What Is Reformed Epistemology?

Here are the top three most important things to know about Reformed Epistemology–at least as it relates to my apologetics survey.

1. We Shouldn’t Use Evidence/Proofs With Unbelievers

First, this approach says that we shouldn’t try to use evidence and proofs when witnessing to unbelievers.

Now, here’s what I mean. There have been many Christian philosophers throughout history that have tried to come up with ways to prove Christianity to unbelievers.

But reformed epistemologists say we don’t have to prove anything at all.

In fact, because of the Fall, believers are so corrupt, that no amount of reason and logic will ever convince them.

So the first important point with this apologetic is we cannot and we should not try to use rational proofs or evidence when we’re trying to witness to someone about Christianity.

2. People Already Have A Sense of God (But Suppress It)

Second, Reformed Epistemology argues that people already have an innate awareness of God’s presence. When people look at a beautiful sunset, or a majestic mountain, or the clouds in the sky, they’re already aware of the presence of God. But they suppress this sense of God so that they can live their lives in a way that they want to.

3. The Holy Spirit Must Open Eyes

Finally, it says that the only way a person can become a Christian is if the Holy Spirit opens their eyes.

A person’s belief in Christianity isn’t the result of their reasoning process, but it’s the result of the Holy Spirit, impressing the truth of Christianity, on their hearts, at conversion.

The inner witness of the Holy Spirit is the key to a person believing that Christianity is true. Without this, nobody would ever believe.

Reformed Epistemology In My Conversion

Now, I don’t know about you, but I see all of these things at work in my own conversion. Now, here’s what I mean. I don’t think anyone had to prove God to me. It seems like I just always believed, but I also suppressed this truth.

I remember there were times in my life when I wanted to walk with God as a child, but I pretty much just kept living life for myself–until I was 19 years old.

All of a sudden, one day, I was completely overwhelmed with this idea that God was real.

And the most important thing I could do is get to know who God is. Because I knew that I could die at any moment, and I just had to get right with him. It was like God was calling me to himself.

So I actually prayed that God would help me find him. And a couple days later, a friend just happened to invite me to church. The pastor gave the Gospel and even though I’d heard the Gospel before, it was like I had heard it for the very first time. It was like, the Holy Spirit opened my eyes, and I was changed overnight.

And I remember the Bible came alive to me. And I had this new dynamic that just wasn’t there before in my life. This didn’t come through logical arguments and historical evidence. But I sensed the presence of the Holy Spirit, who was witnessing to my heart that Christianity was true.

Well, these are the features of Reformed epistemology. And this was my experience.

How Reformed Epistemology Ranked on My Assessment

For me, this was my highest apologetic at conversion. And I’m not alone. Many other people also had this as their number one apologetic. Now, what’s interesting is it didn’t score very high for the second part of my assessment, which is what keeps a person convinced Christianity is true.

Now if that sounds strange, you should check out my first video on how evidence and reason seem to become more important over time in a person’s walk with God.

My next video is about Psychological Apologetics. I’ll tell you what it is and why it’s important. And just a heads up, it came in second place for what convinced people Christianity is true. But unlike Reformed Epistemology, which came in first place, and then dropped to fifth place, Psychological Apologetics kept its position at number two, for both parts of my survey. It’s the only apologetic that didn’t change. And so you’ll want to check it out.