I’m not sure the van Tillian ‘everything the unbeliever says is ultimately untrustworthy’ is fruitful or useful long term. It’s rhetorically powerful, and useful within the specific theological and metaphysical framework you’ve provided, but functionally, long term, ends in creating a Christian ghetto of knowledge where we don’t fully acknowledge the true expertise of others, something Calvin warned against, that Christians would be ignorant of the true knowledge of unbelievers.
I'm sure that can be a danger, but it hasn't been my experience. If it is useful within the metaphysical framework I've provided, and the framework is *true,* then it seems that *correctly* applied it would create a well-ordered culture of knowledge.
An approach like this recognizes that Cain knew a lot. His functional knowledge exceeded the people of God. He was building cities and developing technology left, right, and center. And it also recognizes that this was actually because of Cain's spiritual state — and so simply receiving all that knowledge and participating in it incautiously is probably a really bad idea. I see this happening at a personal level all the time. E.g., Christians using social media without any thought to how godless platforms built on godless principles will shape their own souls.
This sounds a lot like what I am reading by Protestant Reformer Peter Martyr Vermigli right now!
I’m not sure the van Tillian ‘everything the unbeliever says is ultimately untrustworthy’ is fruitful or useful long term. It’s rhetorically powerful, and useful within the specific theological and metaphysical framework you’ve provided, but functionally, long term, ends in creating a Christian ghetto of knowledge where we don’t fully acknowledge the true expertise of others, something Calvin warned against, that Christians would be ignorant of the true knowledge of unbelievers.
I'm sure that can be a danger, but it hasn't been my experience. If it is useful within the metaphysical framework I've provided, and the framework is *true,* then it seems that *correctly* applied it would create a well-ordered culture of knowledge.
An approach like this recognizes that Cain knew a lot. His functional knowledge exceeded the people of God. He was building cities and developing technology left, right, and center. And it also recognizes that this was actually because of Cain's spiritual state — and so simply receiving all that knowledge and participating in it incautiously is probably a really bad idea. I see this happening at a personal level all the time. E.g., Christians using social media without any thought to how godless platforms built on godless principles will shape their own souls.