WHAT IS TO BE HUMAN?
Overview of Lecture for Humanity & Sin:
1. What is humanity?
2. Made in the image of God?
3. Humanity & Sin.
4. Summary of Mind-Body Views.
5. History of Humanity in 6 summarizing words
6. Humanity & Culture.
7. Concluding Thought.
1. What is humanity?
“What a freak, what a monster, what a chaos, what
a subject of contradiction, what a marvel! Judge of
all things and imbecile earthworm; possessor of the
truth, and sink of uncertainty and error; glory and
rubbish of the universe.”
~ Blaise Pascal, Selections from the Thoughts, tran Arthur H. Beatte (New
York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1965), 68.
1. What is Humanity?
“Man is but a reed, the weakest in nature, but he is a
thinking reed. The whole universe need not arm
itself to crush him; a vapor, a drop of water is
enough to kill him. But even though the universe
should crush him, man would still be nobler than
what kills him since he knows that he dies, and the
advantage that the universe has over him, the
universe knows nothing of it.”
~ Blaise Pascal, Selections from the Thoughts, tran Arthur H. Beatte (New
York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1965), 30.
What is Humanity?
“The essential paradox here-the greatness and the
misery of humankind-flows out of two important
truths. God created humans as the apex of his
creation; our chief end, in the words of the
Westminster Catechism, is to glorify God and enjoy
him forever. But each human being is fallen, is in
rebellion against the God who created him and loves
him.”
~ Ronald Nash, Worldviews in Conflict, 48.
2. What does it mean to be made
in the image of God?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Image = content
Image = dominion;
Image = community;
Image = representation;
Image = holism.
Personality
Responsibilities
Relationships
Image includes Dignity to the
Human Body:
• Matter is good and reflects God’s glory (Gen. 1:31;
Psalm 19:1; 1 Tim. 4:4)
• Both male and female (which entails bodies) are in
God’s image (Gen. 1:27)
• Killing a body is wrong because it is included in God’s
image (Gen. 9:6)
• Resurrection of the body reveals that it is part of the
whole person made in God’s image (1 Thess. 4).
~ Geisler, Systematic Theology: God & Creation, 2:452.
3. Humanity and Sin:
“Christianity simply will not make sense to
people who fail to understand and
appreciate the Christian doctrine of sin.
Every human being lives in a condition of
sin and alien from his or her Creator.
Each has sinned and fallen short of God’s
standard (Rom. 3:23). As John Stott
counsels, sin ‘is not a convenient invention
of parsons [cleric] to keep them in their
job; it is a fact of human experience.’
Consider the following:
“The sin which separates us from God and enslaves us
‘is more than an unfortunate outward act of habit is a
deep-seated inward corruption. In fact, the sins we
commit are merely outward and visible manifestations of
this inward and invisible malady, the symptoms of a
moral disease …. Because sin is an inward corruption of
human e we are in bondage. It is not so much certain
acts or habits which enslave us, but rather the evil
infection from which these spring.’”
John Stott, Basic Christianity, 75-6 cf. Nash, Worldviews
in Conflict, 48
Original State
X
MAN IS CRUEL
ALWAYS CRUEL
BECAME CRUEL
X
CHANGED BY
SOMEONE ELSE
CREATED CRUEL
CHANGED
HIMSELF
GOD IS EVIL
GOD
SATAN
GOD IS EVIL
MAN IS NOT
RESPONSIBLE
FREE
WILL
A 5-fold definition of Sin:
• Sin is a transgression of the law of God:
The Greek word parabasis means
“overstepping, transgression.”God gave the
Mosaic law to heighten man’s understanding of
His standard and the seriousness of
transgressing that standard (Rom. 4:15).
Thereafter, when God said, “You shall not bear
false witness,” a lie was seen to be what it is: an
overstepping or transgression of the law of God
(Rom. 2:23; 5:14; Gal. 3:19).
5-Fold Definition of Sin:
Sin is a failure to conform to the standard of
God.
The Greek word hamartia means “miss the
mark,” “every departure from the way of
righteousness.”Thus, it means that all people
have missed the mark of God’s standard and
continue to fall short of that standard (Rom.
3:23). This involves both sins of commission as
well as omission. Failure to do what is right is
also sin (Rom. 14:23).
5-Fold Definition of Sin:
• Sin is a principle within man.
Sin is not only an act but also a principle that
dwells in man.Paul refers to the struggle with
the sin principle within (Rom. 7:14, 17–25); all
people have this sin nature (Gal. 3:22). Hebrews
3:13 refers to it “as the power that deceives men
and leads them to destruction.”Jesus also refers
to sin as a “condition or characteristic quality”
(John 9:41; 15:24; 19:11).
5-Fold Definition of Sin:
• Sin is rebellion against God.
Another Greek word for sin is anomia,
which means “lawlessness” (1 John 3:4)
and can be described as a “frame of
mind.”It denotes lawless deeds (Titus
2:14) and is a sign of the last days,
meaning “without law or restraint” (Matt.
24:12).
5-Fold Definition of Sin:
• Sin is wrongful acts toward God and man.
Romans 1:18 refers to “ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men.” Ungodliness refers to
man’s failure to obey God and keep the
commandments related to Him (Exod. 20:1–11);
unrighteousness is seen in man’s failure to live
righteously toward his fellow man (Exod. 20:12–
17).
• ~ Paul Enns, Moody Handbook of Theology (Chicago:
Moody Press, 1997), 310.
SYNOPTIC CHART ON
HARMARTIOLOGY:
TERMS
TO
CONSIDER
State at
Birth
Ability
Guilt
“In Adam”
Rom. 5:12
PELAGIANISM
Innocent
Can obey God
None
Not At All
(We sin
like Adam)
WESLEYAN/
ARMINIANISM
MODERATE/
PRINCETONIAN
CALVINISM
DUTCH
CALVINISM
Depraved
Totally Depraved
(Extensively)
Totally
Depraved
(Intensively)
Can Cooperate
with God
Can’t Cooperate
with God
Legally
and/or
Naturally
Naturally and/or
Legally
Legally and/or
Seminally
Seminally
and/or Legally
Can Cooperate
With God
Potential
Propensity
(Or Seminally)
Adapted from Norman Geisler’s Systematic Theology: Sin/Salvation (Minneapolis: Bethany, 2004), 3:145.
Synoptic Chart on Hamartiology
TERMS
TO
CONSIDER
What is
inherited
from Adam
Deaths
Occurred
What is
Imputed
PELAGIANISM
Bad Example
Spiritual &
Eternal (meant
to physically die)
One’s own sin
WESLEYAN/
ARMINIANISM
MODERATE &
PRINCETONIAN
CALVINISM
DUTCH
CALVINISM
Propensity to sin;
physical death.
Propensity to
Sin; Physical
death
Necessity to Sin;
Physical Death.
Physical;
Eternal;
Spiritual
Physical;
Eternal;
Spiritual
Physical;
Eternal;
Spiritual
One’s own Sin &
One’s Own Sin &
Adam’s Sin
Adam’s Sin
Effaced
Image of
God
Effect of
Grace
Retained
None.
Two-Fold:
Prevenient Grace;
Sufficient for All
One’s Own Sin
& Adam’s Sin
Image of God is
totally effaced
Image of God in
man is Erased
Irresistible
(some, but not all
M.C. say only on
willing)
Irresistible on
the unwilling.
~ Adapted from Norman Geisler’s Systematic Theology: Sin/Salvation (Minneapolis: Bethany, 2004), 3:145.
4. Mind-Body
Problem…
“I only want a
brain!”
View
Primary
Proponent
Soul/Body
Illustration
(Soul/body
as. .)
Explanation
Materialism
Thomas
Hobbes
Body only
As dream
to brain
Only body exists;
mind is nothing but a
manifestation of
matter.
Epiphenom
enalism
PierreJean
Georges
Cabanis
Soul is a byproduct of
body.
As shadow
to a tree
Body causes mind;
mind is only a sign
(not a cause) of
matter.
Idealism
George
Berkeley
Soul only
Monism:
Double –
Aspect
Benedict
Spinoza
Two aspects
of the same
thing
As mind to
Only mind (soul)
mirage
exists; body is merely
illusion.
As inner
to outer
Mind (soul) and body
are two sides of the
same substance.
Dualism
(Dichotomy)
Plato
Two different
but parallel
realities
As railroad
Soul and body never
to tracks interact; they only exist
simultaneously.
Interactionism
Rene
Descartes
Two
substances
mutually
interacting
Occasionalism/
Recollectionism
Augustine
Two
As memory God causes ideas in the
substances
to reminder mind on the occasion of
coordinated by
sensory perception
God
PreEstablished
Harmony
Gottfried
Wilhelm
Leibniz
Two different,
synchronized
substances
As two
clocks
Mind and body are
synchronized by God.
Hylomorphism
Thomas
Aquinas
Soul animates
body
As ideas to
words
Mind and body are a
holistic unity.
As two
boxers
Mind and body interact
with each other
5. History
of
Humanity:
Summarized
Creation
Fall
Redeemed
Glorified
Rejection
Damnation
6. 5 Shifts: Humanity &
Contemporary Western Culture
• Shift 1: From Knowledge
to Faith.
– For example, after 9/11
Oprah urged people to
seek God, “whatever he,
she, it, or they mean to
you.” What is important is
that “we all seek our own
truth with renewed vigor.”
What does the following statement
communicate?
“We ought to be believers who integrate faith
and learning.”
Insights gained from physics to literary
theory is related to learning while biblical
assertions deal with “faith.”
5 Shifts: Humanity &
Contemporary Western Culture
While biblical evangelicals reject pluralism, there is
a tendency to view biblical Christianity as a matter
of faith and not knowledge.
Once again … how do we define faith? If we
denote faith as merely as a decision of the will to
believe, not factual in nature nor subject to rational
evaluation, then we may be suggesting that the
content of salvation (and our worldview) is devoid
of fact and knowledge. See, we are fostering a
culture in which Christian ideas are not viewed
even among us as factual items of knowledge.
Consider the following quote:
“Faith
is the reliance upon that
which you have reason to believe
is true and trustworthy.”
~ J. P. Moreland
2nd Shift: From Human Flourishing
to Satisfaction of Desire:
How do you define happiness?
One dictionary definition is that happiness is
“a sense of pleasurable satisfaction.”
2nd Shift: From Human Flourishing
to Satisfaction of Desire:
Consider this statement by Moreland:
“If happiness is having an internal feeling of fun or
pleasurable satisfaction and if it is our main goal, where
will people place their focus each day? It will be on
them, and the result will be a culture of self-absorbed
narcissists who cannot live for something bigger than
they are.” ~ J.P. Moreland, Kingdom Triangle, 95.
2nd Shift: From Human Flourishing
to Satisfaction of Desire:
Here is Moreland’s definition:
“The good life is the life of ideal human
functioning according to the nature that
God himself gave us.”
J.P. Moreland, Kingdom Triangle, 94.
3rd Shift: From Duty and Virtue to
Minimalist Ethics:
What do we mean by minimalist ethics?
“One may morally act in any way one
chooses so long as one does not do harm to
others.”
J.P. Moreland, Kingdom Triangle, 96.
3rd Shift: From Duty and Virtue to
Minimalist Ethics:
Minimalist ethics is evident by upholding the following four values:
1.
2.
3.
4.
The transcendence of the individual over the community;
The importance of tolerating all moral viewpoints;
The independence, self-sufficiency of the individual as the
highest human good;
The voluntary, informed consent contract as the model of human
relationships.
J.P. Moreland, Kingdom Triangle, 96.
Consider the following quote:
“If duty and virtue of are of central concern to the
moral life, then there must be moral knowledge
available to know what duties and virtues are
correct and how one can become a righteous,
virtuous person….
Knowledge of duty and virtue is no longer seen as
a possibility, and the impact of the shift to
minimalist ethics is disastrous.”
~ J.P. Moreland, Kingdom Triangle, 96.
4th Shift: From Classic Freedom to
Contemporary Freedom:
“Classically, freedom meant the power to do what one
ought to do. Thus, one is free to play the piano if one
has the skills, training, and knowledge necessary to play
it. Similarly, one is free in life if one has the power to
live the way one ought to live. Sexual freedom in this
context means the power to live a chaste, holy life and
to engage skillfully in sexual activity in the way in which
we were designed by God-in heterosexual marital
union.”
J.P. Moreland, Kingdom Triangle, 99.
4th Shift: From Classic Freedom to
Contemporary Freedom:
“Classic freedom is liberating, indeed, but a necessary
condition of such freedom is the availability of the
relevant sort of knowledge. Absent such knowledge,
freedom has come to be understood as the right to do
what one wants to do. Sexual freedom in this context
means the right to satisfy one’s desire in any way one
wishes, with the possible exception of not harming
others.”
J.P. Moreland, Kingdom Triangle, 99.
5th Shift: From Classic Tolerance to
Contemporary Tolerance:
Classical sense of tolerance: While moral views are
either true or false, right or wrong, one may still respect
one’s opponent as a person, give one the freedom to
make a case for that view, and personally believe that
view. In other words, we tolerate persons, not ideas.
J.P. Moreland, Kingdom Triangle, 103.
5th Shift: From Classic Tolerance to
Contemporary Tolerance:
Contemporary Tolerance: One should not even judge
one’s views.
Moral Relativism “holds that everyone ought to act in
accordance with the agent’s own society’s code(or,
perhaps, with the agent’s own personal code). What is
right for one society is necessarily right for another
society.”
J.P. Moreland, Kingdom Triangle, 100.
What’s wrong with Relativism?
1. It is irrational and false.
2. Suffers from the Reformer’s Dilemma (e.g., Gandhi; Martin
Luther King; Jesus Christ).
3. Some acts are wrong regardless of social conventions( e.g.,
torturing babies).
4. There is no way to morally blame one society in certain
cases (e.g., Jewish Holocaust by Nazi Germany).
5. It is unlivable.
7. Concluding Thought:
“Can an individual or a society live with
a complete disregard for a moral and
spiritual center & not suffer from the
wounds of wickedness?”
~ Ravi Zacharias, Deliver us from Evil.