doctrine 2

Define inerrancy, and be able to cite at least two references (e.g., Heb 6:18; Tit 1:2; 1 John 3:20; Psalm 119:43; John 17:17; John 10:35, etc.)

scripture is trustworthy because God is trustworthy
== infaaliable

Heb 6:18 “so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.”

1 John 3:20 “for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.”

Explain the “limited inerrancy” position

compartmentalizes the Bible

when talking salvation, it’s inerrant

when talking geography, science, etc., it makes mistakes

Cheap inerrancy

not practicing what you preach

Mature and nuanced way of understanding inerrancy

Distinguish truth and precision

• phenomenal language —> language of appearances, not scientific

  • Mt 5:45

Take account of literacy genre

• historical narrative vs. modern history

  • psalms should not be read like gospels

Avoid encyclopedic fallacy

• Bible is not an encyclopedia

Always give the Bible the benefit of the doubt

• Hermeneutics of suspicion vs. hermaneutics of trust

Inerrancy matters bc/ of our salvation

What is a divine attribute?

qualities that God has that are maximized or doesn’t have at all.

answers questions like “What is God like?”

Dr. Madueme explained that a divine attribute is not contingent but necessary to his being—what does that mean?

all of our good qualities are amplified in God and our limitations are stopped at the door

What are communicable attributes and give examples

God’s goodness - moral excellence
Isaiah 6:1-5
It fills up the whole earth

Holiness - set apart
people, places, or things are holy bc/ they are set apart for God’s ultimate purpose

• antinomianism: says “Jesus is enough, so it doesn’t matter how I live bc/ God will forgive me”

  • cheap inerrancy

• legalism does not equal seeking to live obedient lives bc/ rules cannot change character

• spiritual warefare is a daily fight on sin / daily persuit of Christ

What are incommunicable attributes and give examples

attributes we DONT share with God

God’s impassibility

• God does not have emoitions like sinful humans do

• God has perfect emotions (fully alive)

Trying to figure out God’s emotions:

• christologically: the Father does’nt feel emotions, but the Son became man so the Father knows and is familiar through the Son

• Anthropopathism: described having human like emotions but he doesn’t actually have them (“stretching out arms”)

• Tsurasa: profound, intense emotion of pain + anguish. Suffering for the sake of someone else. Deep pain.
  This is the pain God the Father felt when he had to send Jesus
  Kazoh Kitamori

• Our emotions are THEOPATHIC. an image/reflection of God’s emotions

God’s omnipotence

• All powerful

• miracels testify to God’s omnipotence

• Scientism: only the things we can examine scientifically are real

• desim: God made the world, then went off to heaven, leaving the Earth to operate by its own processes. Every now and then, God appears and does a miracle.

• We deny both deism and scientism

• God is sustaining us moment by moment

• one of the biggest evidences of God’s omnimpotence is how he changes us

• change is slow + incremental. Change won’t be complete until we are united with Christ.

God’s sovereignty

• T : total depravity - sin affects every part of us

• U : unconditional election - God’s good pleasure makes you a Christian

• L : limited atonement - Christ’s atonement is only for the elect. His blood CAN + IS powerful enough for the whole world, but only those who accept are saved

• I : irresistible grace - nothing was going to stop God form saving you. The spirit transforms your heart

• P : persecerance of the saints - once you’ve been saved, you will not lose your salvation

• historic approach, arminian view, open theism, compatibalism

God’s sovereignty - Historic approach

• God’s sovereignty is exhaustive, down to the decisions we make

• Reformed compatibalism: God is sovereign over everything + human beings are free

• God has ordained it, but we are genuinely free

• devretive will: before the foundation of the world, God has ordained all that will happen

• permissive will: God permits sin, but he is not directly responsible for it

God’s sovereignty - arminian view

• libertarian freedom: “I have acted freely if I have the genuine ability to do otherwise”

  • power of contrary choice

  • foreknowledge

God’s sovereignty - open theism

• God controls the generals, not the particulars

• we have libertarian freedom, + bc/ of this, God doesn’t know everything that’s going to happen, so he can’t control it

• radical end of the spectrum of libertarian freedom

God’s sovereignty - compatibalism

how can you NOT believe in predestination?

a) a modest view of freedom
we are finite AND sinners

b) God as the author of our life stories
God is actively working in our lives

c) Christ as the key to compatibalism
God is absolutely holy + in Him there is no evil at all
God is never portrayed in the Bible as the direct cause of sin, but he is portrayed as the indirect cause for everything, including sin
God stands behind good + evil asymmetrically
God ordains the ends and the means

2 passages that support God’s exhaustive sovereignty

Ephisians 1:11 God “works all things to the council of his will”

Romans 8:28 “all things work together for the good of those hwo love God”

What was the via eminentiae?

taking the positive qualities we have and applying them to God

What was the via negativa?

Taking the negative qualities we have and saying that God does not have any of them

Explain the difference between the older, medieval ways of treating the divine attributes vs. the strategy Madueme recommended

What was Madueme’s main point towards the end of the book about Christianity and the problem of intellectual dishonesty within science? (see Madueme, Does Science Make God Irrelevant)

• science requires moral integrity

• Christians should follow evidence honestly

• Science and Christianity can work together

What is methodological naturalism? (see Madueme, Does Science Make God Irrelevant)

Methodological naturalism is the scientific practice of explaining natural phenomena through natural causes while setting aside supernatural explanations during scientific investigation.

transhumanism

• intermediate form of a human + post-human

• assumption that there is something wrong with our bodies

• another form of gnosticism

  • material + physical things are evil and the Spirit is good

How was the church father Irenaeus significant to early Gnosticism?

• If Jesus took on flesh, then our bodies cannot be evil

• AND in heaven, he still has a ressurected BODY

• God thinks his creation is GOOD

What is the relationship between early gnostic views and Christian asceticism

They build off of each other. gnostics believe that the body is evil, and ascetists deprive the body to be closer to God

Arminianism

• named after Jacobus Arminius (1560-1609)

• God’s election is conditioned upon forseen faith

• His grace can be risisted

• Christ’s atonement was made on behalf of all humanity

Calvinism

• named after protestand reformer John Calvin (1509-64)

• TULIP