PREFACE TO THE STUDY OF THEOLOGY Finite minds, unless they are asleep or stultified by prejudice, must advance in knowledge. The discovery of new truth will modify old views and opinions, and there is perhaps no end to this process with finite minds in any world. True Christian consistency does not consist in stereotyping our opinions and views, and in refusing to make any improvement lest we should be guilty of change, but it consists in holding our minds open to receive the rays of truth from every quarter, and in changing our views and language and practice as often and as fast as we can obtain further information.... I hold myself sacredly bound, not to defend these positions at all events, but on the contrary, to subject every one of them to the most thorough discussion, and to hold and treat them as I would the opinions of anyone else; that is, if upon further discussion and investigation I see no cause to change, I hold them fast; but if I can see a flaw in any one of them, I shall amend or wholly reject it, as further light shall demand. Charles G. Finney, 1846 From the Author's Preface to Finney's Systematic Theology
THE NATURE OF GOD All moral creatures (those that have a choice between good and evil) have both a nature and a character. Nature is what the person is by their very existence. It is an ability of existence. Character, on the other hand, is the description of what we do with our existence; it describes how we live. Character is that set of principles and goals and ways that we have chosen to live by. What we are by nature is neither good nor evil morally. However, what we do with those natural attributes can be either good or evil.
THE NATURE OF GOD The same is true for God. His nature is what he is by existence. They have attributes of existence:
• God exists as a Trinity. • God is Eternal • Having personality (Intellect, Will, and Emotions) • Omniscient • Omnipotent • Omni-present • Omnivorous
“Even If I Did Believe” & Atheistic Attacks Concerning God
FOUR VIEWS OF GOD’S FOREKNOWLEDGE Predestination
All is God’s Will
Eternal Now
God knows all reality
FOUR VIEWS OF GOD’S FOREKNOWLEDGE Predestination
All is God’s Will
Eternal Now
God knows all reality
1. God decrees
2. People do not have the power to do anything contrary to the will of God 3. Therefore, God knows what He has determined to do.
Questions 1. How is God not responsible for sin? 2. Why are people guilty? 3. Does evil exist by the will of God?
4. Is God good?
FOUR VIEWS OF GOD’S FOREKNOWLEDGE Predestination
All is God’s Will
Eternal Now
God knows all reality
1. Sin is not the will of God but occurs because people have a will and disobey.
2. God knows as a certainty all that ever will occur. 3. These two ideas are said to be only apparent contradictions — antinomies.
Questions: 1. How can people have freedom to choose when God's will is all that can happen? 2. If something is an antinomy and therefore I cannot know it for certain, how can I know anything about God for certain?
FOUR VIEWS OF GOD’S FOREKNOWLEDGE Predestination
All is God’s Will
Eternal Now
God knows all reality
1. Divine timelessness: All of time is eternally present before God.
2. Therefore, God knows things regarding the future that would seem as only possibilities to us. 3. Men have a will; yet God knows ahead of time what our choices will be. Question:
1. Does God have a personality with the ability to: o o o o
think reason choose experience and change emotions from grief to joy
o do definite acts at definite times o walk with men o rest o forgive
o be provoked to anger o repent o change his plans o make new decisions
?
FOUR VIEWS OF GOD’S FOREKNOWLEDGE Predestination
All is God’s Will
Eternal Now
God knows all reality
These are all sequential things for us. If not like that for God, how are we made in His image? Question:
1. Does God have a personality with the ability to: o o o o
think reason choose experience and change emotions from grief to joy
o do definite acts at definite times o walk with men o rest o forgive
o be provoked to anger o repent o change his plans o make new decisions
?
FOUR VIEWS OF GOD’S FOREKNOWLEDGE Predestination
All is God’s Will
Eternal Now
1. God's knows certainties as certainties
2. God knows contingencies as contingencies 3. A human being has a free will 4. Everything that happens is not the will of God.
Questions: 1. How does God keep the world under control? 2. What is the nature of God's knowledge of the future? 3. How is prophecy possible if the future has contingencies? 4. What is the nature of predestination?
God knows all reality