You are entitled to that suspicion. I’m telling you that the first point is significant for me in a dialogue about this.
Now, will you admit the process that caused the universe may have occurred or it may not have? I don’t see any other possibility, other than maybe saying that it is in state of occurring.
Whether or not that allegation is true with regard to the specific individual about whom you are making/saying it is, for my purpose, irrelevant. However, right there, in those two succinct statements, IMO, you purty much sum up presuppositional apologetcs. I, for one, think that’s darn remarkable. It may take me a while to find the appropriate quotes, but–if memory serves me at this moment–presuppositional apologists of great fame and reputation have said as much, … in less pejorative terms, of course.
It’s a crazy gotcha or an unthinkable checkmate against atheism, and you won’t take the next move.
That’s like asking someone if a number is 1 or not 1.
What is the point of the question?
The point of the question is to bring understanding to what is meant by a natural process that causes the universe.
If the process occurs then it either just happens or it too is caused by some other natural process that is yet to be detected.
Or the process does not occur. It causes the universe, but it is without beginning or occurrence.
Whether he can’t or won’t, until he does the unexpected, presuppositionalists maintain the upper hand. What they are completely unable to effectively respond to is this “bald claim”.
Let’s look at a real world process. Some atomic nuclei are unstable, and they will decay at some point. For this to occur, particles have to get past what is called the Coulomb barrier. In classical mechanics, the particle would have to climb over that barrier, but that is not what actually happens. Instead, the particle tunnels through the barrier. At one moment the particle is in the atomic nucleus and the next instant it is outside of the nucleus. It is never in between. This is called quantum tunneling. More to the point, nothing causes this to happen other than the probability that it can happen.
So how does this fit into your questions and ideas? If the universe came about in a similar uncaused fashion as we see occurring in real time in the real world, what does that mean for this discussion?
I’d have to consider that example further. My comments dovetailed off your initial comment about how a natural process might be uncovered that explains the universe.
Another topic that may be worth discussing is virtual particles. These are particles that just pop into existence, and then pop back out of existence. There is nothing causing this other than it just being a property of the universe. In fact, these particles occur in pairs, and if they pop in close to the event horizon of a black hole one of the particles in the pair can be pulled into the black hole. This allows the other particle of the pair to radiate away from the black hole. This is called Hawking radiation.
Yeah I don’t feel very concerned about the universe’s making sense. After all making sense isn’t anything a universe is likely to attempt. It is we who try to understand stuff but I wouldn’t expect answering these strange questions to increase my understanding of anything. Apologetics as one encounters it on the internet always feels like an internal conversation looking to rope in onlookers. I prefer not to gawk if someone wants to do something like that in public.
“Gawking”, I’ve heard is an art-form. Although I’m not proficient at it, I find it fun to try now and then.
That Terry is what you call irrationalism and I’m surprised to see it being valued in a forum that seeks to integrate faith and science.
I’m largely unfamiliar with presuppostionalism, but am interested to see what else you have to say about it.
Thanks, but no thanks. I’ve learned my lesson: you’re not a fan of “walls of text”. 
I might surprise you if it’s philosophical
I have a weak heart.
It claims that apart from presuppositions, one could not make sense of any human experience
True.
and there can be no set of neutral assumptions from which to reason with a non-Christian.
Only true that we cannot reason them into accepting Christianity.
Presuppositionalists claim that Christians cannot consistently declare their belief in the necessary existence of the God of the Bible and simultaneously argue on the basis of a different set of assumptions that God may not exist and Biblical revelation may not be true.
That may be their limitation, but other people are quite capable of reasoning from different sets of presuppositions to different sets of conclusions.
Presuppositionalism contrasts with classical apologetics and evidential apologetics.
I certainly agree with their rejection of classical and evidential apologetics.
It has been argued that being part of the universe, we represent the universe attempting to make sense of itself.
That is only one part of it. It is also in response to others engaged in similar activities to rope onlookers into THEIR way of thinking.
That could be seen with respect to Hegel’s view of reason becoming conscious of itself.
I’ve often wondered if the way rational arguments can disprove atheism, but cannot prove theism, represents a synthesis of classical and presuppositionalist apologetics.
The “therefore know for certain” of Acts 2:36 shouldn’t be overlooked in Christian apologetics.
This phenomenon I am more familiar with, and it goes right back to my initial delineation of whether it just happens or it’s being caused by something that doesn’t happen.
What does that mean?
“Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” -Colossians 4:6
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