Question:
Defend how nature helps in our knowledge of and about God.
Many people connect with God as they celebrate the beauty of creation. The sounds of the ocean, a mountain view, a starry night and other vivid scenes from nature can create a sense of awe and wonder. In these times, what do we learn about God- How does natural revelation enhance our views of God- What can we learn about God just from nature in and of itself without help from written revelation-
Write a 3-4 page paper that pulls together the responses to the questions below. Summarize the paper with how the information impacted you.
"Transformed Thinking. Loving God with All Your Mind
1. Consider the farmer in Isaiah 28:23-29, whose God-given knowledge of farming techniques comes through general revelation. Have you ever experienced anything similar- Have you ever learned how to do something through tradition, observation, experimentation, but believe the lessons come ultimately from God-
2. Describe what you believe to be the most important concept you have learned through general revelation, a concept that does not seem to be addressed in special revelation.
3. Describe the role one of the arts has played in your spiritual life.
4. Most Christians are comfortable using general revelation to build a house or evaluate nutrition. They are often far less comfortable using information from disciplines like psychology or anthropology (also general revelation). Why do you think this is the case-
5. Describe a time when your opinion about theology was changed because of what you learned from general revelation. Have you ever known someone who refused to acknowledge the truth of Scripture because it seemed to be at variance with their experience-
6. A friend tells you that she is struggling because her sociology (or psychology, or physics) professor is regularly saying things that conflict with her faith and, what troubles her even more, he seems to have a lot of evidence to support his claims. What advice would you give you friend-
- What was a general supposition of theologians about our contact with nature.
- Give Guthrie''s six arguments as to how philosophers and theologians have used their understanding of the world to point us to the existence of God.
- In what two other areas have, we found the idea of general revelation useful.
- From your readings and research, evaluate the differences between general revelation and special revelation.
- Summary of personal impact that the conclusions to the questions had on you.