Once upon a time, there are actually men who thought that their reasoning are free from any stain of biases. To be more specific: the stain of religion. The ministers of Freethinking, along with their converts, ardently and valiantly preach their Beatitude: “Rational is he who questions everything.” This is the way man ought to be, they assert. This is the state of blessedness. To not be governed by any dogma and to be free from any preconceptions. Just the mind without bowing to any lex scripta that claims higher authority. Just the mind autonomously judging all ideas presented, especially big ideas such as the meaning of life, the origin of everything, the goal of existence, ethics, morality and the whole shebang.

With this card in play, of course, the apologist or any Christian who lives in an unbelieving neighborhood would feel ashamed. I mean, Richard the Atheist (who lives just two blocks away) made fun of him again because he always quotes Bible verses when they talk about the big questions of life. It seems like an embarrassment, you know, when you are involved in an intellectual discussion and the cool kids from the left-side bleacher keeps on mocking you for your assumptions. Because you’re not being a freethinker. When the Christian feels that the pressure is really on, he will now try to please them and play the same game. So he throws away his Bible and finally says, “Okay, I will not presuppose God. We’ll let reason and evidence be the judge.”

“Whoever is not with me is against me,”(Mt12:30) Jesus never gave us any warrant to uphold our beliefs in such a way before unbelievers. One of the most recognized verse in the topic of apologetics, 1 Peter 3:15, starts its instruction: “…in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy.” This the Apostle Peter says before he gives the explicit direction to “make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.” And he does so for good reasons. One, because what account of reality can we give if we do not cling tightly to Christ, for and through whom all things, visible and invisible, were made (Col1.16)? “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”(v17) Christ is the ultimate reality with which we reckon. Second, because He is our Master. He demands our allegiance in every area of life. And that includes how we respond to unbelievers. It’s odd but sometimes we have to speak our minds in order to find out our views are inherently mistaken. If you love Jesus, your Lord, try saying loudly “I can defend my faith without depending on Christ.” This surely leaves an icky feeling in the mouth. And yet we do this all the time when we reason autonomously and refuse to acknowledge Him in our apologetics.

“You mean Christians cannot be freethinkers?” Christians are not freethinkers, atheists are not freethinkers, the relativists are not freethinkers. No one is. That is, no one is free from any biases or presuppositions that governs the thought-process. Each person has his/her own worldview. An axiom or lens through which their analysis and reasoning proceeds. Those who deny this are usually under the impression that their reasoning is autonomous. But if one will analyze their claims, it will be seen that these “freethinkers” actually hold to some kind of authority that pilots their way of argumentation. For example, the best-selling axiom of today’s generation of skeptics is empiricism which they mask under the renowned label of ‘Science’. They will not accept anything that cannot be seen, touched, heard, felt, and smelt. Ask them why empiricism or sensory experience (both direct and indirect) is the only or the best way to interpret reality. If they answer, “Because that’s just the way it is!” or something like that, you’ve now found out his presupposition or what Cornelius Van Til calls “ultimate commitment”.

Freethought is simply a 17th century anti-religion myth that tickles the intellectual ears of the proud. As for the issue of axiom, the Christian need not shy away in claiming beforehand any argumentation that God and His Word is true. Just as the naturalist doesn’t shy away from his naturalism, or the rationalist from his rationalism. The freethinkers seem to enjoy this illusion of epistemological laxity. When in fact, they were never free. Indeed, just as sin has always put itself under the guise of Liberty, so is skepticism simply under the hallucination of intellectual freedom.