TheismAthesimRevised030110 (1)

8/11/2019 TheismAthesimRevised030110 (1)

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God or Not

Theism vs. Naturalism (Atheism)


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C ristian T eism

Principle #1

God is infiniteand

person l(triune),

tr ns endentand

imm nent, omnis ient,

sovereignand good


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C ristian T eism

Principle #3 Human beings are created in the

image of God and thus possess

personality, self-transcendence,

intelligence, morality,

gregariousness and creativity.


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C ristian T eism

Principle #4

Human beings can know both

the world around them and God

himself because God has built

into them the capacity to do soand because he takes an active

role in communicating with them


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C ristian T eism

Principle #5

Human beings were created good, but through the Fall the image

of God became defaced, though not so ruined as not to becapable of restoration; through the work of Christ, God redeemed

humanity and began the process of restoring people to goodness,

though any given person may choose to reject that redemption.


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C ristian T eism

Principle #6 For each person death is either

the gate to life with God and his

people or the gate to eternal

separation from the only thingthat will ultimately fulfill human

aspirations.


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C ristian T eism

Principle #7

Ethics is transcendent and is

based on the character of God

as good (holy and loving).

C


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C ristian T eism

Principle #8

History is linear, a

meaningful sequence of

events leading to the

fulfillment of Gods

purposes for humanity.


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God isnt Atheistic

Naturalism


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Naturalism Defined

The dominant view in our culture today isradically one-dimensional: that this life isall there is, and nature is all we need to

explain everything that exists. This is, atheart, the philosophy of naturalism, andnot only has it permeated the classroomcurriculum, but it has also been expressed

widely in popular culture(Colson/Pearcy, How Now Shall we Live, p.52).


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A Philosopher speaks...

The world is like a gigantic machine whose

parts are so numerous and w hose processes are

so com plex that we have thus far been able to

achieve only a very part ial and fragmentary

understanding of how i t wo rks. In pr incip le,

how ever everyth ing that occurs is u l t imately

expl icable in terms of the propert ies and relat ion s

of the part ic les of which m atter is com posed.

Once again the point may be simply s tated:determinism is true(William Halverson, A conciseintroduction to philosophy, 1976, p. 394).


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Johnsons Definition

Naturalism is a metaphysical doctrine, which

means simply that it states a particular view

of what is ultimately real and unreal.

According to naturalism, what is ultimatelyreal is nature, which consists of the

fundamental particles that make up what we

call matter and energy, together with the

natural laws that govern how those particles

behave(Phillip Johnson, Reason in the Balance, p.37-38).


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Basic Beliefs

Only nature exists.

Nature has always existed.

Nature is characterized by total uniformity. Nature is a deterministic system.

Nature is a materialistic system.

Nature is a self-explanatory system.


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Naturalisms View of God


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Naturalisms View of the

Cosmos The cosmos exists as a uniformity of

cause and effect in a closed system.


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Naturalisms View of Man

Human beings are complex

machines; personality is an

interrelation of chemical andphysical properties we do not yet

fully understand.


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Naturalisms View of Death


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Naturalisms View of History

History is a linear stream of

events linked by cause and

effect but without an

overarching purpose.


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Naturalisms View of Ethics

Ethics is related only to human beings.


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Naturalism Results

A Matter of Life

It all begins with the attitude that

there is such a thing as a life not

worthy to be lived. Todays statisticsshow that up to 90% of expectant

parents who receive a prenatal

diagnosis of Downs syndrome willabort their baby. (Life is Sacred video

Focus on the Family)

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TheismAthesimRevised030110 (1)