View Profile
View Forum Posts
View Blog Entries
View Articles
These objections however stem from how one determines reality. There are two basic foundational views. Of course there are off shoots and extremes to each of these two views, however to keep it simple for now, I will only discuss the two basics.
Objectivism vs. Subjectivism
The Objective View -A Short Definition
Objectivism, or metaphysical objectivism, is the view that there is a reality or realm of objects and facts existing wholly independent of the mind. Stronger versions of this claim might hold that there is only one correct description of this reality; they may or may not hold that we have any knowledge of it. If it is true (and I believe it is) that reality is independent of the mind, the reality of objectivism is thus inclusive of objects which one may not know about and are not the intended objects of mental acts.
The Subjective View- A Short Definition
Subjectivism is a philosophical tenet that accords primacy to subjective experience as fundamental of all measure and law. In an extreme form, it may hold that the nature and existence of every object depends soley on someone's subjective awareness.
Within the realm that is called Christianity in our contemporary scene, the majority embraces the subjective view, with Roman Catholicism as it extreme purveyor. Although much of Roman thought is still quite evident in reformed, orthodox, charismatic, and evangelical circles.
Some natural outcomes of this faulty subjective outlook would be: Existential theology....Infused Righteousness.... and most definitely a denial of Eternal Justification. Of course there are more categories to this, but for the sake of brevity, this must be a short paper for now.
To give a brief example of how these two views would perceive reality, I have written below, a short story. Please read. I will interpret this story from both viewpoints at the conclusion.
There were two men. One who was a multimillionaire. And the other broke and penniless. One day these men decided to get married and have children. And they did. They each had a son born in the same hospital and on the same day. The multimillionaire said to his wife, "the day our son is born, I will deposit 100 million dollars to his name and bank account, and it will always be his money forever. For it is mine to give."The objective view says that it does not matter what the boy believed to be real. The fact still remained the same. He was a millionaire.
Now the other father who was broke and penniless said to his wife, "we have nothing to give our son."
Little did both those fathers know that there was a child kidnapper in the neighborhood. A week later when those two fathers woke up one morning, they found their sons missing from their cribs, and not to be found for a long while.
Twelve years later, and living in the home of the kidnapper and his wife, whom the boys thought was their real mom and dad, they went out to play with some friends. Like children, while talking with their friends they started to role play. The son of the broke and penniless man said to one of his friends, "I’m a millionaire". And all his friends laughed at him.
Now the other boy, the son of the multi-millionaire, spoke out and said "I’m not going to lie like my brother. I’m broke and I don’t have a dime to my name."
Then the two boys as they were on their way home, and approaching the house, saw around ten police cars surrounding their home, and swarms of police and FBI agents all around the house. When the two boys arrived by the driveway, a FBI agent said to them, "Are you the two boys that live here?"
And they said, "Yes".
Immediately the FBI agent put the boys in the car and drove them away. After DNA testing was completed. The boys were told that their real fathers were waiting for them in the waiting room. Of course the boys were quite astonished and perplexed. Then as each of the boys were given to their rightful fathers, they went home.
When the multimillionaire father and son arrived home, the father had planned a welcome home party for his son. Upon entering the house, his mother and all the relatives embraced and hugged the boy. Then the father said aloud to all, "Welcome home my millionaire son."
When the boy heard this statement from his father he said, "Dad, what are you talking about? I just recently told all my friends I was broke and penniless."
Then the dad responded by saying, "son, I have never stopped seeking after you all these years. And I could not wait for this moment to tell this good news." Then the dad went on to say, "You may have thought you were broke and penniless, however there is one hundred million dollars to your name. It is my good pleasure to tell you this."
From that moment of knowledge the boy was never the same.
A few years later, the boy met up with his friends, whom he had played with in the past, and said to them," Guess what? I am a multi-millionaire."
Then all his friends laughed at him and said, " Are you like your crazy brother who claimed to be a millionaire, and was broke and penniless?"
Then the boy said, "No!...When I told you I would not lie like my brother, I was a liar also. I have been a multi-millionaire from my birth. I just did not know that reality at the time."
The subjective view says that he was not a millionaire until he believed he was. Therefore man become the initiator of reality. Without perception there is no true objective fact per the subjective view.
If you take the subjective view to it’s logical end, we could easily say that if there were no human beings created to perceive reality then God would not exist. Henceforth man becomes the creator of God. A God they create via perception.
Now there are those subjectivists who visit this website who claim to believe in eternal justification but lie when they make statements like, "How can you claim to be righteous and saved before you actually believe?"
Or they say, "The elect are cursed and hell bound until they believe"
They are no better than Papists in my opinion.
Reply
Articles
Authors
Donations