Assumptions

An assumption is the taking of something for granted. More precisely, it is a proposition that is accepted without proof or evidence as the basis for a further conclusion. But sometimes an assumption is just that, an assumption. It might be true, only partly true or even completely false….

Assumptions are inevitable – we all have them. But what is it about one assumption that makes it any better than another? And what, if anything, obliges you to assume anything? Even if you think an assumption might be worth checking, how do you check it? If it is an assumption and you wish to check it, then what assumption does one check it against? Presumably, in order to check an assumption, one has to assume something else. But then you would not be checking an assumption.

What one needs is another perspective. And it cannot be a perspective as limited as one’s own. The perspective would need to be able to take into account all the angles since, if it was unable to see from all angles, it might be wrong about a particular perspective. Such a mind would need to have complete comprehension of all things, including all knowledge of past and future since, if there was no knowledge of the future, there would be no way to guarantee that a perspective would not emerge that would challenge what the mind already knows.

God has such comprehension of all things because he created and determined all things. Therefore, God has a perfect perspective – he knows all that is and determines all that is.

It is impossible for human beings to have anything like God’s perspective. That would require us to be God. Yet God, in his providence, gives human beings knowledge such that trustworthy assumptions can be formed that ultimately make sense of life, logic, morality and science. This is what we depend on in the reading of God’s word in scripture. Scripture does not provide human beings with comprehensive knowledge, but with a right perspective from which to check assumptions and form right assumptions.

One problem remains however: we, as creatures that have turned away from God, already assume things that are not in agreement with God’s word. If a human being is an unbeliever, unbelief is basic, a basic assumption. And unbelief assumes autonomy, a freedom from God’s rule. This basic assumption cannot be changed by an autonomous self since it is ultimate (and an ultimate assumption is what one checks all other propositions from). This bondage is something that human beings require being set free from. It is a condition requiring a supernatural intervention – God must free the person, save the the person. This is a work of the Spirit in some people who hear the word and believe. God must not only provide his perspective on reality (in his word), but also the ability to understand and shift one’s own perspective to his (by the work of the Holy Spirit in a human being).