Plantinga's Essay - Part 3 (The Great Divide)

"...reason is one of the chief features of the image of God in us. And if we are enthusiastic about reason, we must also be enthusiastic about contemporary natural science, which is a powerful and vastly impressive manifestation of reason. So this is my question: given our Reformed proclivities and this apparent conflict, what are we to do? How shall we think about this matter?"

Now Plantinga moves us toward the crux of the discussion. He states that being enthusiastic about reason is a sufficient state of affairs for being enthusiastic about contemporary natural science (CNS). He touches on a definition, but is more indirect than anything else. It seems like CNS is to be taken as a catch all- Astronomy, Biology, Geology, Physics, Engineering, and the like are lumped together. If this is the case then I think his argument is going lapse into equivocation at different junctures. We will just have to see.

The question- "How shall we think about this matter?" is crucial. If as Christians we let our minds be taken captive by any avenue of broken thought- take your pick, there are plenty out there- we will find ourselves opening the doors to unbelief, both for ourselves and our sons and daughters.

I think there is a Great Divide that needs to be examined and clarified. It is an epistemic one that, I believe, dupes many Christians into following (or at least partially agreeing with) whitewashed, hollow philosophies.