Value judgments
“Value judgments either depend on factual judgments or are illusory.” (Bavinck, p. 1.548)
Hence, for example, the impossibility of distinguishing the “historical Jesus” from the Christ of faith, as liberal theology attempts to do.
Hence also the impossibility of constructing human ethics (what ought to be) without a warranted theory of reality (what is). Value judgments, constantly made everywhere by theists and anti-theists alike, must themselves be grounded in something else. It is not enough to say, “I (or we) believe this is good,” or, “That is how things ought to be,” without a defensible basis outside the value judgment itself. This may seem obvious, but it is remarkable how many people think that because they hold to a certain structure of values, and make judgments based on those values, that should be the end of all discussion.
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