How God Reveals Him-self

Theology

Theism

The Christian worldview is a theistic one—Christians be-lieve in the existence of a supernatural God.

Christians have identified Him as YHWH, the one revealed primarily in the Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament Greek Scriptures.

There are two ways that Christians have come to the con-clusion that there is a God:

1. General Revelation

General Revelation is what it is titled—a general (non-specific) communica-tion from God to mankind in all times and in all places.

•The beauty and majesty of creation•A certain order to the universe•Historical events

A Hypothetical Question

You look at the earth. It’s magnificent. There seems to be a general-ized order and design to it. You realize that someone or something created this world. That’s all you know.

What else would you want to know about this god/deity/force/super-natural power?

You may want to know if it male or female? What is this god like? What is his or her personality? How powerful is this god?

What are some other questions we could ask about this “god?”

1. General Revelation

Is General Revelation suffi-cient? “General revelation has been viewed consistently throughout church history by a variety of Christian the-ists as a necessary but insufficient means for providing knowledge about the Creator and His character.”

General Revelation points us in the right di-rection, but it doesn’t get us to our destina-tion.

2. Special Revelation

Special Revelation tells us the specific information we need to know to have an understanding of who God is and what He does. What ways has YHWH given special revelation to humans?

YHWH’s Revelation:

General RevelationCreationHistory

Special RevelationBibleJesus(Answers in Prayer)

Side Note: Deism

Word Origin: Latin

1.belief in the existence of a God on the evidence of reason and nature only, with rejection of su-pernatural revelation (distinguished from theism).

2.belief in a God who created the world but has since remained indifferent to it.

definition: dictionary.com

Theism and Deism

Theism is the belief in a personal and supernatural de-ity who created the world and interacts with hu-

mankind and creation. (General and Special Revelation)

Deism is the belief in a god or higher power based on only the general revelation given to humankind. This

God does not interact with humans and creation. (Only General Revelation)