I was speaking with a terrific Christian leader the other day when he asked what I had been reading lately. I replied, "Have you got an hour or so?" I mentioned I was reading the first two of the quartet of books Os Guinness released to mark the 250th anniversary of America's founding in 1776.
He admitted he had never read Guinness. I joked, "Just remember: God loves you, and I'm working on it!" He brightened when he added that he had just read his first Francis Schaeffer volume. Progress! We then briefly discussed Schaeffer's apologetic approach.
Schaeffer often spoke of removing the roof from the house in which a non-Christian lives. The idea is simple but profound: expose the non-believer to the inconsistencies of their worldview and show that they cannot consistently live in it. In his ministry to non-Christians, Schaeffer routinely employed this method.
For instance, someone steeped in eastern thought who denies the reality of good and evil - or insists they are merely two sides of the same coin - cannot actually live according to those presuppositions. If such a person stood on a train track and saw a train racing toward them, they would immediately jump off. Their worldview may sound coherent in theory, but in practice, reality always asserts itself.
At Schaeffer's L'Abri ministry in Switzerland, a student committed to eastern religions was lecturing on yin and yang, claiming that evil and suffering were mere illusions. To illustrate the absurdity, Schaeffer grabbed a kettle of hot water and held it over the young man's head. The student promptly got up and walked out, recognising that he had been caught out by reality.
Schaeffer's apologetic method exposed the tension between non-Christian presuppositions and the real world. The further a worldview departs from biblical truth, the further it departs from reality itself.
This principle is painfully evident in our current culture, particularly in the promotion of transgender ideology among children and young people. The idea that a male can somehow become female is a stark example of rejecting reality. In an age where relativism dominates, and objective truth is mocked, anything seems permissible - even the most radical falsehoods.
This assault on reality is not just folly; it serves tyrants and dictators well. George Orwell foresaw this in his prophetic novel 1984: "The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command."
Or consider this larger passage from the book, where Winston Smith is being tortured in the Ministry of Love:
"You believe that reality is something objective, external, existing in its own right. You also believe that the nature of reality is self-evident. When you delude yourself into thinking that you see something, you assume that everyone else sees the same thing as you. But I tell you, Winston, that reality is not external. Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else. Not in the individual mind, which can make mistakes, and in any case soon perishes; only in the mind of the Party, which is collective and immortal."
Schaeffer emphasised that:
"Christianity is not just a series of truths but Truth - Truth about all of reality." (A Christian Manifesto)
And:
"Christianity is not a series of truths in the plural but, rather, truth spelled with a capital 'T.' Truth about total reality... and then living in the light of that Truth." (University of Notre Dame, 1981)
Os Guinness similarly insists:Time for Truth - Os Guinness
"In the biblical view, truth is that which is ultimately, finally, and absolutely real, or the 'way it is,' and therefore is utterly trustworthy and dependable, being grounded in God's own reality and truthfulness. ... Belief in something doesn't make it true; only truth makes a belief true. But without truth, a belief may be only speculation plus sincerity." (Time for Truth)
And:
"Postmodern forms of relativism, skepticism, cynicism, and the like may appear to shatter traditional convictions to smithereens. But fears that such views are beyond argument are groundless. For no human being lives outside the reality common to us all. Whatever people may say the world is or who they are, it is what it is and they are who they are.
Again, no argument is unarguable, but there are thoughts that can be thought but not lived. When all is said and done, reality always has the last word. The truth will always out. Standing up to falsehood, lies, and crazy ideas is never an easy task, but ... it is far easier than the hardest task of all, becoming people of truth ourselves."
G. K. Chesterton added:
"Men reform a thing by removing the reality from it, and then do not know what to do with the unreality that is left."
C. S. Lewis observed:
"Truth is always about something, but reality is that about which truth is."
Refusing to live in the real world - or insisting on holding to what is patently false - has long been a marker of social pathology, if not mental illness. Not long ago, when someone claimed to be Jesus Christ or said he could walk on water, we locked them up for their safety and the safety of others.
We did not entertain the idea that they were entitled to "their own truth". There is only THE truth, not our own versions. There is only reality, not make-believe worlds. You may argue that reality is socially constructed, but the next time you leap from a tall building, the law of gravity will decisively settle the matter.
The Objectivist Ayn Rand summarised it well:
"We can ignore reality, but we cannot ignore the consequences of ignoring reality."
Canadian essayist David Solway likewise wrote in a piece titled "The War Against Reality":
"Reality is a formidable opponent. It never loses. Sometimes the victory is immediate; in the political, cultural, and economic domains, it may take a while longer. In any human confrontation with the intractable facts of life, physical or historical, the outcome is never in doubt. Ignorance is a serious liability in any transaction with the real world. Denial is ultimately lethal."
The war of worldviews that Schaeffer championed remains a vital method for engaging others. The task has grown more difficult than in his day, when most westerners still believed in objective reality, universal truth, reason, and logic. Today, these convictions are rarer, especially in universities and the so-called "enlightened" West. Figures like Charlie Kirk, who combined evangelism with apologetics, confronted these challenges head-on on campuses.
Our task may be harder, but the command remains: we must share truth and point people to ultimate reality - Christ and Scripture - the paramount expressions of reality itself.