Apologetics to the Glory of God

Watch Those Presuppositions

The following is a comment from the Choosing Hats Facebook Group:

So, if god is a “necessary being” then his necessity would be axiomatic—meaning there is no other option available other than for him to be necessary. Since the possibility that god does not exist hasn’t been refuted by the sheer impossibility of the contrary, your claim that god is necessary is unsubstantiated.

The comment has several minor problems. I will focus on a major one.

If God exists necessarily, it is not possible that God does not exist. In this post – https://choosinghats.org/2012/12/response-to-the-problem-with-presuppositionalism – I noted that the Christian can presuppose that God exists necessarily. It is simply the nature of God to exist necessarily. There is no possibility that God does not exist.

The comment quoted above turns on “the possibility that god does not exist.” What possibility that God does not exist? God exists necessarily. When I talk about God, I talk about a God who, by His very nature, cannot but exist.There is no possibility that God does not exist. I thought that was clear, but apparently not.

Obviously, not everyone agrees that God exists necessarily. Some people even claim that God does not actually exist. It should be clear that I not only believe God actually exists, but exists necessarily.

In proposing the possibility that God does not exist, the author of the comment merely expresses his disagreement with my presupposition. But that’s uninteresting. The purpose of the discussion is not merely to point out disagreements, but to attempt to resolve them through argumentation. That argumentation is based upon what I actually believe about God. Not upon what someone else thinks I should believe about God in order for his argument against my God to work.

And yes, he is presupposing the possibility that God does not exist. So he can have no objection to my point without engaging in special pleading.


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