RLGN-105 Midterm

Atheism

Belief that there is no god.

In Redemption according to Van Engen, "Christ comes, Christ redeems, Christ returns."

True

Honeycutt stated that everyone you meet believes in ________ truth.

absolute

Ad Hominem

(Lit. "To the Man") Seeking to discredit a person's argument by attacking their personal character, origin, associations, etc.

Overgeneralization

(stereotyping) Making a judgement about an entire group based on behavior, mostly undesirable, of a few from that group

Pragmatism

A philosophy which focuses only on the outcomes and effects of processes and situations.

anthropocentric worldview

A worldview that focuses on human welfare and well-being.

According to the author, "We have demonstrated beyond all reasonable doubt that moral __________ do exist."

Absolutes

Honeycutt believed, "...As we encounter people who make the claim that there are 'no __________ ,' we can do numerous things to guide them."

Absolutes

Appeal to (false or misleading) Authority

Appealing to the opinion of a person who agrees with yours because they are generally respected by the audience, but have no real authority on the topic at hand

Slippery Slope

Arguing against an action on the unsupported assertion that it will inevitably lead to a much worse condition

False Analogies

Arguing on the basis of a comparison of unrelated things.

According to Van Engen, sin causes humans to "______________" as it did with Adam.

Blame another

Van Engen writes that "God is the __________ and the __________ of the story."

Center, Focus

Appeal to Ignorance

Claiming that something is true simply because it cannot be disproved, or that something is untrue because it cannot be proved

Matthews quoted Friesen's Framework. The first one was "Learn to distinguish between matters of ________ and matters of ________" (p. 3).

Command, Freedom

Is/Ought, or Naturalistic Fallacy

Concluding about the way things ought to be simply on the basis of how things are or are assumed to be

Oversimplification

Concluding that an effect has only one cause when it is really the result of multiple causes

Understanding the _________ is necessary in the process of critical thinking.

Context

The Grand Story of the biblical worldview includes...

Creation, Fall, and Redemption.

The author suggested, "being able to _________ ____________ and to intelligently challenge incorrect thinking is essential in the process of making wise decisions in life."

Critically Think

Relativism as a moral system does not revise the standard, but seeks to redefine what it means to be moral, measuring it by the same existing standard. (p. 2).

False

The author suggests that there are two truths: subjective truth and negative truth. (p. 1).

False

Genetic Fallacy

Giving credit to a position or supporting a claim because of the origin of the position when such an appeal to origin is irrelevant

In Genesis, we see one character, God, who speaks things into existence. This shows 2 things about God's character:

God communicates and God is powerful.

Theocentric View

God is center of everything, nature has value because God made it

According to the author, man would not be able to make the distinction between right and wrong if he did not have __________________.

Image of God

Bandwagon

Justifying a course of action because everyone is doing it

Selective Perception

Looking only for things that support our current ideas, and ignoring evidence that does not.

Hasty Conclusion

Making a judgement on the basis of one or even a few samples

Straw Man

Misrepresenting a position to make it seem weaker than it really is or to demonize the position to make it sound worse than it is and then to act as if the argument has been won when the real issue hasn't even been addressed

"Everyone has a right to share their _______ about a particular issue, but all _______ s must be scrutinized to determine how much credence one should give to that particular _______," instructed the author.

Opinion

False Dilemma

Oversimplifying a complex issue to make it appear that only two alternatives are possible

We often have to set aside our _________ to think clearly, to think critically, in order to make wise decisions."

Passion

Red Herring

Raising an irrelevant issue to divert attention from the primary issue. This argument appeals to a person's fears or sense of pity.

According to the author, if you want to be a balanced 'critical' thinker, it is imperative that you follow these three important steps.

Rehearse, reflect, and reason.

Sweeping Generalization

Stating a general principle and then applying it in a specific case as though it were a universal rule

One of the items Matthews listed as being on the list is ______ or _____ (p. 2).

Tattoos or piercings

Pantheism

The belief in opposition to Christian doctrine, that God and nature are one and the same.

Subjectivism

The philosophical theory that treats all knowledge as merely relative, denying the possibility of objective knowledge.

"A man who beats his wife is not simply incorrect, but immoral" (p. 1) according to the author.

True

"Humans take the moral assumption quite seriously, and because of it acknowledge and submit to laws to protect people and put punishments in place for those who violate human dignity," according to Honeycutt.

True

"Relativism does not require a particular behavior for everyone in similar moral situations." (p. 2) according to Koukl.

True

"The creature's craftiness is greater than all the other created beasts shaped by God," Van Engen indicated.

True

According to Cotton, basing morality on human values means we have bought into a system of relativism.

True

According to Matthews, "One of these key passages dealing with this subject (Christian Liberty) is Romans chapters 14-15" (p. 2).

True

According to the author, a moral neutral ground is a place of complete impartiality where no judgments or any 'forcing' of personal views are allowed (p. 3).

True

According to the reading, "moral absolutism holds that a moral rule is true regardless of whether anyone believes it" (p. 2).

True

Cotton believes that a consensus of ethical norms apart from the supervision of God will eventually erode.

True

Critical thinking is a self-guided, self-disciplined process which directs individuals to think correctly about themselves and the world around them.

True

Honeycutt stated, "The biblical worldview has the strongest basis for the assumption that even unbelievers normally hold because it tells us that God created us and we are not the products of impersonal forces in the universe."

True

Koukl believed "a moral relativist decides for him/herself whatever he/she thinks is best. " (p. 2).

True

Koukl indicated that there are two (2) kinds of "ought" statements—one the moral ought and the other the rational ought." (p. 1).

True

Matthews believed "As seen in [Romans 14 & 15], both parties may very well be acting in a manner pleasing to God." (p. 3).

True

Matthews indicated, "Drinking wine/alcohol, cooking with wine, eating where alcohol is served" can be listed as a Christian Liberty (p. 2).

True

One habit to becoming a better critical thinker according to the author is "Do not pretend to know what you do not know."

True

Personal experience does not matter in critical thinking.

True

The author highlighted that, "Relativism rejects all universal moral rules and abandons the idea of oughtness" (p. 2).

True

The author suggested that in the past, efforts by Christians to use political or economic power to advance the Kingdom of God have been largely unsuccessful.

True

The author suggests that relativism today has produced a "profound moral illiteracy" (p. 4).

True

Matthews asked two (2) questions to his students and the answer was "that as believers, we must live our lives in accordance with the _________ found in God's Word (the Bible) (p. 1).

Truths

The author indicated that, "Humans have the _________ ability to think and to make discriminating choices."

Unique

Naturalism

a style and theory of representation based on the accurate depiction of detail.

"To say that anything is ________ essentially means that it is not up to us or anyone else to make up the rules as we go along," according to the author.

absolute

Honeycutt believed "We should be mature enough to trust His (God's) love and wisdom in providing boundaries with His ________ rules for our lives, even though we may not understand them fully."

absolute

Honeycutt explained, "The exception clause 'as long as nobody gets hurt' reveals an underlying belief in the ________ value of human beings and a universal belief that our freedom to do, 'whatever we want' is not unlimited."

absolute

The author highlighted that, "We have already seen how not believing in ________ is not logically defensible, and in the end a belief impossible to live out."

absolutes

The article seeks to answer the question: Is it possible to have true morality without a _________ in God?

belief

Theism

belief in a god or gods

The author believed "There are real benefits to boundaries, in fact, boundaries can be __________."

blessings

Van Engen says that stories have 3 ingredients:

characters, setting, and plot.

Syncretism religion

combination of two religious value systems

Cotton suggested that the Nazi holocaust began with a subtle shift in attitude that judged the value of people based upon their _____________ to the state.

cost/benefit ratio

Van Engen explained that "The Bible unites many smaller stories into one Grand Story or ___________ that communicates a coherent worldview."

metanarrative

According to Matthews, "We may also find ourselves confronted by '_______' lists" (p. 1).

others

Hedonism

pursuit of pleasure, especially of the senses

Van Engen explained that REDEMPTION is the part of "the Grand Story about how God sets out to __________ His fallen image."

rescue

The Law of Non-Contradiction

something cannot both exist and not exist or be true and false at the same time and in the same way

The author suggests that in order for people to find true ethical standards, they must follow __________.

the Bible

Nihilism

the total rejection of religious or moral beliefs

According to the article, the world is building an ethical system based on __________.

tolerance

Cotton explained that many people today believe that God is, at best, __________, and at worst, an __________ task master.

unnecessary; intolerant