Today, we are picking back up on that thread as we are thinking through what God’s relationship is like with the creation that he has made? And How we understand that question makes all the distinction between Christianity and false religions. And so first, we’re going to look at four view non-Christian views. Then we’ll look specifically at how the Bible describes God’s relationship to creation. And finally, we look at the crown jewel of creation – humankind. Specifically, how God created male and female in his image to extend his kingly dominion over creation. And our big, overall question is: what does that mean for us and who we are?

Four Non-Christian Views of God

1. Pantheism - and this view teaches that God is everything (so, the word “pan” means “all” and “theism” is that root word of “theos”, or “god”); thus, this view holds that everything is God.

One great challenge to Pantheism is that the divine exists as much in the most morally reprehensible acts as it does in beauty or delicious food. Even more importantly, there’s no God on the outside who can break in and rescue us; thus there is no ultimate justice and no hope of deliverance; there is only acceptance.

2. Dualism – Dual = 2 (Good and Evil). Duel = A Battle. Thus dualism is a battle b/w good and bad. And good and evil are in a long, protracted cosmic battle for supremacy.

- Star Wars

3. Deism – Deism is the view that God is not presently involved in creation. He created it, but is now distant and removed from what He made. God created the world, but he doesn’t have anything to do with it anymore (divine clockmaker)

4. Materialism (or naturalism). Materialism says we live in a closed world. No force from the outside, call it God or whatever you like, can enter in and disturb the physical world. Our lives are governed purely by impersonal laws operating over strictly natural phenomena.

Undoubtedly, then, you can see how these four views run contrary to the Biblical account, for they either deny God’s superiority over his creation or they obliterate his relationship with it.

II. God’s Relationship to Creation

Transcendence

Immanence

II. How God created male and female in his image to extend his kingly dominion over creation.

Genesis 2:7, 21-22, 1:27

3 things in particular. We image God:

Conclusion: Why does the doctrine of creation matter?

In this episode, we bring to a close our parenthood series and, as we do, we don't give a list of things to "do"; rather, we give 7 things that we should "NOT" do as Parents:

1. Don’t miss it.

2. Next, as parents, Don’t be hypercritical towards your kids.

3. The third is: Don’t be surprised by disobedience.

4. Fourthly, Don’t assume you know how your kids will turn out.

5. Fifthly, Don’t fear.

6. Sixthly, as a parent, don’t pretend that you have it all together - besides, your kids know that you don’t!

7. Don’t just be “transcendent.”

Literal 6 days?  Not a literal 6 days?  Old Earth?  Young Earth?  

We started our Systematic Theology podcast series by understanding the importance of the Bible and seen some of the attributes of God. 

Now, we turn to study the topic of many hotly debated texts: Creation.

In this discussion, we discuss:

7 BIBLICAL TRUTHS ABOUT CREATION

1. God created the universe out of nothing.

2. Secondly, God created all things --- both visible and invisible, both in the heavens and the earth.

3. God created time.

4. God created by his word.

5. Creation is a Triune Act

6. Sixthly, The Universe God Created was “Very Good.”

7. And our last point: God Created the Universe to Show His Glory.

Various Christian views on Creation:

(1) Theistic Evolution.

(2) The Gap Theory.

(3) Day-Age View.

(4) Literary-Framework View.

(5) Young-Earth Creationism.

(6) Historic-Creationism.

Commonalities in all six views that demarcate them as “Christian”:

1) God is the creator over everything

2) He created everything as Good

3) God created Mankind in His image (imago dei preserved)

In this episode, we are continuing our Parenthood study and talking about how we navigate the tricky waters of technology with our kids.

Is Technology helping us:

Bonus Question: Is technology helping me to be holy?

________

Examples for “Digital Boundaries”

• Do not check my smartphone until after my morning devotions.

• Try to end my digital day by 9:00 p.m.

• Don’t check my smartphone when having lunch or dinner with a friend, or leave phone in car.

• Take a digital fast every Sunday (or start with every Sunday afternoon)

• No digital gadgets at mealtimes.

• Limit checking emails or texts to once an hour.

• Try not to talk on the phone to virtual people when real people are in front of me.

Recommended Reading:

Welcome back to basecamp as we are continuing our study of systematic theology as a church and are exploring, in this episode, part two of last week’s discussion and diving in to examine some of the attributes of God.

1. The Unity of God

Everything God does is fully consistent with all of his attributes; there are no contradictions in his character. Exodus 34:6-7

2. God is Triune

3 questions:

A. What does the doctrine of the Trinity mean?

Wayne Grudem’s definition: “God eternally exists as three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and each person is fully God, and there is one God.” Deut 6:4; Isaiah 45:5, 21.

But this God is a unity of three distinct “Persons.” The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. But the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, and the Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son. Each person plays a distinct role in the harmonious work of redemption.

The Belgic Confession of 1561 put it this way: “The Father is the cause, origin, and source of all things, visible as well as invisible. The Son is the Word, the Wisdom, and the image of the Father. The Holy Spirit is the eternal power and might, proceeding from the Father and the Son. Nevertheless, this distinction does not divide God into three, since Scripture teaches us that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit each has a distinct subsistence [which means personhood] distinguished by characteristics—yet in such a way that these three persons are only one God…. These persons, thus distinct, are neither divided nor fused or mixed together.”

B. How does Scripture teach the doctrine of the Trinity?

Tertullian

Matt 3:16-17

Matt 28:19

John 14-17

C. Why does the Trinity Matter?

More attributes of God’s Character:

3. God’s Omniscience – His Perfect Knowledge

4. Truthfulness

5. Wisdom

6. Holiness

Jonathan Edwards: Religious Affections and Writings on the Trinity, Grace, and Faith

7. Justice/Righteousness

8. Goodness/Love

Don Carson’s, The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God (FREE PDF: https://s3.amazonaws.com/tgc-documents/carson/2000_difficult_doctrine_of_the_love_of_God.pdf)

In this episode, we examine the unique call we have to pastor our teenagers.

Proverbs’ teaching about Youth:

Goals with our Teenagers:

Goal 1: Focus on the Spiritual Struggle.

Goal 2: Develop a heart of conviction and wisdom (p128).

Goal 3: Teach our teenagers to understand and react redemptively with their culture.

Goal 4: Try to develop a heart for God and godliness in your teen.

Goal 5: Prepare your teenagers to leave home.

Practical thoughts:

In this episode, we build upon our former discussions and begin answering these two questions:

If someone were to ask you how you know God exists, what would you say?

1.) generally to all men by creation and providence;

2.) propositionally in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments;

3.) personally in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ; and

4.) and savingly through the work of His Word and Spirit. (repeat)

Proofs of God: Creation and Conscience (General Revelation)

General revelation is that unveiling of God, the knowledge of God’s being and will which is given to all people everywhere, at all times, through the ordinary experience of being alive in God’s world. [Ps. 19:1, 2; Rom. 1:19, 20; 2:14, 15]

Special revelation is this: it is how God has made himself known by particular acts and words, especially the Word of the Lord (Scripture), and the Lord of the Word (Jesus).

Romans 1-2 discussion.

Helpful Resource: The God who is there by DA Carson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO2ZodTbNdU

God’s Incommunicable Attributes

1. The Independence or Self-Existence of God (Ex 3.14; Ps 50:8-15; See Also Ps. 33:11; 115:3; Isa. 40:18 ff.; Dan. 4:35; John 5:26; Rom. 11:33-36; Acts 17:25; Rev. 4:11.) God’s existence and character are determined by Himself alone and are not dependent on anyone or anything else.

2. God is immutable. God in his nature, character, and purposes, does not change.

3. God is Infinite: Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Eternal

- omnipresent (present-everywhere). This means that God transcends spatial limitations, is without size, and is present at every point of space with his whole being.

- omnipotent (all-powerful). God is able to do all that He decides to do. God can do everything that He wills to do and is consistent with his character.

- eternal. God transcends the very limitations of time. He has no beginning or end.

Resource: AW Tozer's book "Knowledge of the Holy" as FREE PDF: https://www.restoringthecore.com/wp-content/restored/AW-Tozer-Knowledge-of-the-Holy.pdf

Picking back up on our discussion around Parenthood and gender roles in this episode.

References to these books are made:

Carolyn Mahaney: Feminine Appeal

How do we be healthy launch team members of the Trails Church?

The Health of our church “depends on the willingness of its members to inspect their hearts, correct their thinking, and apply their hands to the work of the ministry.” (9Marks)

A Healthy Launch Team Member is a Biblical Theologian

We want to be those who strive to have our theology built upon the Bible - to test all things against God’s Word and to rely upon His Word above everything.

Commitment to being a Biblical Theologian, in essence, is these two things:

How does studying biblical theology work to promote health in our church?

So, how do we grow in being biblical theologians?

1. Read a good book on biblical theology.

2. Study the Scriptures Thematically.

3. Adopt the New Testament’s Attitude toward the Old Testament.

4. Study the Old Testament with Jesus and the New Testament in View.

5. Study the Books of Prophecy in the Old Testament.

6. Know and Agree to support our Statement of Faith, and encourage others to know what our Statement of Faith teaches and professes.

7. Seek doctrinal unity and avoid needless disputes, and help teach others to do the same.

One last note: Quarreling

Our church will be healthy as we, as launch team members, strive for personal health and corporate health.

Serving @ The Trails Form: https://forms.gle/CvqKwgrd3Z74oVDG6

In this episode, we discuss how the canon of Scripture was developed and also some attributes of Scripture.

Psalm 119:97-104

Canon of Scripture

- Old Testament

- New Testament

As Christians, we ultimately affirm that scripture is self-authenticating.

How did the early Christians know which writings came from God and which did not? They spoke of “receiving” or “inheriting” the authoritative books from each previous generation. They saw these books as having authority because they came from God, not because any church or leader put a stamp of approval on them. But they didn’t just accept them blindly. They had four criteria for demonstrating that their acceptance of these books was legitimate.

Attributes of Scripture: