Chris.Doc Midterm Reviewer PDF

**CHRIS.DOC MIDTERM REVIEWER** **4** **The Nature of the Reign of God** To understand the nature of God's sovereignty, we must therefore examine the following topics: **(1) God's identity** **(2) God's character** **(3) God's activity in the world** **(4) God's experience of the world.** **G...

**CHRIS.DOC MIDTERM REVIEWER** **4** **The Nature of the Reign of God** To understand the nature of God's sovereignty, we must therefore examine the following topics: **(1) God's identity** **(2) God's character** **(3) God's activity in the world** **(4) God's experience of the world.** **GOD AND THE WORLD** **World -** can refer to the planet Earth or to the entire universe. **Every-thing that exists belongs to one or the other of these categories:** It is either; **(1) Creator or,** **(2) Creature** **1. Creator -** As creator, God is the source of all reality. He alone exists independently; everything else owes its existence to him. **2. Creature** - Moreover, what is creaturely is always creaturely. A creature can never become a divine being. This **basic distinction between God** and **the world**, between **creator** and **creation**, **rules out two other world-views that have had great influence in human history:** **(1) Monism and,** **(2) Dualism** **1. Monism -** monism is the belief that all reality is one. **2. Dualism -** there are **two ultimate principles**, rather than **one**, and they are engaged in permanent conflict with each other. **(1)** **One principle** is **good**, usually symbolized by **light**. **(2)** The **second one** is **evil**, or **darkness**. \- Almost all **dualistic religions**, such as **Zoroastrianism**, affirm the **ultimate victory of good over evil.** **The doctrine of creation also conflicts with dualism in two ways:** **(1) First**, it allows for only one supreme being: **God**. He is the single source of all that exists. **(2) Second**, God is wholly good, and what he creates is essentially good, too. Evil doesn't belong in the scheme of things. **-** It emphasizes that **God is one**, the religion of the **Old Testament** is often identified as **(1) Monotheism -** a single divine being rules over everything and everyone. **(2) Polytheism -** the belief that there are **many gods**. \- In **polytheism** reality is **divided up**, or **parceled out**, among many divine beings. **Each god** has a different sphere of **influence**, or a **limited range of power**. **One** is in charge of the **sea**. **Another** is responsible for **war**. **- F**or many years **polytheism** posed a great threat to **monotheism**. The people of **Israel** were constantly tempted to participate in the religious practices of surrounding nations, and they finally suffered **Babylonian captivity** because of their failure to worship God alone. **Reality** - is **"of a piece."** It forms a coherent whole. **GOD'S IDENTITY** From a philosophical standpoint, **self-existence, or "aseity,"** as it is sometimes called, is probably the most **fundamental divine attribute.** It expresses the concept that God has life in himself. **A number of other attributes follow from God's identity as creator,** **which are:** **(1) Omnipotence** **(2) Omnipresence** **(3) Omniscience** **Omnipotence** - means not merely that God is more powerful than anything else. It means that **he could not be more powerful than he is**. In other words, his power is perfect. **Omnipresence** - describes God's relation to space. Literally, it is the **quality of being everywhere.** Like **omnipotence**, **omnipresence** follows from the idea that **God is the universal sovereign**. If God's reign includes all that exists, then there is no part of the universe from which God is excluded. **Omniscience** - is "**perfect knowledge.**" An **omniscient God** knows **all things**. **Anthropomorphism** - describes God as if he had human qualities. It is a figure of speech, not a literal description. \- **French** thinker **Blaise Pascal** insist that the **God of Abraham, Isaac**, and **Jacob** is not the God of the philosophers. We don't find expressions like "**omnipotence**," "**omnipresence**," and "**omniscience**" in the Bible. We don't use them in our hymns and prayers. They are highly impersonal and abstract. Instead of promoting our relationship with God, they seem to get in the way. **GOD'S ATTITUDE TOWARD THE WORLD** **Person** - Because God is free and self-determined, we can speak of him as a "**person**." A **person** is first of all a unity---an **individual being**, not a mere **collection of beings.** **(1) Person is also characterized by self-consciousness.** **(2) Relationship, or reciprocity.** **(3) A personal being is also free or self-determined to some extent.** **(4) A person has dignity and value**. To summarize, a **person** is **self-conscious and free, capable of relationships** and characterized by **responsibility**, **mystery**, and **dignity**. **Christian view of God from two other concepts of God's relation to the world, namely:** **(1) Deism** **(2) Pantheism.** **Deism -** is often associated **with two popular metaphors**, the **master craftsman** and the **absentee landlord.** \- **Someone who believes in a single god** who created the world but does not act to influence events. **Pantheism --** it **identifies God with the world.** For **pantheists**, "**God**" and "**world**" are references to the same all-inclusive reality. **Immanence and transcendence** Serious thinkers often use the terms **(1)** I**mmanence** **(2)** **Transcendence** **Immanence** - refers to God's participation or involvement in the world. **Immanence** refers to **God's closeness to the world.** **Transcendence** - refers to the **difference or distinction between God and the world.** **Transcendence**, to **God's distance from the world.** **Theism** **The God of deism -** is wholly transcendent **The God of pantheism** - is wholly immanent. The term "**theism**" is often used to refer to this **view of God**. **Theism** - refers to the belief in the existence of a **divine power** or **supreme entity.** **GOD'S ACTIVITY IN THE WORLD** **1. Providence** **2. Prophecy** **3. Miracles** **Providence -** refers to **God's ongoing involvement in the world.** **As described in the Bible, this activity takes several different forms:** **(1) God sustains and guides the natural order on a moment-bymoment basis.** Divine power maintains the universe. According to many thinkers, the concept of cosmic or universal power is basic to the idea of God. In this vein, **Paul Tillich** defines **God** as the "**ground of being**," or the "**power of being**." **Prophecy -** expresses God's perspective on the future, and, like many aspects of the doctrine of God, it is interpreted in different ways. **Miracles -** A **miracle** is a **definite occurrence** which happens as the direct result of God's power and frequently interrupts the normal course of events. In a well-known book on the topic**, C. S. Lewis** observes that the possibility of **miracles** **presupposes two things**: **(1)** There must be a po**wer capable of intervening in nature**, and **(2)** this power must be **willing to do so.** **GOD'S EXPERIENCE OF THE WORLD** **Greek philosophers** such as **Aristotle** believed that **God** is totally **indifferent to the world.** **For them**, the **creaturely world** is **unworthy of God's attention**, so he exists in the splendid isolation of eternity, where he thinks of nothing but himself. \- From **Genesis to Revelation**, we see **God's intense interest** in this **world**. **Pharaoh** - who **rejected God's** **demand** to release the **Israelites**. **Cyrus** - the **Persian king** who supported the rebuilding of **Jerusalem** **Jesus' predictions** - of **Judas'** **betrayal** and **Peter's Denial.** **THE REALITY OF GOD** **Classical theism** - **God** is characterized as the **metaphysically ultimate being** (the first, timeless, absolutely simple and sovereign being, who is devoid of any anthropomorphic qualities), **in distinction to other conceptions such as:** **(1)** **Theistic** **Personalism** - according to **Davies**, is simply the **view that God is literally a person**, which he understands as being a "distinct individual" or a "member of a kind" and therefore a "part of the universe." **(2)** **Open Theism -** the thesis that, because **God loves us and desires that we freely choose to reciprocate His love**, He has made His knowledge of, and plans for, the future conditional upon our actions. **(3)** **Process Theism** - affirms that **God is working in all persons to actualize potentialities.** **OUR KNOWLEDGE OF GOD** **Christian history** - is called the **via negativa**, the **"negative way."** We cannot form any positive idea of God, its supporters argued; we can only know what he isn't. So their **language about God** consisted **primarily of denials**. **Mozart**, to illustrate, was able to **compose music without putting pen to paper.** According to contemporary accounts, he sometimes had an entire composition firmly in mind before he ever wrote it out. To most of us this is incomprehensible. I certainly don't understand how anyone could have the overture to **Don Giovanni all in his head, without having written a note of it.** Even so, there is nothing incoherent or inconsistent about the idea. The **feat** is not **logically impossible**. It is just hard to envision someone actually doing it. \- In contrast, consider a statement such as, "**Mozart drew square circles**." **OUR LANGUAGE FOR GOD** As frequently interpreted, then, the symbols "**king**" and "**father**" serve as **instruments of human oppression**. Careful study reveals that the expressions "**father**" and "**king**" are basic to the **biblical portrayal of God.** **5** **Human Greatness: Agents of The Reign of God** **THE PROBLEM OF BEING HUMAN** **- Human beings have always been their own most vexing problem.** **Reinhold Niebuhr -** began his famous study of human nature. **Paradoxes of human existence** **The biblical view of humanity** **John Calvin** - said "Nearly all the wisdom we possess \... consists of two parts: **(1)** **Knowledge of God** and of **(2) Ourselves** \... Which one precedes and brings forth the other is not easy to discern."2 **The most basic descriptions of human beings:** **(1) Creature** **(2) Image of God** **HUMANITY AS CREATURE** **(1) Purposeful existence** **(2) Divine origin** **(3) A place in the world** **(4) Human finitude** **Purposeful existence** \- To say that we are creatures implies that our existence has a purpose. The biblical account of human origins assures us that we belong in the scheme of things; we were meant to be here. **Divine origin** **-** The concept of human creatureliness excludes purely naturalistic accounts of human origins. **Jacques Monod -** a Nobel-Prize-winning biologist: "Man knows at last that he is alone in the universe's unfeeling immensity, out of which he emerged only by chance. His destiny is nowhere spelled out, nor is his duty."3 **A place in the world** **-** The idea of human creatureliness not only imparts a sense of purpose to our lives; it also reminds us that we are part of a larger creation. We belong to the natural world, and we participate in the various conditions and limitations of creaturely life in general. **Human finitude** **-** As finite, human beings are dependent, or contingent. **Human frailty** - is a prominent theme in the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament. **HUMAN CORPOREALITY** **(1) The goodness of life** **(2) The unity of life** **(3) "Soul" and "spirit"** **The unity of life** There are those who believe that the "spirit" or the "soul" can exist without the body. But according to the Bible, the body and everything else associated with human life exist together as an indivisible unit. **These contrasting views of humanity are sometimes referred to as:** **(1) Wholism** **(2) Dualism** **Wholism -** is the idea that the human being is a complex unity of many facets. They are interrelated, and none exist in isolation. **Dualism** - is the view that the human is a composite being, a union of things that are essentially different, such as body and soul. \- According to **dualism**, one of these parts is the real bearer of personal identity, and it does not need the other to exist. **"Soul" and "spirit"** \- The Hebrew word for "**breath**" in this text is often translated "**spirit**." It refers to the animating power within a physical organism which comes from God. \- The Hebrew here for "**living being**" is rendered "**living soul**" in the **King James Version.** **Soul -** is simply a living organism, anything we would call a member of the animal kingdom. \- The word translated "**soul**" in **Gen 2:7** refers to the **organism as a whole**, not to **some part of it.** **HUMAN SOCIALITY** **(1) Individualism** **(2) Our need for others** **(3) Corporate personality** **(4) Human solidarity** **- John Donne -** "No man is an island." **HUMAN SEXUALITY** **Dimension of human existence incorporates the other two and promotes them to another level:** **(1) On one level, sexuality is something physical.** **(2) On another level, sex is social, too.** **Sexual activity** - is the means by which human beings create other human beings. It is also the means for expressing the most intimate human emotions. **Mistaken sexual attitudes** **Sexual behavior** **(1) Marriage** **(2) Divorce** **(3) Premarital sex** **(4) Homosexuality** **(5) Relations between the sexes** **Mistaken sexual attitudes** **"Puritanical" view -** According to this view, sex is something evil and ought to be avoided. **Playboy attitude -** According to this view, sex is more than something to celebrate; it is a reason for living. For the playboy mentality, sexual liberation contains the key to meaning in life. Give your sexual drives free rein, it insists, and you will find happiness and peace of mind. **Christian view** - In contrast to the puritanical view, Christianity regards sex as an essential part of human life, as something good and purposeful. In contrast to the playboy attitude, it maintains that the sexual part of life is exactly that---just a part of life, not all of it. **Sexual behavior** **1. Marriage** **Many of the central figures of the Old Testament practiced polygamy, including:** **(1) Abraham** **(2) Jacob** **(3) David** **(4) Solomon** **-** The seventh of the ten commandments prohibits adultery, sexual intercourse between a married person and someone other than his or her spouse. **Paul -** admonishes Christians to avoid fornication, sexual intercourse between unmarried people. **Divorce** **1950 -** Prevailing Seventh-day Adventist church policy permitted a member to remarry following divorce only if the other party had been guilty of adultery. \- In **1950** the policy was **modified** to allow a "**guilty" party** who had remarried to reenter the church fellowship through rebaptism after a period of time, if there was evidence of genuine repentance. **Premarital sex** **-** Sexual intercourse before marriage **Homosexuality** **Homosexual practices in two different ways:** **(1)** If a person's basic orientation is **heterosexual**, it is a perversion of his or her sexuality to **engage in homosexual practices.** **(2)** But if the basic orientation is **homosexual**, then such practices can be an **authentic expression of affection**. **Relations between the sexes** **Women such as:** **- Miriam** **- Deborah** **- Ruth** **- Esther** **figure prominently in the history of God's people.** **Women such as:** **- Lydia** **- Prisca** **- Phoebe exercised great influence in the early church.** The Bible's strongest assertion of sexual equality is probably Paul's famous statement, "in Christ there is no longer \... male and female" (Gal 3:28). **HUMAN DEVELOPMENT** \- There is a final aspect of human creatureliness that deserves our attention. This is the fact that human beings are by nature developmental. We are creatures of growth or nurture. **HUMANITY AS THE IMAGE OF GOD** **(1) Image and likeness** **(2) Dominion over creation** **(3) Stewardship** **(4) Limits to human dominion** **1. Image and likeness** **-** The **image** included certain **natural powers**, but the **divine likeness** was an additional, **supernatural gift.** **Divine Likeness -** It included **powers** that enabled human beings to **know God** and **retain immortal life**. At the fall, the **likeness** was **lost**, but the **image of God remained intact.** **Protestant Reformers -** believed that the image of God was devastated by the fall. **John Calvin's** - words, it was "so corrupted that whatever remains is frightful deformity."11 **Limits to human dominion** The concept of the image of God rules out all forms of slavery: **- Economic** **- Political** **- Sexual** **HUMAN UNIQUENESS** **(1) Reason** **(2) Symbolism** **(3) Self-determination** **HUMAN FREEDOM** **-** The basic meaning of freedom is that our decisions "make a difference. **Limits to freedom** \(1) One is the fact that we are creatures and therefore finite. \(2) Heredity and environment place further restrictions on our freedom. **Different kinds of freedom** The biblical account of creation suggests two kinds of freedom: **(1) Moral freedom** \- Freedom to do right or wrong. \- refrain. Freedom to obey or disobey God is typically called "moral freedom." **(2)** **Responsibility** **Personal qualities** **Freedom -** is the most important characteristic which human beings share with God. **Person exhibits several essential qualities:** **(1) A person is first of all a unity** \- A being distinct from other beings**.** **(2) Second, a person enjoys self-consciousness** \- A person is aware of being a person. **(3) And third, a person is capable of relationships with other persons** \- In fact, a person exists as such only in relation to others. **In his famous book, I and Thou, Martin Buber describes the two fundamental relationships which characterize our experience:** **(1) "I-It" relationship** - We treat objects as things to be examined, analyzed, and used. **(2) "I-Thou" relationship -** In an **I-Thou** relationship, you experience the other as a counterpart to yourself, not as something to be merely analyzed or used. **Buber's insights into the unique qualities of the personal point to three other aspects of personal being:** **(1) Dignity -** We value persons more highly than anything else. We also rightly refuse to compare the value of different persons. **(2) Responsibility -** We hold persons accountable for their behavior. **(3) Mystery** - Because they are free, the actions of a person are never entirely predictable. A person can always choose to do certain things differently. **6** **Human Tragedy: God's Reign Interrupted** **THE MEANING OF SIN** **(1) The human predicament** **-** Predicament. It indicates that our fundamental problem stems, not from what we are, but from something we have done. We might say that our predicament is moral rather than metaphysical. **(2) The Fall** **-** origin of sin as "the Fall." **(3) Sin and sins** \- Paul's frequent use of the word "sin," singular, as opposed to "sins," plural, indicates another aspect of this doctrine: the conviction that sin is fundamentally a condition of our existence. **(4) Unbelief and Pride** **-** From the serpent's conversation with Eve in the Garden of Eden, we see that unbelief, or distrust, is an essential aspect of sin. **(5) Disobedience** **-** Sin involves disregarding God's will for human beings. **(6) Rebellion** **-** Sin is also a matter of rebellion against the sovereignty of God. The biblical doctrine of sin presupposes the doctrine of creation. As our creator, God has a right to our allegiance. Sin is the rejection of God's rightful claims on us. **(5) Ingratitude** **-** It provides a helpful balance to the tendency to "quantify" or "objectify" sin, which treats sin as something separate from the sinner. **(6) Injustice** \- This is because the two great commandments---love to God and love to the neighbor---are inseparably linked together. We cannot observe one without observing the other, and failing to keep one inevitably leads us to violate the other. **THE RESULT OF SIN** **(1) Condemnation** **(2) Corruption** **(3) Alienation** **(4) "Total depravity"** **(5) Slavery** **(6) Original sin** **THE GREAT CONTROVERSY: A COSMIC CHALLENGE TO THE REIGN OF GOD** **- Ellen G. White's** most influential series of books, "**The Conflict of the Ages**," along with that of its most important volume, The **Great Controversy**, reflects the significance of this concept in her own mind. **THE NATURE OF DEATH** **(1) Our ignorance of death** **(2) A wholistic view of life and death** **(3) A dualistic view of life and death** **THE MEANING OF DEATH** **(1) Death as an enemy -** Death is a consequence of sin. People began to die as a result of violating the will of God. **(2) Popular views of death** - In her widely read studies of dying, **psychiatrist Elisabeth KüblerRoss** observes that people approaching death move through a series of predictable stages, beginning with denial and ending with acceptance. **(3) The Christian view of death --** It acknowledges the inherent negativity of death, but it denies death the last word about human beings. It affirms the reality of a future beyond death. **THE FUTURE BEYOND DEATH** **(1) The meaning of the resurrection --** It "resurrection" points to the recovery of life after death which Christian hope anticipates. **(2) The possibility of life after death -** Our sense of personal identity basically depends on **two things: bodily continuity** and **memory**. I am convinced that I am the same person I was yesterday because I have the same physical form and because I remember my past. I recall certain events as happening to me.