I. So how can we define what a true religious system is?
A.
First we must define who God is.
B.
Lets look at the 7 major world views in history.
1.
Atheism
- Humanist, Secular Humanism; Atheism is the world
without a need for God.
a.
Nietzsche says God died. We don’t need God anymore.
Man is now the measure.
Former Atheist Francis Collins - “Why would such a universal and
uniquely human hunger [for God] exist, if it were not connected to some
opportunity for fulfillment?
2.
Finite
godism - God is beyond the world, but is limited in power
or perfection.
3.
Pantheism
- the world is made up of God; is not a world without
God.
a.
It is not a world of not knowing God, but a world that is
made up of God.
b.
God is in everything.
c.
Buddhism - some forms of Hinduism and Taoism teaches
that everything has God’s stuff.
d.
It is as if God took parts of Himself and created the world.
e.
This is why they respect the animals; they have souls because
they were created by God.
4.
Panentheism
– says God is in the
universe as a mind is in a body,
the universe is God’s body.
a.
But there’s another pole to God other than the actual physical
universe.
For this reason, Panentheism is also called bipolar theism. This other
pool is God’s eternal and infinite potential beyond the actual physical
universe. And since Panentheism hold that God is in the constant process of changing,
it is also known as process theology.
b.
This the view of Neo-orthodox, Open-theism, Neo-theism
and or the Emergent Church.
c.
This is the view that has come into the church.
d.
So when we study the attributes, we will be dealing a lot
to refute this view.
5.
Polytheism
- the belief in or worship of more than one god.
a.
The polytheist denies any infinite God beyond the world,
however the gods are active in the world today.
6.
Deism
- is a God that created the world, but then does not interfere
with His creation in any way.
a.
It is a world with an absent God.
b.
It says God can do big miracles (create the world)
c. But God
can’t do small miracles like turn water into wine or add
bread or fish to a basket.
Norman Geisler says that deism is theism minus miracles. Deism says
that God is uninterested, a God that created it, but just walked away.
7.
Theism
- God has a world, and has an intimate, infinite and loving
God.
a.
Theism says that not only is God important,
b. But that God
cares and is very much interested in us, invested in us
and cares about our being.
C.
If theism is true, then all the other six forms of non-theism are false.
1.
God cannot be both infinite and finite.
2.
God cannot be personal and impersonal.
3.
God cannot be beyond the universe and not beyond the universe.
4.
Perform miracles and not able to perform miracles.
5.
God cannot be unchanging and changing.
