Final Flashcards
Faith Alone: How important is imputation to the gospel?
Imputation is a core concept to the gospel, without it, the gospel has much less effect. Imputation is the transference of our sin to Christ and his righteousness to us. It is a necessary transaction for God’s elect to escape the reality of sin. Simply taking the punishment for our current sins by no means gets God’s people where they need to be. At best, it would bring us to Adam’s starting point and probably result in us failing again. We need the righteousness of Christ or the gospel does not do much.
Defending Your Faith: Define notitia, assensus, and fiducia in one or two sentences each.
Notitia: Our knowledge of the propositions and truths of the gospel.
Assensus: Mental assent and affirmation of those propositions. Acknowledge that justifying faith in the gospel is necessary, but not necessarily trusting it. The demons get this far.
Fiducia: Full and entire trust in those positions and in the Person of Christ who is at the center of the gospel. Only regeneration gets us to this point.
Defending Your Faith (6-8): What are the four essential principles of knowledge? Identify them and offer a definition in one-two sentences for each.
Law of casuality, law of non-contradiction, basic reliability of sense perception, and analogical language.
The law of casuality is that every effect must have a cause. The law of non-contradiction is that A cannot be not A at the same time and in the same relationship. The senses are useful for studying and drawing information about the world, though not perfectly so. Things about the transcendent can be understood as similar to words we use, but not exactly like. To be made in the image of God is analogically describing us but that is only an analogy not precisely identical.
Making a Difference: What is the difference between secular and secularism? Be sure to adequately define secularism in your one-paragraph answer.
The secular is simply the mundane world in time and space. It is the world we live in and it is frankly part of our “right now counts forever” in that it is the setting for our righteousness in Christ and our remaining sin. Secularism takes the secular and assumes that there is no transcendent reality. In secularism, the secular is not just the mundane world around us, it is all there is out there to find. There is no eternal. This effectively takes the secular and elevates it to ultimate significance. Since the secular is basically temporary, the final casualty of secularism is the death of any meaning or significance to life.
Making a Difference: What is the difference between plurality and pluralism? Be sure to adequately define pluralism in your one-paragraph answer.
Plurality is just saying that there are different ideas and diverse people and backgrounds. It makes no particular statement on one being better than the other but simply that they are there. It was a foundational idea to the United States that its people be united while also retaining their plurality of ideas and backgrounds. Pluralism acknowledges plurality, but denies unity. There is no ultimate coherent truth that can be found in the transcendent. This makes plurality God and removes any notion of the objective in the process.
How does the classical view of apologetics define apologetics?
Classical Christian Apologetics is the reasoned defense of the Christian faith. (13-17 of “Defending your Faith” for more).
What does 1 Peter 3:15 teach about apologetics? (Second lecture)
At its core, Christians are commanded to always be ready to give a gentle defense of the truth. The purpose is to state why we believe in Christ while keeping in mind that only the Spirit can save. We are to represent the new nature we have in Christ in this process as we honor him and not give into the temptation to tear the world apart for its foolishness. This is useless as it turns the defense into offense with no gain.
Give an example of how John uses testimony in the Gospel of John.
John uses testimony to indicate responses to Christ, and that the response should be belief. A classic example is that of Nicodemus and the woman at the well. Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman at the well both came from very different parts of society. In many ways, almost the top of it and the bottom of it. Both encountered Christ and his teachings. There is a consistency spoken to with Christ in both and a call that reaches out past those people to everyone in between. Some believe and some do not, but the testimony overall points to Jesus being the Son of God.
What can we learn about apologetics from Paul’s example in Acts 17?
Paul starts at a point of commonality, namely using their traditional “men of Athens” greeting and noted observing their objects of worship which were everywhere. He does this to connect with the audience and sees them as lost. Then he stresses five things about God, basically making the cosmological argument, God is the source, needs nothing, sovereign, notes that they should seek him as they are made in the image of God, and quotes their own poets making a reference to Zeus and says it points to God (“for we are indeed his offspring”). The key point comes at the end where he notes that God is judge and we owe him. Saying that Christ is judge leads us to what to do about it and notes that Christ is the escape from judgment. The responses take the form of rejection, indifference, and acceptance.
This patterns forms four basic ideas, a point of commonality, the cosmological argument to Christ, a call to belief, and the variety of responses.
What can be learned from John 14:6 about questions and answers?
Jesus is says that he is the way, the truth, and the life, there is no other way and they know the way in him in response to Thomas asking where he is going. Jesus listened carefully to Thomas and then addressed the question behind the question, which was of ultimate importance. He is telling them what is about to happen in a sense, rising from the dead and going where they are not going. They have a hope regardless of what happens.
What do you know about Anselm and his ontological argument for God? (Essay 2)
Anselm made the argument as a prayer in a book he wrote called Proslogion. The argument is that God is the being that which nothing greater can be thought. Existence in reality is greater than existence in the mind. Since reality is greater than the mind, such a being must exist in reality to truly be perfect.
What are the Five Ways of Thomas Aquinas? Note: importance of necessary being. (Handout Summa Theo Logia)
Thomas Aquinas’ five ways are essentially different variations of arguments to God as a necessary being.
They are motion, namely that God is the unmoved mover who sets all things in motion.
The second way is cause; God is the first cause which explains all the effects we see that cannot cause themselves.
Third is necessary being; there is dependent being so an independent being is necessary explain what we have.
The fourth is gradation; God is a perfect being as others have gradations of being which point to the idea of a being at the top of the gradation.
The fifth way is governance; things appear to have purpose and God is the source of all those purposes.
Motion (God is unmoved mover which puts all things in motion),
cause (God is the first cause, the necessary cause),
necessary being (God is necessary for our existence and the existence of all things),
gradation (God is the perfect being),
and teleological argument, governance directing all things to their end (God is the source purpose).
Can you walk someone through the cosmological argument? (Lecture God Is)
- The universe is real or at least the thinker is real.
- The universe has a beginning.
- It is not caused by chance.
- The universe was created by a personal rather than an abstract force.
- As it is personal, the person is intelligent as we see intelligence in its design.
God made the cosmos and is the first and necessary cause. You see that things are, but those things are not independent and eternal so they can’t be the source. The universe had a beginning and was not caused by chance. Since the universe was not caused by chance and appears to have personal elements, it seems it was created by a personal being rather than an abstract force. See we see intelligence in the layout and design of creation, it appears that the universe was created by an intelligent, personal being, which we call God.
What are the specific arguments for Scripture’s uniqueness, which serve to rationally demonstrate the reliability of Scripture? Remember, there is the externum testimonium and the internum testimonium.
The externum testimonium is general revelation and textual matters involving archeology. The Internum testimonium is the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Understanding that this is from God and putting your personal trust in it. This is a collection of 66 books, three languages, over thousands of years, 39 authors, and one message. On this fact alone, the scriptures are basically reliable and should be looked at more closely.
Can you compare and contrast other religious texts with the Bible? (Short for two, Quran and Book of Mormon)
The Quran was written down by one person, the Bible was written down by more than three dozen authors. The Bible has texts which are closer to when it was written than the Quran does. Both claim inerrancy and infallibility. The Quran is not consistent in its message through the book. The Bible invites investigation, the Quran condemns it immediately.
Both the Book of Mormon and the Quran have the testimony of one author. The Quran and the Book of Mormon’s external facts are hard to if not impossible to corroborate while the Bible lines up with archeological data. Like the Quran, the Book of Mormon contradicts the scripture at points. Since it comes from multiple people who don’t try to set themselves up as an authority, the Bible is more likely to be the word of God than either.
