C. Testing Important Areas of
Knowledge by the Word of God
1. Testing Science and Science Courses by the
Word of God
Q-28. Read carefully the paragraph under the above heading. Does a
Christian who has only a very limited amount of knowledge about science have any reliable
basis for questioning or criticizing the opinions of a professional scientist or science
teacher? Explain your answer.
a. Jesus Christ Is Lord of Science.
Q-29. Explain what Acts 10:36 and Ephesians 1:22 mean to you for your
personal life as a Christian.
Q-30. Did the Lord Jesus say anything related to science? Where is this
reported in the Scriptures?
Q-31. Explain what John 5:45-47 means to Christian students who are
studying science.
Q-32. The prophet, Moses, reported in the opening chapters of Genesis
many things which relate to ideas which many scientists have about the world, especially
about the beginning of the world. If Moses disagrees with some of the conclusions of these
scientists, how can we know that he is right and they are wrong? Whom should be believe,
and why? Sure, the scientists were not there in the beginning to observe what happened,
but neither was Moses. How did Moses find out what happened in the beginning of the world?
By whose authority did he give his report in Genesis?
b. Summary: Christians, Believers in Christ and
the Bible, Walk by Faith.
Q-33. What is the most important reason that Christians should believe
in the creation of all things by God?
Q-34. What part has scientific evidence in the Christian's believing in
creation?
Q-35. Will we in this life ever know enough about science to be able to
say, "We know enough about the scientific facts so we do not have to walk by
faith"? Explain your answer.
Q-36. What are some "facts of faith" which give us Christians
authority and justification in criticizing the opinions of scientists which contradict the
Bible?
c. What Does Genesis Teach About Creation and
Evolution?
Q-37. Why is the first chapter of Genesis said to be a
"chronology"?
Q-38. What are the four different "perspectives" or points of
view from which Moses wrote the first three chapters of Genesis?
Q-39. Recite as many teachings of the first chapter of Genesis as you
can from memory.
Q-40. Do the words of Genesis 1 and 2 allow for the possibility that
evolution from amoebas to man could be true? Explain your answer.
Q-41. If the words of Genesis 1 and 2 are taken to allow for the origin
of man by evolution, rather than by divine creation, what happens to language? What
happens to the authority of the Bible?
d. Christians Have an Advantage Over
Unbelievers.
Q-42. In addition to studying facts very carefully, what especially
enables Christians to understand what the facts mean?
Q-43. Why do Christians involved in science have an advantage over
scientists who are not Christians?
Q-44. Why do some scientists attempt to discover how life could have
started on earth by chance chemical reactions?
Q-45. Why are scientists who are Christians not interested in doing
experiments to find out how life could have started by chance?
Q-46. What is a possible kind of research problem which a Christian
student of genetics might want to conduct?
e. The Requirements for Being a Good Scientist
Q-47. Can a person who believes in evolution and rejects creation be a
good scientist?
Q-48. Can a person who believes in creation and rejects evolution be a
good scientist?
Q-49. Can a scientist who believes in "little green men from
Pluto" be a good scientist? State two qualities of his research which would make his
work "good science."
f. Science: What It Is, Its Limitations, Its
Relation to Faith
1) What is Science?
Q-50. Can you write down a concise definition of science? Try it.
Q-51. Do we learn some scientific facts through just ordinary daily
human experience? If so, give an example.
Q-52. What is meant by the term "natural world"?
Q-53. Through what means do we experience the natural world in the
course of our human experience of life?
Q-54. How is human experience extended in the practice of science?
Q-55. List several different possible motivations for scientific
investigations.
Q-56. What is a scientific hypothesis?
Q-57. What is the "central policy of the scientific method"?
Q-58. Since every scientific theory, even though it is supported by a
large body of evidence, must always be open to further testing, does science discover
absolute truth?
Q-59. If science does not discover truth, what does it discover?
Q-60. What makes science self-correcting?
2) What Are the Limitations of Science?
a) Science cannot investigate anything immaterial.
Q-61. Why cannot science investigate anything that is immaterial?
b) Science Is Neutral to Ethical, Moral and Spiritual
Issues.
Q-62. Why cannot science investigate ethical, moral and spiritual
issues?
Q-63. Does a correct definition of science have anything to say about a
scientist's philosophical, religious, or irreligious belief system? Explain why or why
not.
Q-64. Who should be able to participate in science?
3) Authority in Science
Q-65. What is the final authority in science?
Q-66. What is any student justified in doing whenever a statement made
in a science text or in a classroom appears to involve faith?
4) Quality and Equality for Christians in
Science
Q-67. According to a correct definition of science, what rights and
privileges should Christians enjoy in science and other fields of scholarship?
Q-68. What are the special responsibilities of Christians who are
participating in science?
Q-69. Now, can you explain the definition of science which you wrote
down earlier? Think it through.
2. Testing History Courses by the Word of God
Q-70. What is one of the unique characteristics of biblical
Christianity?
Q-71. What have anti-Christian writers done to history textbooks during
this century?
Q-72. What have they achieved by their erroneous portrayal of history?
a. What Is History?
Q-73. Give a definition of history?
Q-74. What are the two principal kinds of data of history?
b. What Is the Christian Perspective on History?
Q-75. What is the initial fact of human history at which the Christian
perspective for history differs radically from the secular perspective?
Q-76. List five principal themes of history from the Christian
perspective?
c. What Is the Secular(non-Christian)
Perspective On History?
Q-77. List as many as you can of themes of the secular perspective on
history.
d. Neutralizing the Secular Approach to History
1) Do your homework.
Q-78. Why do Christian students attending a secular school need to do
extra studying?
a) The basic framework of biblical
history
Q-79. Why does a Christian student in a secular history class need to
know the biblical history?
b) The basics of archaeological support
for biblical history
Q-80. How can some knowledge of biblical archaeology be useful to a
Christian student in a secular historyclassroom?
c) Some knowledge of the place of
Christianity in American, British and European history
Q-81. Are you willing to turn off the TV and instead read some
biographies of Christian men and women of the past who accomplished great things for
Christ because their lives were wholly dedicated to serving Him?
Q-82. How did John Wyckliff serve God and his fellow Englishmen?
Q-83. Why did the Roman Catholic Church burn at the stake Jan Huss of
Czechoslovakia?
Q-84. What did Martin Luther, the German monk, set off?
Q-85. What did William Tyndale do for his country, England?
Q-86. What did the Pilgrims and Puritans who founded the New England
colonies rely upon as their source of fundamental civil and criminal law?
Q-87. In view of the sacrifices and sufferings of these Christians in
the past, who handed down to us a free America, do you think Christian students should be
willing to take a little flak in the classroom by putting their Christian perspective in
competition with the secular, anti-Christian perspective?
d) The importance of reading, listening
and thinking critically
Q-88. Are you willing to make the extra effort which critical thinking
requires?
2) Some important tactics for Christian students
a) Recognizing, Identifying the Secular Errors
Q-89. What are some of the different kinds of secular errors for which
students should be on the alert in the classroom?
b) Asking intelligent, probing questions
Q-90. Can any teacher rightly complain if a student asks intelligent
questions which are relevant to the subject under discussion?
Q-91. Will a competent teacher complain if a student's questions a
critical of the teacher's conclusions or opinions?
Q-92. In both history and science, what is the final ground for correct
understanding of the subject?
c) Demanding evidence, proof
Q-93. If a statement cannot be supported with suitable factual evidence,
how should it be labeled?
Q-94. If just one student asks intelligent questions, how can this help
other students in the classroom?
3. Testing Social Studies by the Word of God
a) Sociology
Q-95. What is meant by "pluralism" or "pluralistic
society"?
Q-96. What often characterizes people who are most zealous for
pluralism?
Q-97. Why is it that pluralism is commonly practiced so as to allow all
viewpoints equal influence except for biblical Christianity?
Q-98. Is the term "separation of church and state" to be found
in the U.S. Constitution?
Q-99. Do the words of the First Amendment forbid Christians or Christian
principles from having influence in government and public affairs?
Q-100. Just what does the First Amendment forbid?
Q-101. What got the Christians into trouble in the first century Roman
Empire?
Q-102. Can you rehearse several question which could be asked in a
sociology classroom in which it has been implied that Christianity or religion in general
should have no influence upon government and public affairs?
b) Psychology
Q-103. What is the common fundamental assumption of most textbooks on
psychology?
Q-104. Can you rehearse a sequence of questions which demonstrate the
logical argument for the existence of God and the creation of man by God?
Q-105. If there is no divine, universal moral law, what is the ultimate
basis for right and wrong in the world?
c) Sex education or family life courses
Q-106. What is the crucial flaw in courses in sex education as they are
commonly taught in public schools?
Q-107. What is meant by "situation ethics"?
Q-108. If a Christian student is to be able to counteract the immoral
teachings of a typical public school treatment of sex education or family life, what vital
preparation must he or she have?
Q-109. Can you state several of the questions suggested for a Christian
counteraction, and can you defend the Christian point of view for each one?
d) Comparative world religions and bible
literature
Q-110. What is the bias commonly found in textbooks used in comparative
religion classes?
Q- 111. What has happened to the theology of the majority of the
Protestant church denominations?
Q-112. How can the so-called "Christianity" taught in these
denominations and much of the Roman Church be characterized?
(1) The Attack on the Bible: the Documentary or
JEDP Hypothesis
Q-113. What are the three fundamental assumptions of the so-called
"higher criticism" of the Old Testament which was developed in Germany in the
last century?
Q-114. What was the primary "evidence" which the higher
critics based their theory that the Pentateuch(the five books of Moses, Genesis through
Deuteronomy) was written not by Moses?
Q-115. Why is this theory known as the "JEDP Hypothesis"?
Q-116. Why is this theory also known as the "Documentary
Hypothesis"?
Q-117. What is the main problem with using the word, documentary, in the
name, Documentary Hypothesis?
Q-118. What do the higher critics do to get a substitute for evidence to
use in place of actual J, D, E and P documents?
(2) Getting Rid of a God Who Predicts the
Future--Successfully!
Q-119. What do the higher critics do with the prophet Isaiah?
Q-120. What is an important reason for their claim that much of Isaiah's
prophecy was written a century or so after Isaiah lived?
Q-121. Do they have any real proof for their claims about the date of
Isaiah's prophecy
Q-122. What do the higher critics do with Daniel's prophecy?
Q-123. Why do they claim that Daniel's prophecy was not written by
Daniel?
Q-124. Do they have any real proof for their claims about the date of
Daniel's prophecy?
Q-125. What does the Lord Jesus Christ think about the prophecies of
Isaiah and Daniel?
(3) Critics Attack the New Testament Also.
Q-126. What is the evidence which the form critics offer to support
their theory that the four gospels were produced by putting together many separate oral
and written stories and sayings attributed to Jesus?
Q-127. Are there any ancient documents to prove that the form critics'
theory about the sources of the gospels is correct?
Q-128. Can you list and criticize three of the form critics' assumptions
about the four gospels of the New Testament?
Q-129. What logical fallacy are the form critics committing by basing
their study of the New Testament on their chosen assumptions?
4) Neutralizing Attacks on Biblical Christianity
in Comparative Religion and Bible Literature Courses
Q-130. Can you recall some of the suggested questions to be used in the
classroom? Write them down in your own words.
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