Most Important Notes from PHIL 240 {x words}
IX. Lesson Nine - The Issue of Alternative World Views
A. How can a person be certain of his or her correctness? The incarnation is very important when talking about a world view.
B. Atheism is a world view and close to the opposite view of the theistic arguments. Because the arguments for God's existence are good, atheism is wrong. Agnostics question God's existence, and sometimes, they say that a person cannot know. But His attributes show that He exists, that a person can know, and that agnosticism is wrong.
C. Pantheism, Panentheism, Deism (created and left, not personal), Rationalism (a form of deism), polytheism, and tritheism are other world views. If Jesus' world view is correct, then the others are wrong. He taught that God is good, personal, love, and One.
X. Lesson Ten - The Problem of Pain and Evil
A. Many people consider this to be the number one problem for theism. Why do bad things happen to people that are doing their best to serve the Lord? There are two types of evil: (1) moral evil (man against man) and (2) natural evil (nature against man). Natural evil is harder to explain, so people are more inclined to blame it on God.
B. There are a series of explanations for pain and evil. The problem is first stated as, an omnipotent God could destroy evil if He really wanted. So, maybe He is not all powerful or not all good or both or maybe He does not exist. Christians often say that God has a higher reason for what He allows or causes. So, a second form of the argument is that a person might be fighting against God to fight against evil. The first argument tries to put God down, and the second one tries to put the Christian in an awkward position.
1. God allows evil for the greater good and so that Christians can learn to be patient. Allowing and causing evil are not the same thing.
2. Not being able to fight against evil would mean that either God caused the evil or that He, Himself, does not fight evil. But God does fight evil, so people can fight against it, too. Commands to feed the poor is one way that He fights evil.
3. Moral pain and evil is caused primarily by sin (free will) and the Fall. Most non-Christian theists take this view, too. When people sin, they cannot logically blame God for the consequences that result. If they do, then they should be willing to give up their free will.
C. Eight ways to explain natural/physical evil. The fall of Satan, the fall of man, and the Flood are the three principle causes of natural evil. The first three are the strongest explanations for natural evil.
1. Sin brought pain to Adam (man earning bread difficult) and Eve (woman pain in childbirth). This was the beginning of pain. The Flood also changed the universe, and the fall of Satan brought pain, too.
2. Much physical evil comes from the freewill of demons. This might include the disproportionate amount of evil, too.
3. Naturalists cannot have a real concept of evil unless they have a real concept of good (C. S. Lewis). A naturalist does not have an absolute standard for what is right and wrong, and this objection is based on the same rationale as the moral argument for God's existence. If the naturalist argues against the existence of an absolute good and an absolute Lawgiver, then he or she has automatically admitted to not having a real concept of good.
4. Pain is not unrewarded for the believer. It can lead to eternal rewards (II Corinthians 4:7, II Corinthians 4:16-17, and II Corinthians 5:10). People need to refocus their thinking.
5. Some physical evil is necessary given the current environment (water and sun can cause problems, but they are needed to live).
6. Some pain leads to higher moral perfection.
7. Some pain creates a moral warning to watch out (see I Corinthians 11:28-30).
8. Some pain exists because of free will (drugs in babies).
D. Evil is a problem for all serious world views It is a problem for all theism, but especially for Christian theism. Naturalists have a problem with pain because they cannot understand absolute good and absolute evil. Evil backs into an argument for God's existence because He is the Moral Lawgiver that defines good and evil.
XI. Lesson Eleven - The Problem of Pain and Evil in the Book of Job
A. Demons perpetuate fraud in the universe on God by working evil. Most people blame the Lord for bad things that happen. Understanding pain does not take away pain. It re-orients one's way of thinking. In II Corinthians 4:17-18 and II Corinthians 5:8, Paul taught the importance of thinking away from the pain.
B. God did not have to create. People are told to praise Him, but many times, praise becomes a remedy for pain. Pain can be a neutral issue because evil is a problem for all major world views. Since everyone must give an answer for it, all views are equally cornered in trying to answer it. Evil is the main argument for the naturalist, but that just leads back to the existence of God. The evidences for the Christian theist are God, His attributes, His word, miracles (the resurrection), Christian experience, and changed lives. So, the main argument for the naturalist leaves him or her with nothing.
C. Pain and evil is put into perspective by recognizing that the naturalist cannot answer it, either.
D. In Job 38:4-7, God told Job about pain and evil by challenging him. Could Job create the world? In Job 38:31-35, could Job direct the stars, constellations, and order time? God asks Job if he can control evil? In the whole Book of Job, God never said that He could not deal with evil. His family was restored to him, and the only answer that Job ever got was that the Lord is God. Job was left to simply trust Him. The Lord told Job to let Him handle the pain and evil, rather than trying to understand it. II Corinthians 1:3-5 tells Christians to minister to others that are hurting. We will not always understand why people suffer. The evidences rest on the side of Christianity, so there is an ultimate answer to pain and evil.
XII. Lesson Twelve - The Trustworthiness of the Bible
A. Trustworthy means to be accurate and historically correct. Inspiration means that every word is from God. How can someone know that the Bible is trustworthy?
B. The Dead Sea scrolls, discovered from 1947 to some time afterwards, placed the Old Testament only two hundred years from the last writing in 400BC. The Massoretic texts were ninth century, and some other Old Testament works were found with some of the New Testament books around 300AD. The Dead Sea scrolls were discovered over time, not all in one day or even one week.
C. The Massoretic texts and the Dead Sea scrolls are extremely close in agreement. The Septuagint also provides a lot of agreement. Manuscript evidence is very strong. The Massoretic copying techniques are also very credible.
D. Archaeological data is very strong. Jonah was one of the most attacked Books in the Bible until Nineveh was discovered in the middle nineteenth century.
E. Daniel 5:1 says that Belshazzar was the last king of Babylon, but history says that it was Nebonidas. Daniel wrote that Belshazzar died but that Nebonidas did not die. Archaeologists found a stone that said that Belshazzar was the son of Nebonidas. He had a summer home where he would occasionally go, and when he did, he would leave his son in charge. Thus, on the night that the Medes and Persians attacked, Belshazzar was in the palace and Nebonidas was probably at his summer home.
F. Nelson Glueck wrote that archaeology has never contradicted Scripture. Millar Burrows has credited archaeology with giving the Bible credence.
XIII. Lesson Thirteen - Trustworthiness of the New Testament (Part 1)
A. The evidences for being a trustworthy document are (1) superior copying (it is the most reliable manuscript from ancient days, plus there are also a huge number of manuscript copies (over 5,000 New Testament manuscripts - most ancient texts have less than twenty)), (2) their closeness to the originals (the average manuscript copy is seven to fourteen hundred years from the original, and most people never question it. But some of the New Testament fragments are within twenty-five years (such as the Ryland text of a few verses from the Gospel of John at about 125AD)), and (3) none of the New Testament is missing or lost (not true of any secular works).
1. The more manuscripts that you have means that you have a greater probability of having the originals. The higher critics attack the original, and the lower critics attack the copies.
2. Manuscript evidence helps date the writing of the Gospel of John even though some critics have tried to date it late second century. The Chester Beatty papyri, from about fifty to one hundred fifty years after the completion of the New Testament, has most of the New Testament. The Bodner papyri dates to the same as Beatty and also has much of the New Testament. The Ryland manuscripts support the date of the Gospel of John.
3. Homer's Iliad is the closest comparison to the New Testament, but it is not even close.
B. The gospel accounts of Jesus are based on eyewitness testimony.
XIV. Lesson Fourteen - Trustworthiness of the New Testament (Part 2)
A. How the Historians View the Trustworthiness of the New Testament - Many of them say that the New Testament is trustworthy. Seven points by Ain Sherman White (Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament) and Michael Grant (Jesus - An Historian's Review of the Gospels).
1. The New Testament is a historical book. It resembles the format of numerous historical Greek and Roman works. Tacitus has some problems with how he presented his history, but his books are widely accepted.
2. The New Testament is a unique ancient category according to most critics.
3. The New Testament is closer to the original events than any other historical books.
4. Some different historical works differ from each other, but they still have value.
5. Some form critics ignore the causes for the experiences of the apostles, but form critics are too pessimistic.
6. Some New Testament Books have satisfied normal external tests. This is especially true of the Book of Acts.
7. Applying criticism to the New Testament does not negate the historical value of the whole thing.
B. Recognizing the Canon - The gospels and the epistles of Paul were accepted as Scripture almost immediately after they were written. The apostles testified to each other's writings.
C. The conclusion is that the New Testament is trustworthy.
XV. Lesson Fifteen - Fulfilled Prophecy (Part 1)
A. Tyre is an example of fulfilled prophecy (Ezekiel 26:1-21). Those verses say that it would become flat and never be rebuilt. Nebuchadnezzar overthrew the city (it took him months and was very expensive), but the inhabitants had gone out of the city to an island off the coast. He did not have a navy, so he could not go after them. About two hundred and fifty years later, Alexander the Great came to Tyre, and the people again went to the island. He did not have a navy, either, so he hired one. They built a causeway to the island by using the materials of the city to do it. They literally scraped the city flat to build the causeway. It was never rebuilt. Today, people can walk from the city to the island (isthmus) and see the former columns in the sea. The city today is on the island (isthmus) but not where the city used to be.
B. Philistinian cities, Gaza and Ashkelon, would be destroyed (Jeremiah 47:5-7, Zephaniah 2:4, and Zephaniah 9:5).
C. Daniel's prophecies about the four kingdoms were written hundreds of years before they happened.
D. God knows the future, He controls the nations, and what He says comes true.
E. The seventy-week prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27 tells what and when it will happen. The Israelites understood the weeks of years (Leviticus 25:8-13). They used seven weeks of seven when speaking of the fifty-year jubilee.
1. In 538BC, Cyrus gave temple authorization only. So, the best starting date is 445-444 BC (Nehemiah 2:5-8) because that was when they were given city authorization.
2. According to Dr. Anderson: 69 x 7 = 483 weeks of years. The Jewish calendar had 360 days (The Book of Revelation uses 3-1/2 years, 1260 days, and 42 months synonymously). Dr. Anderson says 483 x 360 = 173,880 days from the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem until the coming of Jesus. Dr. Anderson figures that the year of Jesus' triumphal entry was April 6, 32AD. He says that from 445BC to 32AD is 476 years times 365 days is 173,740 days. There would have been 476/4 = 119 - 3 century years = 116 days for leap years. Then, 173,740 + 116 = 173,856 days. Artaxerxes gave his command on March 14th, which from April 6th, is 24 more days, which brings the total to 173,880 days. This is a perfect match. Daniel hit the prophecy to the exact day.
3. Dr Robert Culver has a view, too. He said that Anderson's figuring had some problems. Mainly, the March 14th and April 6th could be wrong. Maybe, Jesus did not actually die in 32AD. He says, from 445-444BC and the 483 years, which is 38 years on the AD side (no zero AD, so 37AD). Dr. Culver says that that is close enough. The seventy-year Babylonian captivity was closer to sixty-eight years.
XVI. Lesson Sixteen - Fulfilled Prophecy (Part 2)
A. x
B. x
C. x
D. x
E. x
F. x
Tom of Bethany "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." (I John 5:12)
Index to Selected Essays And Book Reviews
PHIL 240 - Christian Evidences (Lessons 17-24)
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