Exploring Gods Book of Works

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Exploring Gods Book of Works
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Preliminaries

• What we wont be discussing
• Detailed discussion of Genesis
• Dinosaurs, death before the Fall, animal souls,
  etc.
• The age of the earth/universe

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Preliminaries

• Group positions on key issues and on
• seeking the truth of those issues
• Graces doctrinal statement on Scripture
• We believe that God superintended the authors of
  the Scripture so that, using their own individual
  literary styles, they composed and recorded
  without error God's revelation to man in the
  words of the original manuscripts. Because of
  this, the Bible is the final authority under God
  in the life of the Christian.

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Goals of this class

• -Give Glory to our Creator by exploring His Book
  of Works.
• -Edify the church body and bolster their faith
  (Shield of Faith).
• -Equip students with the ability to defend their
  faith in a defensive not offensive manner.
• Always be ready to give an answer to those who
  ask for the reason for the hope that is within
  you, but do this with gentleness and respect.
• - I Peter 315

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What is general revelation?

• What is general revelation?
• God's self-manifestation through nature,
  history, and the inner being of the human
  person."
• -Millard Erickson, Christian Theology
• General revelation includes
• -Nature itself
• -Natural and human history
• -The testament of the human soul and reasoning
• (Basically any way of attaining knowledge outside
  of special revelation)

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What is general revelation?

• If special revelation is the Book of Gods Word
  then
• general revelation is the Book of Gods
  Works
• Special revelation
• -Only available to those who are given it
• -Reveals specific knowledge about God
• General revelation
• -Available to all people at all places and
  times
• -Reveals general knowledge (not specific) about
  God

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What is natural science then?

• Natural science is the systematic exploration
  into Gods general revelation by both believers
  and non-believers (available to all). The
  correct theories would generally testify to Gods
  character and intentions, as general revelation
  should.

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Purposes of General Revelation and Importance of
Natural Science

• -Gods Creation is worth looking into on its own
  merits
• -We are edified and sanctified in part by
  exploring and understanding Gods Creation
• -God is glorified when we ask these issues
  trusting He has the answers
• -We act as salt and light when we stand up for
  the truth in these areas

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Purposes of General Revelation and Importance of
Natural Science

• -We are called to participate in the
  casting down of arguments and every high
  thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of
  God, bringing every thought into captivity to the
  obedience of Christ. (2 Cor. 105)
• -We are personally equipped for evangelism when
  we have answers to these questions
• -Society is more prepared to receive the gospel
  when the societys worldview is more in line with
  the Christian worldview

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Origins of Modern Science

• Early Greek attempts
• unlike Christianity, the Greeks did not
  succeed in imposing any body of philosophical
  doctrine on the population as a whole. Yet as
  it turned out, the rise of science needed the
  broad and persistent sharing by the whole
  population, that is, an entire culture, of a very
  specific body of doctrines relating the universe
  to a universal and absolute intelligibility
  embodied in the tenet about a personal God, the
  Creator of all.
• Stanley Jaki, The Road of Science and the Ways
  to God
• -Greeks turned off by the physical world
• -Focused on abstract mathematics, deduction

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Origins of Modern Science

• Chinese attempts
• -Distrust of theories over practical application
• -Principles deduced from the I-Ching (Book of
  Changes)
• The I-Ching was a vast, I would almost say
  bureaucratic, filing system for
  natural novelty, a convenient mental
  chaise lounge which avoided the
  need for further
  observation and experiment.
• -Joseph Needham Science in Traditional China
• -Foundation not large enough or permanent enough
  to support a perpetual scientific establishment.

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Origins of Modern Science

• Medieval Muslim attempts
• -Two camps
• 1st -Reason Aristotle deduction
• -Ignored conflict with Islams conception of
  God (mutable will)
• -al-Farabis determinism the heavens exist
  necessarily
• 2nd -Rejected Aristotle because of theology
• -Second camp won out, imposed traditional
  theology, and killed modern scientific potential.
• -In Islamic theology, God is/has
• -Removed from Creation and man
• -Unknowable to man (Sura 6103)
• -Capricious (changing) will (Sura 8516)

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Origins of Modern Science

• There was no confidence that the code of
  Natures laws could ever be unveiled and read,
  because there was no assurance that a divine
  being, even more rational than ourselves, had
  ever formulated such a code capable of being
  read.
• -Joseph Needham The Grand Titration

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Origins of Modern Science

• Modern Science began in Christendom, and
  particularly in Reformation countries for a
  reason.

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Motivations for early Christian scientists

• -God is an infinite God, sovereign over His
  Creation
• -Gods immutable character can thus be trusted to
  create consistent natural laws
• -God is consistently rational and loving, and
  could be trusted to give true and accurate
  knowledge. Indeed he beckons us to seek out
  knowledge from Him (Is. 118, Prov. 252)
• -The physical world is not itself evil (1 John
  42, Gen. 11, John 11-3), and not to be
  disdained or disregarded
• -Priesthood of all believers

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Key Verses on General Revelation

• The heavens declare the glory of God and the
  firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day
  utters speech, and night unto night reveals
  knowledge. There is no speech nor language.
  Where their voice is not heard. Their line has
  gone out through all the earth, and their words
  to the end of the world.
• -Psalm 191-4
• For since the creation of the world His
  invisible attributes, His eternal power and
  divine nature, have been clearly seen, being
  understood through what has been made so that
  they are without excuse.
• -Romans 120

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Isaac Newton

• The existence of a Being endowed with
  intelligence and wisdom is a necessary inference
  from a study of celestial mechanics.
• The most beautiful system of the Sun, planets,
  and comets could only proceed from the counsel
  and dominion of an intelligent and powerful
  Being.

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Johannes Kepler

• I wanted to become a theologian for a long
  time I was restless. But now I see how God is,
  by my efforts, being glorified in astronomy, for
  the heavens declare the glory of God.
• Great is God our Lord. Great is his power, and
  there is no end to his wisdom. Praise Him, you
  heaven, and glorify Him sun and moon, and you
  planets, for out of Him, through Him, and in Him
  are all things every perception and every
  knowledge.

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Small group discussion questions

• 1. Why did one of these worldviews allow for the
  origination of modern science while the other
  didnt?
• vs.
• 2. How will this affect my current view of
  science?

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Conclusion

• A biblical worldview naturally supports the
  institution of natural science even when it
  doesnt support particular scientific theories.
• Natural science is a pursuit that is honoring and
  glorifying to God.
• Modern science began in Reformation Europe where
  the stage was set by the theological and
  philosophical presuppositions of those
  biblically-based cultures.