verbal basis such as religious feelings and experiences, or irrational constructions such as scientific theories.
Every system of thought begins with a first principle, and on this basis derives the rest by inductive or deductive reasoning, or a combination of the two. Induction is a formal fallacy, since due to the form or structure of the reasoning process, the conclusion is never a logically necessary result of the premises. The fallacy occurs when one reasons from particulars to universals. Now, reasoning on the basis of empirical data requires induction, since sensations are particulars, and every worldview must contain universal concepts and propositions, such as man, car, red, size, and so on. Therefore, induction and empiricism are irrational, and a system that places any dependence on either must inevitably collapse into skepticism. Skepticism is the position that knowledge is impossible, but it is selfcontradictory, since it maintains that we can know that we cannot know. Science is irrational because it commits the fallacies of empiricism, induction, and affirming the consequent (experimentation).
Deduction is the only valid form of reasoning. It proceeds from premises to conclusions by logical necessity. However, since deductive reasoning never produces information that is not already implicit in the premises, the first principle of a deductive system must contain all the information for the rest of the system. This means that a first principle that is too narrow will fail to provide a sufficient number of propositions to produce a comprehensive and coherent worldview, or a system of thought that is able to answer all necessary questions. Thus knowledge is impossible on the basis of induction, empiricism, or any inadequate first principle.
Even if a first principle appears to be sufficiently broad and contains enough information to construct a worldview, there must be justification for it, or some reason for affirming it over another. The justification for a first principle cannot come from a higher authority or a prior premise, for then it would not be the first principle. A lower authority or premise within the system cannot justify the first principle, since it is on this very first principle that this lower authority or premise depends. Therefore, a first principle of a system of thought must be self-authenticating – it must stand on its own authority.
The Bible is the ultimate authority of the Christian system; therefore, our first principle, our starting point, or the foundation of our thinking, is the Bible itself. This may be expressed by any proposition that represents all the contents of the Bible, such as "The Bible is truth" or "The Bible is the word of God."
Although empirical, inductive, and scientific arguments have been formulated in support of biblical revelation, and although they seem to be forceful given empirical assumptions, so that no empirically inclined non-Christian can refute them, the Christian must regard these arguments as unreliable because – as I have extensively argued elsewhere – all empirical, inductive, and scientific methods are irrational and prevent the discovery of truth.6 Moreover, if we were to depend on empirical arguments and procedures to justify the Bible, the empirical assumptions would then stand as judge over the very word of God, so that Scripture would no longer be the ultimate authority in our system. As Hebrews 6:13 says, "When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself." Since God possesses ultimate authority, there is no higher authority by which one may pronounce the Bible as infallible and inerrant...."
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Vincent Cheung.
Systematic Theology. 2010. Pg. 7-9
https://www.vincentcheung.com/books/Systematic%20Theology.pdf
home site:
https://www.vincentcheung.com/
Vincent argues well on these points, and so I will just let his statements stand; rather than, me giving my comments, and so preserve the conciseness and precision of the above.
