The notion that the speculations of the human mind, though rationalized or spiritualized, can add anything to the perceptions of experience (empirical data) is a notion that is hurtful and deceptive.  There are several types of reasoning, and speculation is one of the most dangerous.  When speculation becomes hardened into hidden presupposition or open presupposition (for example: materialism, naturalism, uniformitarianism, intellectualism), then it becomes difficult to deal with.

Observation and experience, while having severe limits and flaws, are among the best means of receiving understanding.  However, all understanding comes from God.  All wisdom comes from God, and the reverence for God is the beginning of wisdom.  God gives out knowledge according to His will to the just and to the unjust.  That which is empirical, whether it is an observation in nature, an artifact or source document of history, or a reference from the Bible, must be understood by the enlightenment that only God can give.  The human mind is deceitful and desperately wicked, and not one person is really aware of the fullness of degradation of his or her own mind.

Rationalization and dependence on one’s own understanding will always result in error.  There is no basis for the notion that rationalized speculations are valid, other than the rationalized speculation that says that rationalized speculations are valid.  In other word, the notion that rationalized speculations are valid is a circular lie.  It is a lie that feeds into itself because it is, itself, a rationalized speculation.