Street Epistemology

7/27/18              Deklyn      (video)                     late 20's

What is your “epistemology”?  Everyone has one, and it needs to be examined from time to time.

Not sure what that means?  Here’s a definition:  “the theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope. Epistemology is the investigation of what distinguishes justified belief from opinion.”

How do you know what you know?  Why do you believe what you believe?  On what foundation do you build your world view?  Do you have reasonable beliefs, or merely thoughtless opinions?

As Christians, it is very important that we ask these questions of ourselves and of our children, because, sooner rather than later, the world will do the asking for us.  This is why we are told in 1 Peter 3: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”  In an age of skepticism, we will be glad we did.

As I initiate gospel outreach conversations, I am learning to ask good questions of people on the street to find out not only what they believe, but how and why they have come to those beliefs.  Very often, the unbeliever will claim evidence and reason to be the source of what they know to be true.  In an age where we are so heavily influenced by science – man’s systematic study of the natural world – it is tempting to conclude that the same rules which apply to acquiring knowledge in the natural world also apply to the supernatural world.    

A man named Deklyn, late 20’s, told me that he believes we just cease to exist after we die “unless there is evidence to the contrary”, so I began to ask him what that evidence might look like.  Should we demand the same sort of evidence for one-time events from the past, or for miracles, that we use for repeatable scientific experiments?  I asked what it would take for him to believe in God’s existence, and he said, interestingly enough, that maybe if God would take human form and appear to us. 

He also said that he would have to see a miracle, so I wondered, would one miracle be enough?  The scientific mind requires replicable, repeatable tests to confirm a hypothesis, so naturally, miracles need not apply.

Deklyn then turned the question back on me.  “What would it take to convince you NOT to believe?”, which led to other questions of why I believe in the Christian gospel in the first place.  I tried to give some reasonable answers in the short amount of time I knew I had.

I believe it was Socrates who said the “unexamined life is not worth living”.  I’m not so sure I would go that far, but for the sake of being even stronger in our own faith, for the sake of our children and other loved ones, and even for the stranger on the street who asks us to give a reason for the hope we have, it is important and helpful to examine our own “epistemology” from time to time.

PS – Deklyn graciously allowed me to record our conversation.  See it HERE