Theology Quiz 3

• Define decrees

  Eternal decisions rendering certain all things that will come to pass.
• Define foreordination

  God's will in everything in cosmic history, small and big events
• When is it best to use the term Predestinate?

  God's choice of individuals for eternal life or eternal condemnation
• Define Election

  God chooses people for eternal life
• Define Reprobation

  God chooses people for damnation
• (TRUE/FALSE) Jesus confirms in the New testament that the Lord only planned out complex, large, events like the fall of Jerusalem, and not smaller once like the apostasy of and betrayal of Judas.

  False
• What is the view of the Old testament believer?

  God created the world and is directing history as part of a plan, the goal being fellowship
• What side of the Calvinist Arminian view does Erickson take?

  Moderate Calvinstic model
• Whose writings is it made most explicit that the divine plane makes everything come to pass?

  Paul
• What are 9 characteristics of God's plan?

  1. God's plan is from all eternity
  2. God is free to make decisions in his will
  3. The purpose of God's plan is his glory
  4. The plan of God includes believers and non-believers
  5. God's plan will happen and not change
  6. God's plan relates to his actions rather than his nature
  7. God’s plan primarily refers to what he does in terms of creating, human action is involved secondarily
  8. The actions of humans in included in God's plan
  9. God doesn't change his mind, any indication of it are anthropomorphisms
• Arminians View of God's Plan

  1. God forsees what humans will do and makes his decision based on what is going to happen.
  2. God's plan is conditional on human decision.
  3. God offers salvation to those he know will take it (not based in scripture).
• Calvinist View of God's plan

  1. God's plan is logically prior and human decisions are a consequence.
  2. God decided all human actions.
  3. God's plan is unconditional.
• With the Moderate Calvinsitic model, how is foreknowledge viewed?

  Linked with the will of God
• How is our freedom limited?

  We can't control our likes and dislikes and we choose action, but not what actions we like
• (TRUE/FALSE) I am only allowed to make choices in light of who I am and God is the one who designed me, thus my choice is limited by what God has preselected.

  True
• What is a problem with Arminian foreknowledge?

  That if God knows its certain then its not a choice.
• What is the difference between Arminian Foreknowledge and Erickson's proposed foreknowledge?

  Arminian: God chooses to confirm what he foresees real individuals will decide.

  Ericksons' Calvinsim: God foresees possibilities if one is placed in a particular situation and all the influences that are present. God then chooses which choice will become real based on the influences he places there.
• God's Wish v. Will

  Wish: general intentions, values that please God

  Will: God's specific intention in a given situation
• What 2 points does Erickson make to defend evangelism?

  1. If God renders an end certain, he also renders how that end comes to fruition.
  2. We don't know what God's plan is so we do what God wishes.
• Dialectical materialism

  Philosophy on which communisim is based, no private ownership
• Define providence

  God preserving and guiding creation
• What are the 3 different ways in which God preserves the earth?

  1. God made the world and left it to its own devices (deistic)
  2. God is like a repairman, only coming to earth to fix it
  3. God is always at work
• Define general providence

  God has goals he intends, but with specific details he allows variance
• Define specific providence

  God decides the very details of his plan
• What groups believe in general providence?

  Traditional Arminians: God has foreknowledge but also made freewill. He could have controlled everything but chose not to.

  Open Theists: God does not know the actions of moral free agents so he sometimes has to change his plans.
• What are the 3 ways God relates to sin?

  1. Prevent it
  2. Permit it
  3. Direct it
  4. Limit it
• 7 Implications of Divine Government

  1. God's activity is universal.
  2. God's providence does not extend only to his own people.
  3. God is good in his government.
  4. God is personally concerned about those who are his.
  5. Our activity and God's activity are not mutually exclusive.
  6. God is sovereign in his government, he alone makes his plan.
  7. We need to be careful what we call God's providence.
• What does prayer accomplish?

  1. God's plan is definite and fixed
  2. We are commanded to pray and taught that prayer has value
• What is prayer to Erickson?

  Creating ourselves in the right attitude with respect to God's will
• Miracles break natural law. How to understand this?

  Miracles are manifestations of little known or unknown natural laws.

  Miracles break laws of nature.

  When miracles happen, natural forces are countered by supernatural forces.
• What are the 3 purposes of miracles?

  1. Glorify God
  2. Establish supernatural basis of revelation
  3. Meet human needs
• What are the types of evil?

  Natural evil: Does not involve human willing or acting

  Moral evil: Choice of action of moral free agents
• What are solutions to the problem of evil?

  1. Finitism: God is not all powerful (dualism, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism)
  2. God is not all good - whatever God causes is good
  3. Evil is not real (pantheism)
• (TRUE/FALSE) Erickson believes evil is a part of God's plan.

  True
• What 3 boundaries constitute good and evil?

  1. Good is not defined by what brings pleasure to humans, rather what glorifies God
  2. Some short-term evils are good long-term
  3. Some evils are mere inconveniences to us, and good to others (e.g. rain on crops)
• (TRUE/FALSE) Some specific evils are result of specific sins or imprudences, caused by actions of others.

  True
• (TRUE/FALSE) In specific evils the victim is always innocent of the evil.

  False
• What is a unique contribution of Christian doctrine to the solution of the problem of evil?

  God taking sin and evil on himself.
• Angels

  Spiritual beings that God created higher than humankind, some of whom remained obedient and others who disobeyed, losing their holy condition hindering God
• How are Angels personal beings?

  1. Interactive
  2. Intelligent and willful
  3. Moral creatures