People like atheists, secularists, as well as more spiritually minded people find Christians and orthodox Jews to be mysteriously, even disturbingly, different, but usually cannot pinpoint why. If you understand how assumptions work, especially our most basic assumptions, the mystery is more clear.
We all make certain basic assumptions. It is not a matter of if you assume, but rather how you assume, and whether your assumptions are true. Previously, I introduced the type of assumer who thinks everything is just matter and energy – what I call a Type 1 assumer. Non-physical things are either unimportant or not real for these people. The exact opposite is true of the Type 2 assumer. It is physical things that are not important or are just an illusion. Everything boils down to something non-physical, either mental or spiritual. Since Christians surely believe that spiritual things are real, aren’t they like all other religious and spiritually oriented people in the world?
This is where the confusion lies, and why Christians are so misunderstood. There is not just two ways of assuming. There is a third way that is entirely different from the other two. Both of the first two core assumptions affirm that we and the world around us comes down to one reality—something physical or something non-physical. The third way of assuming denies that there is only one reality. These assumers affirm that there are really two realities. It is not a matter of physical or non-physical for them. They would say that both physical and non-physical things are equally real. Some things are just physical, like stars, planets, flowers, microbes, or frogs. Some things are only spirits, like angels and demons. Other things like higher life forms are both physical and non-physical having a soulish nature.
However, these physical and non-physical things together have something in common. They are all created things. None of them are self-existent. They haven’t always been here and they didn’t make themselves. They were created. Human beings while certainly physical, are uniquely made to reflect their Creator. They have a spirit designed to commune with their Maker. Yet, whether human, animal, plant, or rock, they are all part of one reality—the created reality.
There is another reality, though, that is distinct from the created reality. It is the Creator. There is God, and there is everything else. Not two sides to one coin, so to speak, but two distinct coins. I say distinct because you can tell them apart. God is not nature and nature is not God. There is a difference between them, but they are not separate. It is as if the universe is like a giant cup which God holds in His hand. He is intimately involved with it rather than being a distant observer. God did not sit the cup on a shelf and watch if from afar. For all practical purposes, a distant observer God is the same thing as the first type of core assumption—there is just a physical universe. The third kind of assumer affirms that because God is involved in this created reality, there is a relationship between the two realities. He knows us and we can know Him.
What difference does this make? Type 3 assumers do not see God as an impersonal spiritual force that is distant and unknowable like Type 2 assumers do. God is a person and because He is not the same thing as His creation – there are two realities – there is a relationship between them. There has to be at least two things for there to be a relationship. God is involved with us and everything around us, and how we understand ourself and the world around us in relationship to who God is. He Himself – who He is in His person – is the source and definition for what is right, good, true, and beautiful. If you want to know what truth is, look at God. He does just always tell the truth. He IS truth. God is not just loving. He IS love. God doesn’t just do good all the time. He IS good. If you want to know what good is, look at God. Good is not something we decide for ourselves. Good is who God is. Since God is the only one who is good all the time, we can know what is good for everyone.
This is the only way that we can say that certain behavior is always good and certain behavior is always bad. Whatever we do that reflects who God is – because we are designed to reflect God’s character – is good. Whatever doesn’t reflect who God is is bad. If we decide for ourselves what is good and evil (Type 1 assumption), then one person’s good is another person’s evil and vice versa. If good is whatever achieves the spiritual or socio-political ideal (Type 2 assumption), then anything can be justified if it achieves that ideal. The words “good” and “evil” become meaningless if God is not the reference point for these things. This also explains why Type 1 and 2 people are so vexed by Type 3 assumers, who keep insisting there is an objective standard for goodness, truth, and beauty that applies to everyone. If there are not two realities, then the insistence of these assumers is just forcing their own standard down other people’s throats, and everyone does whatever seems right and good to them. But if there are two realities, this changes everything.