Intellectual Neutrality Is a Myth

Gary DeMar reminds us that "no one is neutral and facts don't speak for themselves":

Many Christians and most secularists argue as if facts are self-interpreting, that reasonable men and women will come to the same reasonable conclusion when presented with a reasonable argument based on a fair and reasonable presentation of the facts. This rarely happens. As William Watkins writes, "Facts do not come with interpretation tags, telling us how to view them. ... Both sides haggle over the facts. Both sides search for new facts to add to their arsenals. Both sides raise accusations, yet it's a rare day indeed when both sides acknowledge that their differences stem from something much more basic than facts. Their differences are rooted in opposing worldviews, which in turn are permeated with philosophical assumptions and commitments." ...

... We can never assume that "facts alone" will be enough to confirm the validity of the Christian faith to someone whose interior logic begins with naturalistic presuppositions. Jesus performed many miracles before many eyewitnesses, and still they did not believe. For example, the Sadducees, "who say there is no resurrection" (Matt. 22:23), heard every reasoned claim of a resurrection but filtered the information through an anti-supernatural hearing device. Why did those in Athens "sneer" (Acts 17:32) when Paul spoke of the resurrection before they heard his account of it? The very idea of a resurrection did not fit their naturalistic worldview. All talk about the "facts" of a resurrection would be discarded because an anti-supernatural worldview cannot (will not) account or make room for any supernatural claim.