APOLOGETICS: Scientific Issues - Vocabulary Flashcards

Vocabulary terms and definitions covering apologetics, philosophical worldviews, and scientific arguments regarding the existence of God from the lecture transcript.

Theist

A person who believes in some kind of deity or higher power.

Monotheist

A person who believes in one God.

Polytheist

A person who believes in many gods.

Atheist

A person who says there are no gods or spirits and that the material world is all there is.

Agnostic

A person who has concluded that no one can know whether or not God exists, or who humbly speaks only for themselves saying they do not know.

Apologetics

The logical defense of an idea or belief.

Theistic Evolutionist

A Christian who believes in both God and evolution, interpreting Genesis 1 as a poem that uses poetic devices common in ancient Hebrew.

Six-Day Creationist

A Christian who interprets Genesis 1-11 as literal history.

Empiricism

A 17th-18th century view that the only truth that counts is what we know from sense-experience.

Teleological Argument

Another name for the Design Argument, derived from the Greek word telos (meaning end/goal), suggesting that the Creator had a plan or blueprint that reached its fulfillment.

Watchmaker Argument

An analogical form of the Design Argument asserting that the complex order of the universe requires an intentional mind to assemble, just as a watch requires a watchmaker rather than random chance.

Fine Tuning Argument

The Design Argument enhanced by research in astrophysics, demonstrating that mathematical constants affecting physical laws must be extremely precise to permit life.

Gravitational Constant (G)

A mathematical constant governing gravity that is so finely tuned that if it were off by $1:10^{60}$ parts, stars and planets could never have formed.

Cosmological Constant ($\Lambda$)

A mathematical constant determining the expansion rate of the universe; if it varied by $1:10^{120}$ parts, the universe would either collapse back on itself or expand too fast for galaxies to form.

Multiverse Theory

A theory proposed by atheist scientists conjecturing that zillions of universes exist with different physical laws and variables, and we live in the one universe where conditions allowed for life and consciousness.

Occam's Razor

A 14th-century principle, made popular by philosopher William of Ockham, asserting that when presented with two options, the theory with fewer assumptions is more likely to be true.

Prime Mover

Aristotle's term for the first cause of motion and time that set the moving particles of the universe into motion.

Red Shift

An optical phenomenon observed by Edwin Hubble where red light wavelengths travel faster than blue ones when a light source moves away rapidly, proving that the universe is expanding.

Cyclic Model

A model of the universe imagining an infinite loop of Big Bangs and Big Crunches (or Big Bounce) to avoid an absolute beginning to the universe.