BIBLICAL THEOLOGY

Section I: Introductory Materials and Preliminary

Considerations
Dale Moreau 12/31/2011

A Detailed Outline View of an Eschatology that is based upon the Moral Character of God

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
SECTION I: INTRODUCTORY MATERIALS AND PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS ........................................................3 I 1. 2. II 1. 2. III 1. 2. IV 1. 2. V 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. VI INTRODUCTION. ...............................................................................................................................................3 QUESTION WHERE WILL IT ALL END? .............................................................................................................3 ANSWER IN HIM WITH WHOM IT HAD ALL BEGUN. ..........................................................................................3 THE TWO PRESUPPOSITIONS OF ESCHATOLOGY ARE: ..........................................................................3 HE WHO HAS MADE CREATION IS BRINGING BACK ALL OF IT UNTO HIMSELF. ....................................................3 ALL THAT WHICH HAS BEEN CREATED BY GOD WILL FULFILL ITS INTENDED PURPOSE EXCEPT REBELLIOUS MEN AND SPIRITS. ....................................................................................................................................................... 3 ESCHATOLOGY.............................................................................................................................................3 ETYMOLOGY. ....................................................................................................................................................3 THE BIBLICAL UNDERSTANDING OF ESCHATOLOGY INCLUDES:.........................................................................4 THE AUTHORITY OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. .......................................................................................4 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT THE AUTHORITY OF BIBLICAL REVELATION. ...............................................4 QUESTION AND ANSWERS ABOUT CHRISTIAN AUTHORITY. ...............................................................................5 THE FOUR PILLARS OF THE EARTH. ............................................................................................................6 PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS. ......................................................................................................................6 PILLAR 1 - ONTOLOGY THE FIRST PILLAR OF THE EARTH. ...............................................................................6 PILLAR 2 - AXIOLOGY THE SECOND PILLAR OF THE EARTH. ............................................................................8 PILLAR 3 - EPISTEMOLOGY IS THE THIRD PILLAR OF THE EARTH........................................................................9 PILLAR 4 - METHODOLOGY IS THE FOURTH PILLAR OF THE EARTH. .................................................................29 WAYS TO LOOK AT REALITY..................................................................................................................30

1. THE GREEK WAY IS DESCRIPTIVE AND REFLECTIVE AND ASKS THE QUESTION, WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?........................................................................................................................................................30 2. THE LATIN WAY IS WITH WHAT METHOD DOES ONE USE TO LOOK AT REALITY (LATIN - QUI MODO AND ASKS THE QUESTION, HOW DOES IT WORK?.........................................................................30 3. THE HEBRAIC WAY IS FUNCTIONAL, THEOLOGICAL, PHENOMENOLOGICAL AND PRESCIENTIFIC................................................................................................................................................................30 VII 1. 2. 3. 4. THE FIVE PRESUPPOSITIONS OF CHRISTIAN THOUGHT. .................................................................31 GOD IS. ..............................................................................................................................................................31 GOD SPEAKS. ...................................................................................................................................................31 MAN CAN UNDERSTAND GOD WHO SPEAKS. .........................................................................................31 AS THE WORLD IS NOW, IT ORIGINALLY WAS NOT, NOR SHALL IT ULTIMATELY BE. ...............31

5. GOD HAS NOT REVEALED ALL OF WHO HE IS, BUT FROM WHAT HE HAS REVEALED, IT IS TRUE WITH WHO HE IS. THIS IS BASED ON ONE OF TWO POSSIBLE PRESUPPOSITIONS...................31

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VIII 1. 2. PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS FOR A STUDY OF GOD. ..............................................................31 INTRODUCTION. .............................................................................................................................................31 TWO CONTRASTING APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF GOD...............................................................32

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A Detailed Outline View of an Eschatology that is based on the Moral Character of God Section I: Introductory Materials and Preliminary Considerations I Introduction. 1. Question Where will it all end? 2. Answer In Him with whom it had all begun. II The two presuppositions of eschatology are: 1. He who has made creation is bringing back all of it unto Himself. 2. All that which has been created by God will fulfill its intended purpose except rebellious men and spirits. III Eschatology. 1. Etymology. A. The term eschatology comes from the Greek word eschatos and has two meanings: 1). It means last in the sense with what happens to persons and things at the conclusion of each ones existence. 2). It means final in the sense with closing out the last or final chapter of a book. B. Christian existentialisms view of eschatology. 1). Eschatology may also be a study of that which is ultimate and highest in terms of values and quality in time. A). Ultimate in the sense with what makes up the quality of time that defines one historical and eternal event over another and fulfills and brings the purpose and functions of each historical and eternal event to a close or to completion. B). This view is not concerned with clock time or those seconds, minutes, and hours which are the measurements of time but is concerned with those events that fill up and give distinctiveness and meaning to time.

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C). The ancient Hebrew would ask, What is the purpose or function of a particular period of time and has it fulfilled its purpose and function? D). The Greek term pleroma means those events that are in time and space and make that particular point in time to be qualitatively distinct from any other time of history. 2). The Biblical understanding of revelation includes revelation or disclosure of those values of the divine, demonic, human and eternal through men in historical events. 2. The Biblical understanding of eschatology includes: A. The culmination of time in which time and space will cease to exist by turning into the eternal order at the end of days when Christ comes again, and, B. Fulfilling history with spiritual and eternal values that come from God and into men and give meaning to and bring its purposes and functions into completion this is founded on three principles of the revelatory norms. 1). The principle of the promise-fulfillment motif of revelatory norms in which every promise that comes from God will always bring a larger fulfillment until it fills up and comes to a completion or fulfillment. 2). The principle that is built on the divine undertaking in which God was enlarged by the experiences that took place in the incarnation and are on-going and will continue after time is turned into eternity at the second coming of Christ. 3). The principle that wherewith Gods moral character abides so does evil in lesser force and that wherewith evil abides so does the moral character of God abide in greater force. A). This constant contradiction and tension that exist between Gods moral character and evil and abide in history will continually grow throughout history and culminate into an Anti-Christ principle of evil in the latter days. B). But rest assured the moral character of God will win out over evil in the end through His might and power. IV The authority of the Christian faith. 1. Questions and answers about the authority of Biblical revelation.

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A. Question Is it true because it is in the Bible or is it in the Bible because it is true? B. Answer It is in the Bible because it is true if it is any other way, the Bible would be a book of inflated egos and lose any credibility with which it possesses. 2. Question and Answers about Christian authority. A. Question - What is the primary authority of the Christian faith? B. Answer It starts with God The authority of the Christian Community is a stair-step model which includes: 1). The moral character of the Triune God, 2). As revealed in Scriptures, 3). As conveyed through heritage, and, 4). As made real and met in corporate and individual experiences. A). The authority of the Christian community is a stair-step model that starts from the top step (the moral character of the Triune God) to the bottom step (corporate and individual experience).

B). The top step of the stair case - the moral character of the Triune God has authority over each lower step. i. The moral character of the Triune God has authority over Scripture, heritage, corporate, and individual experience. ii. But the revelation which is in Scriptures has authority over heritage, corporate and individual experience but has no authority over the moral character of the Triune God. iii. And Christian heritage has authority over corporate and individual experience but has no authority over the

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revelation that is in Scripture and the moral character of the Triune God. iv. And corporate experience has authority over individual experience but both corporate and individual experience has no authority over heritage, revelation of the Scripture, and the moral character of the Triune God. V The four pillars of the earth. 1. Preliminary considerations. A. The four pillars of the earth are the requirements for all knowledge and understanding; and without them, one is not able to reason about or know anything. B. Whether one does or does not acknowledge or recognize it, the four pillars of the earth are required of all discipline if there is to be any discourse and meaning for a subject matter. 2. Pillar 1 - Ontology the first pillar of the earth. A. This is the study of being or of what exists. 1). The question of the Christian community is, What is? 2). Answer The Christian Community has answered, The Creator and the created. B. What has God created? 1). Spiritual beings that are two dimensional in existence. A). Socio-psychic dimensions (mental and social). B). Ultimate or dimensions (spiritual). 2). Mankind who is three dimensional in existence. A). Biochemical dimensions (physical). B). Socio-psychic dimensions (mental and social) C). Ultimate dimension ( spiritual). 3). Animals that are two dimensional in existence.

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A). Biochemical dimensions (physical). B). Socio-psychic dimensions (mental and social). 4). Stuff that is one dimensional in existence. A). Biochemical dimensions (physical). B). Do plants have a primitive socio-psychic (mental and social) dimension? C. What is being, existence and reality? 1). Reality. A). Definition. i. What is reality? ii. Reality is anything that is capable of having relationships and affecting others. B). Being is a subcategory of reality. i. What is being? ii. Being is that part of reality which has the capacity for relationships within its own sphere. C). Existence is a subcategory of reality and being. i. What is existence? ii. Existence is that part of reality that has time and space relationships. a. For one to exist he must have being and live in time and space. i). All existence has ontological being. ii). However, not all ontological being has existence.

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b. Is there non-being or any form of being which can turn into non-being or be totally obliterated? i). Jean Paul Sartre says being can be turned into non-being or totally obliterated (see Sartres Being and Nothingness 1943 Edition). ii). Conditional immortality (the just of God shall be saved while the remaining shall be obliterated into non-existence) stresses the good get their reward in while the bad go into non-being or nonexistence. iii). Annihilationism stresses that part of Gods creation which has rejected Him shall be turned into non-existence or non-being. 2). The moral being of God is the most important existence for man. 3. Pillar 2 - Axiology the second pillar of the earth. A. Axiology is the study of values or of what is important in life. 1). The Christian Community understands man to be a value-pursuing being rather than a rational being with which the Greeks made to be paramount. 2). What a person loves and pursues determines more than all the powers of his or her reason and intellect. 3). This postulate of man with being a value-pursing being revolutionizes reason, intellect, education and all other phases of life. B. The Christian Communitys question is, What is important? 1). Those things which have being or are coming into being (such as the birth of a new born child). A). Greek thinking about being. i. The Greeks believed being was more important than is non-being.

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ii. The Greeks believed that which has potential was being or real. B). Christian thinking about being. i. The Christian Community sees God to be the most important value. ii. The Christian Community believes that which has potential is not being for all being must have life that is capable of having relationships with God, self and others. 2). Those things by which one knows. A). The Greek philosophers said the cardinal sin was ignorance. B). The Judeo-Christian Community says the cardinal sin is disobedience to God. 3). Those things with which one possesses or has. 4). Those things with which one does. 5). Those things with which one relates. A). To the Christian Community, relating or relationships is the most important value. B). The Christian Community says life is not life unless you are able to relate to God, self, and others. 6). Those things to which one gives obedience. 4. Pillar 3 - Epistemology is the third pillar of the earth. A. This is the study of knowing or of how do you know anything. B. The Christian Communitys question is, How do you know? 1). Reflection - this is the use of logic or deductible reasoning. A). The premise of reflection is in the ability of an argument to logically extend to conclusions that are not absurd or contradictory to proven truth.

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i. All arguments must not fall into reductio ad absurdum (Latin for reduction to the absurd) whereby a proposition is disproved by following its implications logically to an absurd consequence. a. A common type of reductio ad absurdum is proof by contradiction (also called indirect proof), where a proposition is proved true by proving that it is impossible for it to be false. i). That is to say, if A being false implies that B must also be false and it is known that B is true, then A cannot be false and therefore A is true. ii). Where such an argument is premised on a false dichotomy, the ostensible proof is a logical fallacy. b. Reductio ad absurdum is the logic of mathematics but also of the world of ideals in philosophy. ii. Reductio ad absurdum is a process of refutation of an argument on the grounds of its absurdities; and patently untenable consequences would ensue from accepting the item at issue. iii. The consequences of an absurd argument takes on three principle forms: a. A self-contradiction (ad absurdum). b. A falsehood (ad falsum or even ad impossibile). c. An implausibility or anomaly (ad ridiculum or ad incommodum). B). Straight line thinking. i. Major premise (ex. All men are equal). ii. Minor premise (ex. John is a man). iii. Conclusion (ex. Therefore, John is equal).

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C). Dialectical thinking or back and forth reasoning as proposed by Socrates and then reinvented by Hegel. i. Basis of dialectal thinking. a. Thesis a governing wisdom that is popular and accepted to being true. b. Antithesis an idea that opposes the governing wisdom by combating it. c. Synthesis After the battle is over, a new consensus appears and becomes the new standard of governing wisdom. ii. Paradox or seemingly logical contradictions is the literary tool of the dialectician. iii. This can destroy absolutes unless there is a general truth or standard which governs this method. iv. The moral character of God is the standard which can redeem this way of thinking. D). Inductive reasoning. i. Characteristics. a. This form of reasoning examines causes and works its way from cause to effect. b. This is to reason from the particular unto the general. c. This form or reasoning uses experimenting and experience. ii. Empirical knowledge. a. That knowledge which comes from observation. b. This type of knowledge is the method of science. 2). Intuition. A). This is the hunch method of knowing something.

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B). I feel it in my gut type of reasoning. C). Thomas Kuhn The Structure of the Scientific Revolution stresses every scientific discovery came from intuitive responses or a hunch. 3). Phenomenological knowledge. A). This is prevalent in the Bible. B). This type of knowledge is what comes from ones senses. C). This view is not based in science but is based upon what makes up the natural and spiritual world when met by ones senses of smell, touch, taste, hearing, sight, hunches, and faith. i. Ex. when I touch a fire, I know it is hot. ii. Ex. when I hear the birds chirping, they sing to God. iii. Ex. when it snows, sleet, rain, or hail, God must have a storehouse of snow, rain, sleet, hail, etc. that is located in heaven and opens up when the earth needs it. iv. Ex. - sunset, sunrise, or references to sun and stars moving. D). Phenomenology is very important to understand the Bible because in Scripture it: i. is the alternative way of thinking to either empirical science and hangs ups on inductive data, or, ii. is the alternative way of thinking to deductive reasoning and hang ups on the a priori (knowledge or justification is independent of experience). iii. In phenomenology one allows the sense data to determine the categories under which to organize thinking about God. - When one says "allow the sense data to determine the categories," what is meant by it? (this is very crucial to understand Biblical thinking):

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a. What that means is, you have a bit of qualia, an impression of the way with which sense data strikes us, the way something appears to us. i). God is not the subject of empirical data because He is the basis of empirical knowledge and data and the basis of all reality. ii). Lets say a scientist who is a marine biologist says to another, My boss has assigned me to study only things that are called water or the make-up of H2O, but I cannot find water anywhere. aa. The marine biologist says this because it never has occurred to him that water surrounds him on a constant basis and that he only sees through water rather than looking directly at water and misses the very thing that surrounds him. ba. Its the idea that one cannot see the forest because of the trees the individuals units that are called trees make up what is called a forest and we see so many individual trees that the forest as a whole is lost. ca. Therefore, because God is the basis of reality, the ground of Being (For in him we live and move and have our being Acts 17.28), and when we try to look for God and to see Him directly, we have a tendency to look through rather than directly at Him because He is the medium

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in which we live and who is the ground of all being that surrounds all creation and reality. iii). The only way to the search for and find God, other than through the revelation of Scripture, is not to look for empirical data or evidence of His existence but to look for a co-determinate or trace of Him in reality and creation. aa. Thus, one looks for the signature or trace of God in creation much like one looks for the trace or aura of a neutrino. ba. One cannot photograph neutrinos directly but one can photograph their aura or trace when neutrinos react with other particles, and when one sees that aura, one knows neutrinos exit. b. Atheists are hung up on empirical knowledge. i). Thats why so many of them (not all by many) insist that we have no information about God or that you cannot verify God. ii). God cannot be the subject of empirical data because He is not given to sense data since He is the basis of sense data and all reality. aa. That's because God is not just another object alongside objects in creation. ba. God is not just another thing because God is the basis of reality and things.

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E). Knowledge and faith in the Bible are not opposed with each other but are equally matched. i. Knowledge, in the Bible, is not pure scientific objectifying cognition, but is an act whose meaning is drawn in part from the usage that makes, for example, the sexual union of man and woman to be a knowing, or a special knowledge that only belongs to men and women when in and after sexual union with one another. ii. Faith is no second-class knowledge in the Bible because it is directed toward a first-class object (God and human life are first-class objects in the Bible) and it possesses a first-class certainty because it is grounded in a first class knowledge of God and humanity. iii. Faith, like knowledge of God, is that act of the whole person in which God is apprehended, acknowledged, accepted, and affirmed ( by earthen vessels who see in a mirror dimly - 2 Cor. 4:7) C. The Christian community must use all forms of reasoning from man and use the reasoning which comes from knowing spiritual values and principles that are from God. 1). Part of the way to knowledge is by faith. A). Faith is to believe something to be true before one can accept it. B). Faith also affirms the way toward wisdom and not just intellect alone by acting upon that part of knowledge with which you have accepted to be true. 2). The way into true knowledge is to use the conscious mind in unity with the deep mind that is referred by the Apostle Paul to be the renewed mind of man in Christ (Rom. 12:2; II Cor. 4:16; Eph. 4:23; Col. 3:10; Titus 3:5). A). In Biblical thought, man is never divided into a compartments or classes such as body, rational mind and soul. B). Man is looked upon as a whole unit which functions as a whole self that takes on many dimensions including spiritual, physical, mental, communal, and social and so forth.

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i. The wholeness of man points to a deep mind which falls in love with values and articulates itself through the central-self that functions through the mind, both conscious and unconscious, and then expresses itself outwardly through the body. a. The deep mind (Biblical word is heart) will place the living Christ to be the supreme value that is above all else (For a deeper understanding of the use of the word heart in the Bible, read, Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart, 2002, Navpress Publishing Group). i). The word heart in the Bible does not stand for emotions as many learned men of theology have suggested (only two instances of heart as referring to emotion are found in I Sam. 1:8 and 2:1). ii). The Biblical word heart refers to and is inseparable from the mind and the ability to understanding deep spiritual things both demonic and divine (Prov. 23:7, Deut. 9:4, Isa. 10:6, Matt. 9:4, James 1:26). iii). The heart, in the Scripture, gives values to the things with which the mind understands. aa. Hebrew thought does not express abstract thinking about anything but is always expressed through concrete material things. ba. Hebrew thought saw the heart as the concrete and physical heart, the organ in the chest. ca. But the Hebrew thinkers of the Old and New Testament used the concrete word for heart to express the place where one exercises faith

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(Lk. 24/25, Rom. 10: 9,10), where the location of the human deliberation is made, and where wisdom is employed. da. To the Hebrew mind, when men got scared, the heart would beat faster and they felt it in their chest and associated it with the idea of what to do to escape fear. ea. When man is calm, the heart beats slower than when he is excited from fear or depression. fa. Understanding is said to be the function of the mind (Job 38:36), yet the connection to the heart is undeniable because the heart is where a person desires the difference between right and wrong (I Kings 3:9). ga. The Biblical concept of heart in modern days has been too much determined by secular psychology and pietism, a hangover from the nineteenth century. ha. The heart, regenerate or apostate, gives basic sets of values to the mind but it does not completely control the mind. ia. The unregenerate heart, because of common grace, does not come to full expression in the unbelievers mind.

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ja. The regenerate heart, because of sin, does not come to full expression in the Christians mind. ka. There is an unqualified and absolute antithesis between the regenerate and unregenerate heart. la. There is not an absolute antithesis between the Christian and non-Christian mind. ma. He who in his heart is a Christian belongs to God in principle and yet may have a mind that embraces egregious error and breathes a reprehensible spirit. na. He who in his heart is a non-Christian belongs to Satan in principle, and yet may have a mind that embraces much of truth and breathes a temperate spirit. oa. In the case of both the Christian and the nonChristian, the mind, though for different reasons, can be false to the heart. (Henry Stob, Theological Reflections, Eerdmans, 1981, page 236). pa. The heart contains knowledge that is both conscious and unconscious. qa. Basically, the heart is the center of mans moral

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character, who he really is from on the inside (Lk. 6:45). b. The central-self is made in the image of God that is value pursuing, and centered in values of Gods moral character, i.e., the central-self is the soul or essence of a person wherewith Gods image is present in Christians. i). Biblical psychology of man (refer to C. Ryder Smith, The Doctrine of Man; R. Niebuhr, The Nature and Destiny of Man). aa. There is no Hebrew word for body but there are several Hebrew words for body parts, such as heart, mind, etc. ba. The English word body or form comes from the Greek word soma and means form that is animated by life. ca. The Hebrew word nephesh and the Greek word equivalent psuche is translated as soul, the total life force of living man. da. The Hebrew word ruach and the Greek word pneuma is translated spirit, meaning life force, a person who strives for selftranscendence when energized by God and is able to turn all life toward Gods dimension. ea. The Hebrew word basar and Greek word sarx is best translated flesh, the capacity to cooperate with

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the Evil One and order life toward Satans direction. ii). The Hebrew word nephesh (used 754 times in the Old Testament) and the Greek word psuche (used 105 times in the New Testament) for the word soul are equivalents to the modern day term central-self and has many shades of meaning such as: aa. Breath, the breath of life, ba. The vital force that animates the body and shows itself in breathing within man and animals, ca. Life and that in which there is life, da. A living being, a living soul, or the soul, ea. The seat of feelings, desires, affections, aversions of the heart these are selective values with which only nephesh or psuche can partake because it only selects or chooses what is pertinent to man at the time for which those values are called. fa. The moral being of man that is designed in the image of God and destined for everlasting life when God Himself calls it forth from the dead. iii). Nephesh and psuche both mean life in the sense of an individual, or the life experiences of an individual and is the thing which makes each individual

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person to be unique and different from everyone else and is made in the image of God. iv). A commonly held and false belief that is among Christians is the existence of a human soul, aa. That is dwelling within us, forming the core of our entity, and is an immaterial and invisible spirit. ba. This spirit or ghost enters our flesh in the womb, exits our flesh at death, and acts as the hub of our consciousness and thought process. ca. It is the fundamental constituent and essence of who we are, making us to be ourselves, and not someone else. da. This belief is Greek thinking and is not Biblically sound or logical in the light of who God is. ea. When man dies, there is no immortality of his soul after death, because when he dies, he remains dead only until God calls him forth from death and into life. v). The central-self is very picky and selective with which values that it chooses for man at the moment of choice but it must have a value system that is inexhaustible and can constantly challenge it to seek the depths of that value system without reaching a plateau.

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aa. The moral character of God is the only non-exhaustive value system and principles that will never grow stale or on which man will never flat-line. ba. The vitality of man is found in what he loves and for which he is willing to die. c. The mind is suited to examine data, make rational deductions, and use experience to gain knowledge of the truth about reality. i). However, these actions are not always carried out properly because the mind often interprets data and experience through preconceived notions of life and faith rather than though objective truth. ii). This contradiction between preconceived notions and objective truth is evidenced by the fact that two minds may take the same data and come to contrary conclusions concerning that data. iii). Greek thinkers and philosophers who created theories of the nature or reality, which had little or nothing to say about the real world, vividly demonstrate this contradiction of notion and objective truth because these Greek thinkers found themselves living in a real world that was often contrary to their theories. iv). The mind has the ability to deceive itself and rationalize away faults and weaknesses. v). Within the mind is the conscious mind which is the logical self of a person and the unconscious mind which is the emotional side of a person who sometimes allow his emotions to

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overtake sound thinking and wisdom of the conscious mind. d. The deep mind, the central-self, the unconscious and conscious minds and the body are so unified that the individual is all of these things at once. e. When the deep mind, the central-self, the mind (conscious and unconscious), and the body function according to each ones particular uniqueness, they blend into a harmony of unity and wholeness. i). Therefore, the following is how man thinks and lives: aa. The deep mind or heart of man falls in love with a value system and accepts it whether or not it is good or bad. ba. The central-self is awakened by the deep mind and seeks to steer man toward selecting only those values from the deep mind that are worthy of mans stature or importance in life. ca. The unconscious mind or mans seat of emotions is either excited over the selected value system of the central-self and pushes man to act upon it or it is unexcited and causes man to delay or procrastinate the way with which he is to handle these selected values of the central-self. da. The conscious mind or logical-self determines the worthiness of the selected values that have been

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accepted by both the deep mind and the central-self and uses the powers of reason and intellect to render judgment upon these selected values of the deep mind and central-self and sometimes runs into conflict with the unconscious mind of mans emotions. ea. The body of man becomes the outward expression of the combination of the workings of the deep mind, the central-self, the conscious mind and unconscious mind with the value system that is in question. ii). Steps with how the deep mind, centralself, unconscious mind, conscious mind and body work together when assimilating Christs values from the moral character of God: aa. When the deep mind passionately chooses the value system of the moral character of God in Jesus Christ, ba. then the central-self chooses or only selects the values of the moral character of God that are fitting for mans place within his environment, ca. and is followed by emotions of the unconscious mind that causes man to become excited enough to act upon

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the value systems of Christ that come from the deep mind and central-self, da. which triggers the conscious mind or logicalself to determine the rationale for accepting the value systems of Jesus Christ that came from within the deep mind and central-self but sometimes comes in conflict with the emotions of the unconscious mind, ea. and from the combination of the total workings of the deep mind, central-self, unconscious and conscious minds about Christs moral nature and values, man comes to some sort of conclusion that produces expression of these values through the body and into the world.

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ii. Therefore, when the central-self passionately chooses the beauty of Jesus Christ that comes from the depth of the deep mind and works its way through the unconscious emotional mind and conscious logical-self, then the body willingly acts upon these value principles that trigger the power of the whole being of man to be centralized and released into the world in and with words and deeds. a. This is the whole being of man unleashed and what God intended us to be. b. Consequently, a hierarchy of values is established and brings about richer fulfillment. c. Within this context, the imagination can make tremendous contributions to the whole of life for memory can unite the past with the present and lessons spring forth that guide man further into adventure with Christ. d. Emotions are awakened to become healthy drives toward realistic goals; and worldly values, which allow the rise of inordinate lust and purely physical desires, are lessened. e. Other-centered love then begins to redeem sexuality from being physical and sensual to being self-giving to the one that is loved by you. f. The energy of temper is increasingly directed away from personal tendencies toward righteous anger where justice is practiced rather than raw angry emotions. D. Involvement in the three levels of learning. 1). A tremendous surge in growth can be found in what may be termed as the three ways of learning. A). The first level of learning is empiricism. i. In empiricism knowledge is gained from facts that come from experience and the assimilation and relation of those facts with meaning that issues into evidence of a thing with being true.

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ii. .Knowledge is the seeking of facts that are true and any approach to knowledge that by-passes or overlooks empiricism will soon defeat itself. iii. If empiricism is considered to be adequate in itself, knowledge will decline. iv. Science and technology are the masters that use empirical data in the quest for scientific truth; but science and technology that is left alone with empiricism as the only source of knowledge will enslave people. B). The second level of learning is rationalism. i. In rationalism the mind or reason is considered to be adequate at its best to know the whole of reality. ii. Knowledge, in rationalism, is by inference and propositions that correspond to reality with what has already been proven to be true. a. Many great advances in learning have come out of rationalism but it is unable to know the whole of truth when it is considered the only way to knowledge and learning. b. If one does not allow some measure of guidance from empiricism into rationalism, rational thought can lead into an unreal conception of truth. C). The third level of learning is moral integrity. i. It would seem the harmonious union of empiricism and rationalism would be a better avenue to learning than with either one of them alone as the only way to knowledge and truth. a. There are those who reject any such effort of joining empiricism with rationalism. b. For those who do desire to unite empiricism with rationalism, the task is not easy.

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ii. The third way of learning involves one with values and the spiritual aspects of his or her being. a. This third level of learning seeks the services of both empiricism and rationalism in its quest for truth. i). In empiricism the senses are the means by which facts from experience are gathered and organized. ii). In rationalism the mind acts according to thought and logic in order to know the explanation and meaning of reality. b. In the third level of learning, which is mainly spiritual, the vital avenue to learning lies in moral integrity in which one acts in harmony with and obedience to values and spiritual principles with which one seeks to understand. i). To accomplish moral integrity with spiritual values and principles, the seeker of the whole truth gathers all the relevant truth with which empiricism can furnish to him. ii). Added to this, the contribution of rationalism is supplemental in which the coherence, validity of inferences or conclusions, and implications of principles are recognized. iii). Added to empiricism and rationalism is the perspective of values and spiritual principles and all are blended into a whole that serves for further learning. aa. Spiritual principles and values are more than facts of experience and rational concepts because they must be internalized into character and made to be part of the deep mind that is within the inner most being

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of one who seeks knowledge so that these spiritual values and principles may issue into expressions of personhood. ba. Some aspects of reality are grasped by experiences and other aspects of reality are known through reason, but the wholeness of truth includes the entire range or reality that comes from the spiritual, the experiential and the rational, which includes both the knower and the known. 2). Ones concept of the truth includes more than knowing enough of the principles of nature, for instance, that comes to one from empirical evidence and rational thought in order to use nature for ones own ends. A). The wholeness of truth will require the knower to understand the principles that stand in back of nature and reality so that he can intelligently and creatively cooperate with them to the benefit of all. B). The wise use of the three levels of learning must result into knowledge that is dynamic and splendid in growing conditions for the Christian. 5. Pillar 4 - Methodology is the fourth pillar of the earth. A. The methodological question is three-fold: 1). How do you know what exists or is real? 2). What is important to you and the Christian faith? 3). What is it with which we are able to know anything? B. Symbols are the methodology that is used in communicating anything. 1). Non-verbal symbols. A). Signs.

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B). Body language. C). Symbols. 2). Verbal symbols. A). Symbols are those things which describe: i. What is and is not real to us. ii. What is or is not important to us. iii. How we are able or not able to know anything. B). Symbols describe realities of the world and participate in the very realities by which it describes and yet do not exhaust reality of its content. C. All language is symbolic and falls into three classes of symbols. 1). Common symbols Ex. water. 2). Technical symbols Ex. H2O. 3). Poetic symbols Ex. the water of life Would you use apocalyptical language to interpret historical language or historical language to interpret apocalyptical language? I would hope not. VI Ways to look at reality. 1. The Greek way is descriptive and reflective and asks the question, What does it look like? 2. The Latin way is with what method does one use to look at reality (Latin - qui modo and asks the question, How does it work? 3. The Hebraic way is functional, theological, phenomenological and pre-scientific. A. The Hebraic mind would ask: 1). Does it work? 2). Does it function? 3). What is the function?

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4). What is a things purpose? 5). Has it fulfilled its purpose or function? B. The Old and New Testament revelation of God is always seen through the ancient Hebrew thinking and not through Greek thought. C. Though the New Testament was written in the Greek language, it does not reflect Greek thinking or reasoning. VII The five presuppositions of Christian thought. 1. God is. A. The atheist says there is no God to whom we are responsible. B. Practical atheism claims there is a God but acts like He is not the one to whom one is responsible. 2. God speaks. 3. Man can understand God who speaks. 4. As the world is now, it originally was not, nor shall it ultimately be. 5. God has not revealed all of who He is, but from what He has revealed, it is true with who He is. This is based on one of two possible presuppositions A. Finitum capax infiniti Latin for the finite is capable of knowing the infinite. B. Finitum non capax infiniti Latin for the finite is not capable of knowing the infinite unless God reveals it to him this is the position of the Christian Community. VIII Preliminary considerations for a study of God. 1. Introduction. A. What God has revealed of Himself is not all that there is of Him, but from what He has revealed, it is true with who He is. B. Knowing God. 1). Question and answer 1.

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A). Question 1 How is God known or what is God like? B). Answer 1 God is known or like by what He does. 2). Question and answer 2. A). Question 2 - What has God done in history in order for us to know Him? B). Answer 2 God has acted out of His moral character on our behalf in history with redemptive acts of love and has provided understanding. 3). Question and answer 3. A). Question 3 How does God speak? B). Answer 3 Revelation. 2. Two contrasting approaches to the study of God. A. Scholastic and classical way. 1). Presupposition is finitium capox infiniti Latin for the finite is capable of knowing the infinite. 2). The scholastic method of approaching the study of God was built on the distinction between essence and existence. A). The assumption was within God Himself there were certain attributes. B). But when God dealt with His creation in the historical scene, God was different than from what He is within Himself. C). This view is logical but is not biblical. 3). Some of the scholastic vocabulary that is found in this scheme. A). aseity = God is self-caused and self-existent. i. Aseity or the self-caused-ness of God makes God to be so perfect that He cannot suffer but the Bible says God did suffer on several fronts.

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a. He Suffers due to Hell because Hell is the eternal ulcer that eats away at the stomach of God. b. He suffered at the cross. ii. This reduces the theology of God into minuscular segments of what and who God is. B). apathetic i. This view says God is not moved by passion. ii. The corollary to this assumption about God is God and man are equal with each other. C). simple or the ultimate substance which cannot be reduced any further. D). immense or God is so large that He is not capable of being measured this is based on mathematical models and does not work well with revelatory norms. E). omnipotent. F). omnipresent. G). omniscient. H). immortal. 4). Examples of those who used the scholastic model to study God. A). Aquinas esse/esistence. B). Mullins natural/moral attributes i. Mullins discusses God according to natural and moral attributes. ii. This is a hideous distinction but is not exactly in what Mullins was saying. iii. The natural laws of God were those laws which were within God.

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iv. The moral attributes of God were those laws with which God uses in His creation. B. The revelatory or functional model of studying God. 1). The Bible shows what God does, and from those acts by which He has done within history is how we know God. 2). Presupposition is finitium non capax infiniti Latin for the finite is not capable of knowing the infinite.. 3). This view prefers to explore the acts of God in history and extract from these characteristics of who He is and of what He has done. 4). This view is biblical and functional. 5). Look at Gods acts. A). Because God does these things that are in history, He must be like with what He does. B). God is known by His activity in history.