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The Providence of God How God Takes Care of His People

Lesson 2 explores false views of divine providence and the scope of God's care, including the universe, forces of nature, human relationships, affairs of nations, and special providence for believers.

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The Providence of God How God Takes Care of His People

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  1. The Providence of GodHow God Takes Care of His People

  2. Lesson 2False Views of Divine Providence

  3. The Scope of Divine Providence • The Universe—the earth in particular. • The forces of nature (“Acts of God”). • Human beings and their relationships. • The affairs of nations. • Special providence for the people of God.

  4. Attributes of God (God’s ability to provide) Omnipotence - He has the power to do anything He desires (Job 42:2; Luke 1:37). Omnipresence - He is in all places, all the time (Jer. 23:24; 1 Kings 8:27; Psalm 90:2). Omniscience - He knows all things (1 John 3:20).

  5. Works of God (How God provides) Creation – bringing the universe into existence (Isaiah 44:24; Col. 1:16-18). Providence – guiding and providing for His creation (Psalm 135:7; Ecc. 3:13; Acts 14:17). Election – choosing who is saved (John 1:12-13; 6:37-40; Eph. 1:4;11; Rom. 8:29-30; Acts 13:48; Phil. 1:29).

  6. Atheism, Agnosticism, Fate, Pantheism, Astrology, and Deism How Are They Contrary to the Providence of God?

  7. Spectrum of Anti-Provident Views Atheism > Agnosticism > Fate > Pantheism > Astrology > Deism Disbelief Belief

  8. Anti-Provident Views of God Atheism: There is no God.Agnosticism: I don’t know if there is a God.Fate: I have no control over my future.Pantheism: God is all; all is God. Astrology: God guides through the stars.Deism: God exists but is not involved in my life.

  9. Atheism vs. Agnosticism Atheist Agnostic God does God may or not exist. may not exist. Belief For the atheist and the agnostic, the question of Divine Providence cannot arise.

  10. Distribution of Atheism & Agnosticism

  11. Reasons For Incidence Of Atheism and Agnosticism: 1. Lack of concern 3. Humanism 5. Non-provident religions 2. Worldly societies 4. State churches 6. Atheistic governments

  12. Fate & Fatalism Fate: The cause or will beyond man’s control by which the occurrence and outcome of events are supposed to be determined. (Webster) The preordained course of your life that will occur because of or in spite of your actions. (Differencebetween.net) Fatalism: The subjugation of all events or actions to fate.

  13. Fate & Fatalism • Similar Philosophies: • Luck: a combination of circumstances, • events, etc., operating by chance • to bring good or ill to a person.

  14. Fate & Fatalism Similar Philosophies: 2. Fortune (Wheel of Fortune) A power or force, often personalized, regarded as being responsible for human affairs. (Collins English Dictionary)

  15. Fate & Fatalism Similar Philosophies: 3. Destiny: Aset of predetermined events within your life that you take an active course in shaping. (Differencebetween.net) Note: Coincidence has no direct or indirect relationship with the series of events. “It just happened.”

  16. Fate & Fatalism Similar Philosophies: 4. Lot: Your overall circumstances or condition in life (including everything that happens to you). (thefreedictionary.com)

  17. Fate & Fatalism Similar Philosophies: 5. Chance: The unknown and unpredictable element in happenings that seems to have no assignable cause. (American Heritage Dictionary)

  18. Pantheism Etymology: Greek (pan) meaning "all“ + (theos) meaning "God". “God is everything; everything is God.”

  19. Pantheism • Universe (or Nature) and God (or divinity) are identical. • No personal, or anthropomorphic god. • "God" is best seen as a process of relating to the Universe. • The Cosmos is an all-encompassing unity. • The Universe and Nature are sacred. (Wikipedia)

  20. Pantheism “Most pantheists do not conceive the divine power as an observer of our misdeeds and as a punisher of the ones that our fellow humans fail to catch.” “There is a being more valuable than humans, namely, the biosphere which includes both humans and non-humans.” An Introduction To Pantheism by Jan Garrett

  21. Question: Are people more valuable than sparrows? (Matthew 10:31)

  22. Pantheistic Religions Hinduism

  23. Pantheistic Religions Jainism

  24. Pantheistic Religions • New Age • "God" is an impersonal, cosmic energy force. • Man is himself God, for he consists of and is the creator of "the forces.“ • Man should seek and accept spiritual instruction directly from the spirit world. • All religions and religious teachings lead to the same goal. All are equally of merit. • Sin and evil do not exist. Peace and love are the ultimate realities.

  25. Astrology: Science or Superstition? • Etymology: Latin: astrologia from Greek: astron (star) + logos (discourse) • Astronomy is the scientific term. • The cosmos is integrated. • The individual, Earth, and its environment are viewed as a single organism, all parts of which are correlated with each other.

  26. Horoscopes: Can they predict our future? • Etymology: Latinhoroscopus, ultimately from Greekὡρόσκοπος "nativity, horoscope", literally "observer of the hour [of birth]." • A diagram of the relative positions of planets and signs of the zodiac at a specific time (as at one's birth). • For use by astrologers in inferring individual character and personality traits and in foretelling events of a person's life. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

  27. Is Astrology Real?

  28. Astrology: Science Or Superstition? • Astrology does not use testable ideas. • Astrology does not rely on evidence. • Astrology does not involve the scientific community. • Astrology does not lead to ongoing research. • Astrologists do not behave scientifically.

  29. Astrology and Related Anti-Provident Beliefs Superstitionis a belief in supernaturalcausality. Palm ReadingFortune Telling Black MagicFetishesOmens Witchcraft .

  30. Reasons For Superstitions and Other Non-Provident Beliefs “Ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation." “A belief that one should avoid anything that can bring misfortune and embrace anything that can improve one's lot in life.”

  31. Spectrum of Anti-Provident Views Atheism > Agnosticism > Fate > Pantheism > Astrology > Deism

  32. The Majority Or Significant Minority May Not Be Right Afalse concept will never become right just because the majority of people believe it or because it is believed from ancient times, or because there are eminent scientists among the believers.

  33. Deism Roots of Deism Deism lies somewhere between atheism and the biblical view of Divine Providence. Became popular during The Enlightenment. Deism is the religion of reason. Deism admits a supreme being. Formerly, this was Zeus or some other pagan god.

  34. Deism Reason determines that the universe is the product of an intelligent creator. The creator never intervenes in human affairs or suspends the natural laws of the universe. Deism is also known as the clockwork universe theory. (Wikipedia)

  35. Deism Critical elements of deist thought include: Rejection of all religious dogma and demagogy. Rejection of reports of miracles, prophecies and religious "mysteries". Constructive elements of deist thought include: God exists, created and governs the universe. God gave humans the ability to reason.

  36. Next Lecture: Providence and God’s Eternal Purpose

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