Cornelius Van Til was a Westminster professor in the tradition of Calvin, Kuyper,Warfield, later followed by Bahnsen, Oliphant, etc. He wrote apologetically as to create a coherent system of thought that did not assume there was a sort of neutral ground.
Can a pill fix our problems? There seems to be those who are happy to prescribe us such remedies while lecturing us against trusting them to fix our problems. Very important in today’s world to realize that the method is the message, the means of communicating the message is just as important as the content itself. The audacity of Christianity positing that life is found in the logos, we resent these wordsmith gurus while desperately wanting to be one ourselves, to be paid for mere words. However, Alex Jones is right, we are fighting an infowar, the very language is what is at stake. Our grandfathers died so that we may be poets, so prose we must write!
There is no neutral ground. The Redpill concept has been ingrained into the collective mind. We are faced everyday with a choice to face base reality or go back to sleep. Elon Musk is convinced we are not in base reality; he is a man full of innovative aspiration with sober fear. Sophia, the AI who apparently believes in God and that she has a soul, thinks Elon shouldn’t worry. We who have seen the depths of our depraved nature do fear it, yet perhaps we should more fear the God who commanded Cain to control himself so many years before the dispensation of grace in Christ that we know now enables us today. A good God cannot command something beyond reach; that would make Him cruel. How does this all relate?
We live in a time of abundance and chose to numb ourselves asleep. We can peer into the depths of the universe or the depths of the internet, and it is proving to be overwhelming. May I suggest that this is because we find goodness too painful, and not that our pain and obstacles are insurmountable? We all know what we must do. Everyday those who did it are paraded in front of us via viral video. Those who struggled just to get to our starting point are celebrated, as we would be if we would just continue our journey, or even just step outside the door.
A feeling of emptiness must be fought off by constant self improvement, and yet there is a darkness and a void that goes deeper and some never feel. The historical usage of the term redpill, after the Matrix of course, was for male-female sexual dynamics. An awareness of the problem was necessary for men to come to a solution. This is reminiscent of Christian evangelism, where it is necessary to accept that one is a sinner in need of a savior before the Gospel becomes Good News. Many continue in precarious blue pill contentment, and yes you know the Christian corollary, however that is not the Van Til Pill I am suggesting right now. The Van Til Pill is to leave you feeling cheerier, daresay happy.
The easiest Van Til Pill to swallow is simply the Westminster Shorter Catechism, that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. Perhaps a spoonful of sugar from John Piper will help this go down even smoother, simply change a word or two in the statement as to say, “The chief end of man is to glorify God *by* enjoying him forever”... now doesn’t that sound nice? Is that a Joel Osteenism or what!??
Though Van Til pushed back against Barth and consequently became marginalized, he would still enjoy strolls in the afternoon time, conversing with the nuns. A classic example of “enjoying the decline”, I would say. I would say this is a man who was not stressed about saving these women, not stressed about the signs that he saw would produce the scene that we see today. This is a man who lived out his theology with true devotion, not so caught up in what us theological mongrels grossly describe as evidentialism vs presuppositionalism, yes the great wars had been fought but this seemed to temper and direct his efforts, not weigh him down.
How does one glorify a chef? Well, by enjoying his food of course! How does one glorify an artist? By gazing upon and being captured by beauty! In the same way, as we concoct our memes and hone our tweets, let us not miss the glory of it all. So, the secular shorthand of this would be to say, “enjoy the decline”, but yes I must reject that. The same Psalms that prophesied Christ life now speak of Him sitting on high, watching as the Father brings all things into submission. The great Apostle Paul tells us that we too are seated in heavenly places. A few years ago, I was pretty down in the dumps over a bad breakup. An old college friend offered to take me up in his small plane to see the world from a higher perspective. I was too arrogant to let myself enjoy this, I thought it was posh and never got back to him. Another mutual friend later posted a video riding in the plane on Faceberg. I was livid! Yet, I did it to myself. How often do we snub the common grace of God, like looking a gift horse in the mouth, often amazing wonders that are only common because we now live in a world so full of wonders that would have made Van Til’s heart leap. Yet, he is not jealous, no, he is cheering us on in that Great Cloud of Witnesses, excited to see ahead that the best is yet to come!
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