Apologetics Final
Moral evil - ANS- 1. a categorical term referring to unjust human acts
2. the belief that humans act in ethically unacceptable ways; that they are capable of
wicked deeds that demand just punishment
Natural evil - ANS- a categorical term referring to the destructive forces of nature such
as floods, volcanoes, hurricanes, disease, genetic defects, etc.
Theodicy - ANS- a logical, philosophical justification of God's actions with a view to
defending God's Person and character
Defense - ANS- an analysis of axioms of Christian theology with a view to defending
Scriptural propositions as logically consistent.
Framing the Questions of the Problem of Evil - ANS- The question of moral evil: how is
it that we all know good and yet love evil?
The question of natural evil: why does nature inflict endless and horrific pain on
civilization?
The fundamental question: what is God's relationship to evil in His creation?
Irreconcilable axioms? (God is all good. God is all powerful. Evil exists.)
Responses to the Problem of Evil: Defensive Approach - ANS- - Augustine's theodicy
(Evil is the privation of goodness)
- Alvin Plantinga's free will defense (If God is omnipotent, then He can create any
possible world that He desires. If God is good, then He prefers a world without evil over
a world with evil. These statements are not necessarily true, therefore the atheist
argument-- (a) An omnipotent, omnibenevolent God exists. (b) Evil exists. (c) These
statements are irreconcilable--fails.)
Responses to the Problem of Evil: Offensive Approach - ANS- - The moral implication of
evil—an objective Personal standard exists.
, - People love evil more than they admit.
- The failure of alternative worldviews in solving the problem of evil.
Responses to the Problem of Evil: Evangelistic Approach - ANS- - Two radical claims in
the biblical narrative
- Old Testament: Man is abnormal not normal. Evil cannot be resolved globally. Evil
cannot be resolved nationally. Evil cannot be resolved individually.
- New Testament: God personally resolves the problem of human evil.
- Christianity offers a "why" and a "solution."
Enlightenment - ANS- - Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century western ideology that
emphasized reason, nature, and progress.
- Philosophers argued for the basic goodness of man, the authority of philosophy, the
inevitable progress of science, and a deistic view of God.
Four Enlightenment Beliefs - ANS- 1. The autonomy of man's thinking
2. The universe should be desacralized
3. Men are inherently good.
4. Progress toward utopianism is inevitable.
Denis Diderot - ANS- permitted only naturalistic explanations; supernaturalism was
excluded.
Francis Bacon - ANS- Novum Organum ("New Instrument") established the scientific
method as the primary tool for knowledge acquisition.
Isaac Newton - ANS- Principia Mathematica (somewhat unwittingly) displaced
providence with natural law.
Deism - ANS- a monotheistic anti-Trinitarian view of God that attributes to Him the
attributes associated with transcendence, but denies His immanent involvement in the
world through supernatural activity subsequent to the original act of creation
Moral evil - ANS- 1. a categorical term referring to unjust human acts
2. the belief that humans act in ethically unacceptable ways; that they are capable of
wicked deeds that demand just punishment
Natural evil - ANS- a categorical term referring to the destructive forces of nature such
as floods, volcanoes, hurricanes, disease, genetic defects, etc.
Theodicy - ANS- a logical, philosophical justification of God's actions with a view to
defending God's Person and character
Defense - ANS- an analysis of axioms of Christian theology with a view to defending
Scriptural propositions as logically consistent.
Framing the Questions of the Problem of Evil - ANS- The question of moral evil: how is
it that we all know good and yet love evil?
The question of natural evil: why does nature inflict endless and horrific pain on
civilization?
The fundamental question: what is God's relationship to evil in His creation?
Irreconcilable axioms? (God is all good. God is all powerful. Evil exists.)
Responses to the Problem of Evil: Defensive Approach - ANS- - Augustine's theodicy
(Evil is the privation of goodness)
- Alvin Plantinga's free will defense (If God is omnipotent, then He can create any
possible world that He desires. If God is good, then He prefers a world without evil over
a world with evil. These statements are not necessarily true, therefore the atheist
argument-- (a) An omnipotent, omnibenevolent God exists. (b) Evil exists. (c) These
statements are irreconcilable--fails.)
Responses to the Problem of Evil: Offensive Approach - ANS- - The moral implication of
evil—an objective Personal standard exists.
, - People love evil more than they admit.
- The failure of alternative worldviews in solving the problem of evil.
Responses to the Problem of Evil: Evangelistic Approach - ANS- - Two radical claims in
the biblical narrative
- Old Testament: Man is abnormal not normal. Evil cannot be resolved globally. Evil
cannot be resolved nationally. Evil cannot be resolved individually.
- New Testament: God personally resolves the problem of human evil.
- Christianity offers a "why" and a "solution."
Enlightenment - ANS- - Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century western ideology that
emphasized reason, nature, and progress.
- Philosophers argued for the basic goodness of man, the authority of philosophy, the
inevitable progress of science, and a deistic view of God.
Four Enlightenment Beliefs - ANS- 1. The autonomy of man's thinking
2. The universe should be desacralized
3. Men are inherently good.
4. Progress toward utopianism is inevitable.
Denis Diderot - ANS- permitted only naturalistic explanations; supernaturalism was
excluded.
Francis Bacon - ANS- Novum Organum ("New Instrument") established the scientific
method as the primary tool for knowledge acquisition.
Isaac Newton - ANS- Principia Mathematica (somewhat unwittingly) displaced
providence with natural law.
Deism - ANS- a monotheistic anti-Trinitarian view of God that attributes to Him the
attributes associated with transcendence, but denies His immanent involvement in the
world through supernatural activity subsequent to the original act of creation
