Part 2 :: Lesson Summaries
Lesson 1
The objectives and features of the Biblical Framework. The Apostle Paul’s apologetic strategy in Athens. Features of the pagan mind. How God handles an apologetic. The ultimate presupposition of the pagan and that of the Christian.
Lesson 2
The event of creation is crucial for defining Who and what God is. God created and that sets Him apart! A person’s view of origins reveals their view of God and their ultimate belief system. The biblical view of language. If God is Creator, then He is important for every subject.
Lesson 3
Discovering someone’s worldview. “You can’t say anything about anything without saying something about everything.” The Creator-creature distinction is what makes the Bible anti-pagan. Failure to make this distinction is idolatry and spiritual rebellion. God has unchallenged control over everything. “Continuity of being” is the opposite of the Creator-creature distinction. God is an infinite, personal God Who is self-contained and pre-existed the universe.
Lesson 4
There are only two kinds of creation story: the pagan and the biblical. A “presupposition” is your basic worldview that underlies your premise. Everyone has presuppositions. No one is neutral. Mathematics only works if the universe is structured as the Bible claims. Jesus Christ is the incarnation of that Person Who spoke the universe into existence. Questions and answers.
Lesson 5
The link between modern and ancient versions of paganism. The “continuity of being” versus the Creator-creature distinction. How did Jesus Christ and New Testament Christians interpret the Old Testament? A comparison and contrast of evolution and creation. Three strategies the Church has used to address the tension between evolution and creation. Questions and answers.
Lesson 6
The distinctive characteristics of the event of creation and where they lead us. A comparison of how paganism and biblical Christianity answer key questions. Who is man? What is truth? How should I then live?
Lesson 7
God insists that we start with His rules and the Creator-creature distinction when speaking with Him. Arguments about God and where/why they fail. We can never dictate to God the paths of our lives. God is incomprehensible. Our God is that immense! Man is the only life form in creation that is an appropriate expression of God. Questions and answers.
Lesson 8
The attributes of God. The attributes of God and those of man may be similar, but they are not identical. Omnipresence. Omnipotence. Immutability. Eternality. Sovereignty. The attributes of God are not impersonal ideas. They are the attributes of the Creator. Questions and answers.
Lesson 9
The attributes of God (continued). Holiness. The central weakness in atheism is that no non-Christian can come up with values that are transcendent. God is the standard! Something is right because God says it is right. Love. God’s love is never contingent! Omniscience. Idols are “safe gods” because they are made by man and are comprehensible. Questions and answers.
Lesson 10
The doctrine of man. God is dependent on nothing outside of Himself. The man-nature distinction. The Word of God is the only key authority for the interpretation of all reality. The unique design of man. Man is an image of God in both body and spirit. Man’s body was created with the incarnation of Jesus Christ in mind. Through his body, man rules nature. Questions and answers.
Lesson 11
Distinctions between man and nature. The man-nature distinction separates biblical Christianity from paganism. God didn’t create man the way He created animals. Man’s spirit and the image of God. Features of man that are analogous to features of God. Questions and answers.
Lesson 12
The Divine Institutions. Violating a Divine Institution means you are violating the structure of how God created us and there are consequences. Responsible labor. Marriage. Family. How nature glorifies God.
Lesson 13
Paganism always blurs the distinctions of God, man and nature. The limitations of man. The secret to life, happiness and meaning is not to be found in nature. Constants are located at the Creator level, not the creature level.
Lesson 14
The fall of man. Comparing and contrasting the inspired biblical story of the fall of man with the uninspired pagan myths. In paganism, evil always exists in some form and is a corollary to existence. Paganism always denies personal responsibility. Questions and answers.
Lesson 15
Guest speaker: today’s literary criticism, from the university to the public schools, reflects a pagan worldview. The biblical and the pagan views of evil. The intense antagonism toward Christianity betrays that, deep down, pagans know it’s true. Suffering. God has a rational and just answer for what He does, but does not see fit to always reveal that answer to man.
Lesson 16
Evil and man. In paganism, the universe is and will always be good and evil. The effects of sin on man’s body and spirit. The effects of sin on the Divine Institutions. How modern paganism addresses the problems sin creates. Questions and answers.
Lesson 17
The effects of the fall of man on nature’s design. Everything produced by man is contaminated by the fall. Pagan strategies and the biblical strategy for coping with suffering and evil. Questions and answers.
Lesson 18
The pagan response to evil and suffering. The biblical response to evil and suffering. When you pray for the end of evil and suffering, you are praying for the end of history. Patterns of suffering. Suffering: the steps of the biblical coping strategy.
Lesson 19
The historical nature of the Bible. You cannot have biblical faith without an inerrant Bible. The flood. In Scripture, you cannot have salvation without judgment. The three arguments that show the Bible clearly teaches a radical, global flood. Distinctive features of the antediluvian world. Questions and answers.
Lesson 20
The events of creation, the fall and the flood shape the rest of the Bible. Arguments for a global flood. Five characteristics of the flood story that provide a picture of salvation. Questions and answers.
Lesson 21
The characteristics of biblical salvation. The flood of Noah as a picture of salvation. God perfectly discriminates.
Lesson 22
The Noahic Covenant. The necessary preconditions to have a covenant. Why God enters into covenants. The four parts of a covenant. The rainbow is a physical analogy to the glory of God on His throne. Questions and answers.
Lesson 23
The nature of biblical covenants. The implications of covenant structure for the environment in which history is to take place. Nature is bounded by the Word of God. God is a trustworthy, covenant keeping, God. “Natural law” is a pagan substitute for the Word of God and His faithfulness.
Lesson 24
The pagan mind is deceived at the most basic levels, so it’s not surprising that it’s theories are in conflict with the Bible. The structure of man after the flood. The very way man sustains life, in the postdiluvian world, is through substitutionary death.
Lesson 25
God reconstituted the Divine Institutions after the flood. Noah and his sons were nation builders, not just survivors of the flood. The oracle of Noah. The new Divine Institution: civil government. Guest speaker: Police Homicide Supervisor. Capital punishment. Questions and answers.
Lesson 26
[Lesson not available]
Lesson 27
The internal Church issue of interpreting Genesis. All reality is the result of God’s language. If you destroy language, you destroy thinking and are left with emotion. Your worldview is determined by your doctrine of language. Scripture shows that Jesus believed in a literal interpretation of Genesis.
Lesson 28
Historical biology. Structural differences between creation and evolution. Inside the Mosaic Law there is a passion to preserve the categories and structures God created. The differences between evolution as “fact” and evolution as theory. Continuity of being versus common design. Problems with mutation and other aspects of evolutionary theory.
Lesson 29
Physics: dating systems and measuring ages. Salvation by works is related to evolution: transmuting a sinner into a saint. The Bible makes faith contingent on historical reality. The term “natural law” implies that nature never changes. Without a lawgiver, “natural law” is just conjecture. Various dating systems to measure the age of the earth: terrestrial clocks.
Lesson 30
True biblical faith is locked into historical reality. Evolution is a modern statement of an ancient idea: continuity of being. Dating systems to measure the age of the earth: non-terrestrial clocks (which are more speculative and require a longer chain of conjecture). Not all constants show an earth of great age. For “theological” reasons, cosmologists assume a universe with no center and no boundaries. A theory explaining a universe with both continuities and discontinuities.
Lesson 31
Interpreting historical geology inside a Biblical Framework. Sin distorts thinking. The pagan concept of “continuity of being” has existed from ancient times. Sedimentary rock is formed under water and is consistent with a, high energy, water based catastrophe that changed the world (the global flood). Uniformitarian based geology versus flood-based geology.
Lesson 32
Reintroduction of the Biblical Framework series. Where the Framework series will be going. Paul’s strategic envelopment in Athens. There are only two creation stories: the pagan view and the Biblical view. The pagan view denies creation out of nothing (ex nihilo) and denies the Creator-creature distinction. Questions and answers.
Lesson 33
You will either interpret the world around you using the Word of God or let the world around you interpret the Word of God. On the biblical basis, there are two levels of existence: the Creator level and the creature level. Since the fall, creature existence is abnormal. The Biblical view is that evil is caused by mankind and angelic rebellion, which means guilt before God. In paganism, evil is normal and everyone is a victim. Features of God’s judgments.
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