Presup in the Pentateuch #presup #prentateuch #torah #revealedapologetics

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Welcome back to another episode of Revealed Apologetics. I'm your host Eli Ayala, and today we're going to be covering the topic of Presuppositionalism and the

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Pentateuch. Okay, and we've been titled this Presupp in the Pentateuch So basically what

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I want to get into in this particular episode is to kind of show that within the

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Pentateuch But first we're going to define what the Pentateuch is for people for for the uninitiated, right? We'll define what the

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Pentateuch is and why it's important And then we will go into drawing some principles of the presuppositional apologetic method from the

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Pentateuch itself And then we'll kind of take it from there. So I don't want to waste too much time

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This is not live like I normally do I do apologize if it's been a while since I've uploaded anything.

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I've just been Really really busy. So I'm super happy to be back at least in this capacity and I hope that this is beneficial and useful for for folks, alright, so Let's kind of get our notes up here.

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So I got some slides here. So presupp in the Pentateuch. Okay now first I think it's important to understand and define what the

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Pentateuch is. Okay, and the Pentateuch Refers to the first five books of the

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Bible It's also known as the Torah and it's literal meaning it refers to The idea of instruction or guidance

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So when we refer to the Torah, we are talking about a body of teachings laws and guidance for the people of God Okay.

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Now it's very important to understand the foundational role of the Pentateuch in the

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Hebrew Bible, of course The Old Testament as we would call it and then of course the Old Testament and the

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New Testament from the Christian perspective That's really what we're operating under right? The authority of the 66 books of the

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Bible which include the Old and New Testament and of course within the Old Testament you have Those foundational first five books which are often referred to as the books of Moses or the law or anything along those lines

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Okay, but when we refer to the Torah, we are talking about a body of teachings not simply writings

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But a body of teachings laws and guidance for the people of God Okay, now if you were to jump into a helicopter and fly over the

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Bible not literally but kind of get a broad overview, I think it's very

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Interesting to note that when you summarize the main themes of Scripture all of these themes

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Can be found in some way shape or form in the Pentateuch. So right there Within the first five books of the

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Bible you have the themes of creation Okay, you have the theme of the fall

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You have the themes of redemption and ultimately you have a pointing forward to a consummation

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Okay. Now it's not as explicit as it is in other places in Scripture But at least in seed form you have a lot of these main broad categories that really the rest of Scripture will expand upon in various ways

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Filling out the details and darkening the lines and defining categories in a more focused way

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Okay, but right there in the Pentateuch We have kind of these these main kind of themes and this is really important for understanding presuppositional apologetics

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As we know if you follow this channel, I've placed a great emphasis upon the fact that our apologetic methodology

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Okay is a way of defending the faith that is rooted and grounded and grows out of Scripture.

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Okay, so our apologetic is Grounded scripturally and it is grounded in a theology that is itself grounded in Scripture Okay So you must understand the

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Bible and biblical theology as the the ground the fertile ground out of which our apologetic

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Grows out of and of course not just for apologetics But for everything we do needs to be growing out of principles laid out for us in Scripture Okay, and that is not to say that Everything we do as Christians Is based upon explicit teaching of the

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Scriptures but rather it's based upon explicit and Implicit teachings and things that we can logically deduce from biblical principles

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Okay So so admittedly, you know I don't I'm not pretending to say that the

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Bible addresses every single thing that a Christian might confront in every time and place and point in history, but the principles laid out in Scripture I think are applicable and are flexible enough to apply to to everything we might confront and then this is what

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I think The Scriptures itself means when it speaks of you know, the Word of God is alive. It's not this stagnant

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Thing that's kind of stuck and frozen in the past It has applicability to all of life and for the

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Christian committed to the authority of God and hence committed to the authority of his word We are seeking to apply its teachings its theological

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Perspectives we want to apply that to all of life and Apologetics is simply just one application of that.

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So our apologetic is going to be rooted in the Scriptures Okay Now when we take a look for example at the presuppositional method and we take a look at say

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Vant Hill Okay, Cornelius Vant Hill when we look at Vant Hill and we see how he

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Kind of presented Worldviews right the importance of worldviews and in sort of the three traditional philosophical categories

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So so every world you has at least these these categories and Bonson drew this out as well every worldview has at least these three categories metaphysics epistemology and Ethics metaphysics epistemology and ethics.

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Okay, and I do apologize if this is old hat for you But just for the sake of those who might be listening to this sort of thing for the first time

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Metaphysics simply asks the question. What is reality? What is the nature of reality? Epistemology asks the question.

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How do we know? Okay The nature of knowledge itself and ethics deals with how it asks the question

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How should we live our lives ethics deals with like our perspectives on right and wrong and things like that?

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Okay, every worldview has at least those three foundations and of course Cornelius Vant Hill Really laid out the importance of these categories in in the very way that he defined apologetics

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So if you go to his book Christian apologetics It's that kind of little one.

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I think I have it somewhere here. You know what? I think it might even Be worth just grabbing the book real quick.

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Just just give me a second. All right, here we are

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Let me see here. Let me remove this for two seconds. Okay, so if you take a look at Vant Hill's book

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Christian apologetics This is the one that's edited by William Edgar the second edition

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And there are some notes in here that explain kind of updated notes that explain certain aspects of Vant Hill But if you go straight to I think it's chapter one, okay

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Yeah, okay So chapter one Vant Hill defines for us apologetics and the way he defines it

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I think does a really great job in emphasizing the importance of worldview and then we're kind of kind of draw Principles of what's inherent in this idea from the

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Pentateuch. Okay, and interestingly enough right from the first verse opening verse of the Bible Okay, so here's how

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Vant Hill defined apologetics. He says Apologetics is the vindication of the

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Christian philosophy of life against the various forms of the non -christian philosophy of life

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I'm gonna read that again Apologetics is the vindication of the Christian philosophy of life against the various forms of the non -christian philosophy of life

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That's Vant Hill Christian apologetics page 17 second edition now what's very important about this definition is that it correctly highlights the genuine nature of the apologetic task and that is it is a defense of a

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Philosophy of life a worldview if you will, okay We are defending a

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Christian system of thought and the unbeliever has a system of thought as well

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And so the nature of the apologetic encounter between believer and unbeliever is going to be a clash of worldview perspectives

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Okay, and every worldview has at least these three Categories, okay. We have the metaphysics.

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We have the epistemology and we have the ethics we have a theory of reality a theory of knowledge and a theory of how we ought to live our lives and fundamental to Cornelius Vant Hill's metaphysical presupposition

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This is his ultimate metaphysical presupposition. This is key in a presuppositional method

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The starting metaphysical principle in Vant Hill is what he called the creator creature distinction

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Okay the starting metaphysical principle in Vant Hill is the creator creature distinction if you take a look at the slide there a

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Vant Hill was kind of famous for When he would teach a class he would always draw these these circles

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Okay, just take a look for example at the circle the two circles, okay the two circle diagram there represented the

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Christian worldview and the first circle there the big circle is God and the little circle is creation and If I'm correct the lines that connect the circle is

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God's revelation. So you have the metaphysical ultimate God Revealing himself to the creation and there's a distinction between God and the creation.

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Okay This is the metaphysical starting point All right that is key to understanding the presuppositional perspective and of course the

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God that is Representative of that large circle is not an ambiguous notion of God in the

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Pentateuch when it says in the beginning God created that there that word God there is not an ambiguous deity, but His identity and characteristic and purposes and plans will be more focused upon and more

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Expressed in the later pages of well in the book of Genesis and then of course in the broader context of the

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Pentateuch itself Okay, so we have right there in the opening passage, okay in Genesis 1 1.

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Okay. We have in the beginning God Created the heavens and the earth.

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Okay in the beginning God Created the heavens and the earth now while not explicitly stated the act of creation implies

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God's exist prior to creation and possesses the power to bring it into existence and so you have in the opening verse in opening words of the

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Pentateuch you have a distinction made between creator and Creation and if you take a look there on my slide

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It says while not explicitly stated the act of creation implies God exists prior the word prior there is in Quotations, I don't want to get into an issue of time and you know to say that God existed before Creation implies that there's time before I'm not getting into that discussion

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I would I would I would be in agreement with You know a lot of folks who would say something to the effect that there was a state of affairs in Which God exists and only

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God exists and then upon creating then there was a state of affairs in which creation existed

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So if you don't want to use the temporal language, that's fine But you get the point the fact that God creates.

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Okay, this implies that God possesses the power to bring Creation into existence now this highlights also

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God's omnipotence because if you think about it, he's bringing creation into existence without using stuff

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Okay, God does not use things to to You know manipulate and then bring into existence by like shaping right?

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God actually brings into existence the stuff that is required to be shaped so as to shape and form

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His creation, okay And this is important because inherent in this concept is not simply the creator creature distinction

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It also is a reference to his ultimacy God's ultimacy his Omnipotence, okay his

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Authority, okay, which will kind of highlight and this is alluded to later on you have in the book of Hebrews chapter 6 13

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Which is not the Pentateuch but Hebrews 6 13 refers to the Pentateuch and it says here that when

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God made a promise to Abraham because he could swear by no one greater he Swore by himself and that's later in the

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Pentateuch But of course as the Pentateuch is a body of writing which I believe the author is

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Moses Primarily at least he wrote most of it enough to suffice to be appropriately called its author

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Okay, you have this idea that that God is the ultimate there's no one greater than him and he exists prior to creation

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We can put those words in parentheses right prior to creation and hence he is sovereign over that which he creates

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All right And again, these are just basic theological truths that Christians are gonna hold to but more specifically the presupposition list is gonna try

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Really hard to be consistent with this idea of the omnipotent God the ultimate

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Metaphysical starting point and the one whom there is none higher Okay, all

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Christian traditions within orthodoxy is going to affirm that God is a metaphysical ultimate

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But I think that the presupposition list is going to apply this metaphysical Ultimacy in a more consistent way because if God is the ultimate authority of all things

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Then we are going to try and consistently apply that authority to our reasoning to our thinking to our apologetics

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Okay, so these are kind of in very basic but important things to keep in mind. God is the

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Creator There is a distinction between the Creator and the creature. Okay. God is metaphysically ultimate and in essence

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Genesis 1 1 is setting the stage for the understanding that there is a Fundamental distinction between the divine

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Creator and the created universe and this implies that God is the ultimate source and cause of all of Existence which reflects the idea that God is as I said before metaphysically

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Ultimate. Okay. All right So I get you get a lot packed in to just Genesis 1 1 and what that implies and how that's all fleshed out in other parts of the

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Pentateuch as well and how this very much is related to as presupposition list how we Consistently work these categories out in the way that we defend the faith.

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All right. All right Okay, when we're talking about our second category epistemology, which is a theory of knowledge.

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Sorry the formatting there It says epistemologic and then the ale is a darn formatting

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It's different when I share it on the screen here as opposed to what it looks like in the in the original file So I'm sure it's not a big deal.

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But nevertheless epistemologic Epistemology, which is a theory of knowledge. Okay for the presupposition list we would hold to what is called a revelational epistemology a

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Revelational epistemology. Okay. In other words how we acquire knowledge is going to be via a

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Revelation of the one who knows who's created and knows all things. Okay.

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Now this is important All right, because we have examples of God revealing himself in personal ways

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Such that if God did not reveal himself in various ways We would not know much about him wouldn't know anything about him unless God has revealed himself in some way shape or form

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So you have this idea not only of say for example the burning bush

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God reveals himself to Moses and tells Moses his name if you think about it the Pentateuch as a whole

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Just as a body of writing as a body of revelation. It's revelation itself

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What's embedded in the Pentateuch in in light of its very nature is that it is

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Revelational. Okay. And of course, what does it reveal? It reveals the nature of God.

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It reveals the nature of man It reveals the nature of the relationship between man and God how we relate to him

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I would even argue that it would speak of our knowledge of God Being something this is

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I think implicitly taught something that we know innately Okay, for example a lot of people when trying to demonstrate that all men have a knowledge of God Okay, or all men have a revelation of God We often go to Romans chapter 1 verses 18 through 23, which is a great first to go to But but I what

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I've always found interesting is Genesis chapter 1 verse 26 when God makes man in his own image

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Okay, we are made in the image of God. We are a Facet of creation if creation is a revelation of God then surely us as human beings are a revelation of God and Also the thinking and conscious life of human beings is itself

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Revelational of God and this is very much in line with what the presuppositionalist argues in terms of man

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Existing in the face of God. We exist in the environment of revelation and we ourselves are a revelation of God okay, so we have this kind of innate knowledge of God because our conscious life is a is a

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Revelation of the one who created us in his image and we have specific and multiple instances of revelation within the

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Pentateuch In that God reveals himself in more ways than simply just creating us and giving us an innate knowledge of who he is

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He reveals himself in various ways and to Abraham. He appeared the Lord appeared to Abraham Among the the

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Oaks of Mamre and God revealed himself to Moses God had an unbroken revelatory relationship with Adam and Eve in the garden

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Okay, this idea this notion of revelation is just something that is assumed

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It's presupposed and it's inherent in the very fabric of the Pentateuch. And of course the rest of Scripture.

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Okay, so We have kind of this important epistemological thing to kind of keep in mind

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We have direct communication with God revelation of God's name and character is given to us in the

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Pentateuch God's revelation interestingly enough is revealed to be Covenantal in character.

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So when we read the Pentateuch, there's a strong emphasis upon Covenant right there at the very beginning the revelation of and within the

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Pentateuch Forms the basis of Christian epistemology as it highlights the fact that God communicates with humanity

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Reveals his will his character and his purpose and we get this idea interestingly enough that God's revelation is

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Progressive God progressively reveals himself even in the conclusion of the

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Pentateuch You have a looking forward to more revelation, especially when you get to things like Genesis chapter 3 verse 15

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Where you have the proto evangelium where I think that Messiah is is predicted, right?

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there is the seed of the woman who will crush the head of the serpent and So I think this is very much in line with what

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Jesus said in the gospel of John where he's debating with his Religious interlocutors and he says you think you you think you know the scriptures or say you think you know

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Let me see if I can get this, right? Okay, he says Oh Man, I'm having like a moment here.

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What's it? Jesus says it says you have the scriptures you think in them There we go, but it's they that speak of me, okay so this is very much in line with the fact that the scriptures are about Jesus in a very profound way and kind of alludes to The work of Christ in seed form in the

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Pentateuch. Okay, which is a central feature of the presuppositional method, right? It's Christ who will redeem it is

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Christ who is Who is to come and as we learn later on that he is he is

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God we have This idea that later on in Christ is hidden all the way all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge now if Jesus is

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God Then of course all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found in God because of his nature and who he is which is laid

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Out for us in the Pentateuch. Okay, so so we have All of these kind of categories to consider now.

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I want to I want to kind of qualify something here Okay, when I say that presuppositional ism is found in the pet in the

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Pentateuch I'm not saying that the Pentateuch was written as an apologetic

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Methodology textbook now, I do think there are apologetical out aspects to the Pentateuch. Okay, especially when you when you consider

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You know the author writing within the context of other religions and other Creation myths and things like that.

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I definitely think there is a an apologetical thrust to the Pentateuch, especially the opening Chapters of Genesis, but but it's not

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I'm not saying that the Pentateuch is teaching presuppositional apologetics as Expressed and explained by Cornelius van

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Tille. No what I'm saying is I mean, I don't think any of the Bible is teaching Presuppositional apologetics in that specific way

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But what I am saying is that the principles the principles of the presuppositional method are themselves

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Rooted in Scripture and so the more refined quote -unquote method As laid out by people like van

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Tille and Bonson and others Of course, we kind of add that precision as we try to apply biblical principles to our current situation, right?

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but I'm not saying that you know, the Bible is teaching, you know, for example a Transcendental argument are the principles of the transcendental argument found in the

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Pentateuch and in the broader Scope of Scripture you bet I do think that they are found in Scripture But not in the technical sense of like, you know, bro, like I wouldn't say this to the the classicalist, right, bro

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Show me the kalam cosmological argument in the Bible Well, no, the Bible is not going to give you you know

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The premises whatever begins to exist as a cause the universe began to exist therefore the universe has a cause right are the principles in Scripture found there and are there explicit teachings that are

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That express something to that effect Well, sure, absolutely, but I'm not saying that this is explicitly taught in like the more

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Rigorous and specific way that we read about in our apologetics textbooks and and and things like that Okay, so I just wanted to clarify that All right.

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So we have also within the Pentateuch a strong focus upon covenant.

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All right, this is so important Okay, because within a presuppositional perspective, okay, we see because all men have a knowledge of God okay, and All men are without excuse as Romans chapter 1 verse 18 through 23 does teach us.

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Okay, we see people standing in a particular Relationship to their maker and this relationship is established right there in the

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Pentateuch I think the Bible itself lays the foundation for the concept of covenant keepers and covenant breakers

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Okay in the biblical narrative God establishes a covenant with Adam and Eve And he places them in the

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Garden of Eden and provides them with everything they need for a perfect harmonious existence

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Now the covenant is implicit but based on God's provision and the commandment not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and Adam and Eve break the covenant by disobeying

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God's command they eat the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil an act of rebellion and Disobedience and this disobedience represents a clear violation of the covenantal relationship that they had

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Now when you get into the very important idea of the doctrine of federal headship that Adam represented mankind

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Even as Christ represents all those who believe if you are in Adam Okay, you are a child of Adam and there is nothing but death and in that Relationship and that covenant relationship if you are a covenant breaker and you are outside of Christ Then you are in that disobedience

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You're in that that category now Of course Christ is the federal head of all those who believe and those who are reconciled to God by the work of Christ We are called to be covenant keepers

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We are renewed in the covenant and we stand in different relation to God than we did when we were covenant breakers but those

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Categories of covenant keepers and covenant breakers are established right there for us in the in the

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Pentateuch Okay, this is very very important. Now what we have also inherent within The the story of Adam and Eve.

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Okay is the very strong desire for autonomy now those who are familiar with the

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Presuppositional method and perhaps have even taken my class that I offer on my website If anyone's interested you could still sign up for that on reveals apologetics calm

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Click on priest up you and you could sign up for my introduction to biblical apologetics course But there is a section in that course

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Entitled the twin poisons the twin poisons And this is a very important aspect of the presuppositional method at least to recognize these twin poisons

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And that is the desire for autonomy and neutrality autonomy and neutrality

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Okay, now we have this desire of autonomy right there in the beginning in the story of Adam and Eve Okay, you see here on the slide temptation and autonomy the serpent often associated with Satan temps

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Eve by suggesting that if she eats from The tree she will become like God knowing good and evil that's

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Genesis 3 1 through 5 now this temptation plays on the desire for autonomy and Independence from God as it implies that they can determine right and wrong for themselves without relying on God's guidance.

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Okay Autonomy, which literally just refers to self law or to be a law unto oneself

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Okay, this is the root of the sin of mankind. It is a desire to be independent of our maker

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Okay. Now this is true in this particular story It is a desire to be independent of God to determine for oneself

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What is good and what is evil? but it is also true in our Reasoning in our reasoning and our the functions of our mind and what how we think and how we reason and how we argue we can commit the this idea of autonomy when we seek to reason in ways that do not see

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God as Fundamental to that process. Okay, we can do apologetics in a way that assumes

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Autonomy because we do not see the fundamental connection Between God and his revelation as our foundation and how we actually talk to the unbeliever

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Reason with the unbeliever and argue with the unbeliever within the context of the apologetic encounter. Okay, we do not want to repeat this autonomy that we see in the garden in our everyday reasoning and thinking and Apologetic interactions with people.

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Okay, and so there is definitely an application to be seen here, even though It's not explicitly stated in the story as it stands if you kind of just read it at face value

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But this is a very evident that the desire to be autonomous has detrimental

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Consequences in the story and of course it has detrimental consequences for our thinking when we think along autonomous categories

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We are not rooting ourselves in the necessity of God and his revelation

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Okay, and hence we are rooting ourselves in something else which you know other places of the

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Bible tell us it's foolishness It's dark and it's vain thinking these sorts of things. Okay, so we want to beware of this idea of autonomy

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Which again is at the very heart of the Adam and Eve story in the garden. All right now, whoops went too quickly there

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There we go. We're still in this authority here So Adam and Eve's decision to eat the forbidden fruit reflects their desire for knowledge and autonomy and they seek to gain knowledge independently apart from God's wisdom and guidance thus expressing a desire to be self -sufficient and autonomous in Determining their destiny in essence the fall represents a breach of the covenantal relationship between God and humanity it highlights humanity's

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Inclination to choose autonomy and self -determination over obedience and reliance on God's guidance

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This event is often seen as the introduction of sin and its consequences into the world as well as the origin of humanity's estrangement from God Reasoning this is the key point reasoning based upon this mindset is to reason

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Sinfully and we don't want to follow in the footsteps of our first parents rather We want to reason in a way that does not put

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God to the test But rather places a trust in God and measures everything else in light of God and his revelation

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Okay, super duper important the desire for autonomy and the breaking of the covenant with God in the story of the fall have

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Significant theological implications in Christian doctrine. It underscores the need for redemption and reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ Who is seen as the one who establishes the new covenant that restores the broken relationship between God and humanity offering?

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forgiveness and a renewed communion with God this includes and has implications for the renewed and Reconciled mind of the believer.

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Okay, that is super important. Okay, I'm gonna say this again I'm gonna read that second part and then the last point again.

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Okay, this underscores the need for redemption and Reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ who is seen as the one who establishes the new covenant that restores the broken relationship between God and humanity offering forgiveness and a renewed communion with God ready this includes and has implications for the renewed and Reconciled mind of the believer when a believer is reconciled when a sinner is reconciled to God That is not simply to describe salvation of the soul but it is also a renewal and reconciliation of the mind with God and that is why when we are

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When our minds are reconciled with God our thinking is based upon different principles

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Than the principles they were being based upon when we were in Adam Okay And this is an issue of consistency if we have been redeemed if our mind has been renewed

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Then should we reason and think in the categories that we were reasoning and thinking prior to being redeemed and reconciled the answer is no and other

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Christians who are who do apologetics who You know, no one's gonna disagree with this

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But what that looks like is going to be debated and I would argue that the presuppositionalist is doing this more

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Consistently as they are self -consciously seeking to be biblical in the reasoning process itself calling the unbeliever to repentance and Declaring that the unbeliever cannot hide from the

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God that he knows Exists the God and whose image he's created and the God who calls us to covenant faithfulness.

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Okay. All right Okay, let's go. Let's keep going are moving along. So now we have another important principle.

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Okay that I think is key to the To the pentateuch and of course key to Christian theism and of course key to us as presuppositionalist

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Okay, and that is monotheism. We have the the famous Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Ahad here.

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Oh Israel. The Lord is our God. The Lord is one You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might and Jesus expands upon This or clarifies it rather in the

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New Testament where he says we are to love the Lord our God with all our mind okay, so the key confession of Judaism and of course the key confession of Christianity is the belief that there is one

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God there is only one God and this God is not an ambiguous deistic deity or an ambiguous

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Concept or as as pastor Doug Wilson has said in the past of fuzzy benevolence in the sky That's not the

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God of the Bible That is not the one true God that exists the one true God that exists the creator of all things who has revealed himself unmistakably, okay the pentateuch

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Establishes the foundational principle of monotheism the belief in the existence of one

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God this monotheistic view sets God as the ultimate and singular presupposition for the believer

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It teaches that there is no other deity or power that should be worshipped or acknowledged

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Making God the sole source of authority and the ultimate reference point for all aspects of life

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I'm gonna read that second part again, super important this is key to the presuppositional method and the consistency with which

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Presuppositional is seek to play this out in the reasoning and arguing an apologetic context this monotheistic view sets

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God as the ultimate and Singular presupposition for the believer it teaches that there is no other deity or power that should be worshipped or acknowledged

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Making God the sole source of authority and the ultimate reference point for all aspects of life

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Now you take this as well with Hebrews chapter 6 13 Which is a reference back to the pentateuch where God makes a promise to Abraham He swears to Abraham by himself because there is none greater than he this highlights this idea of the ultimate

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Authority there is none greater than God if there is none greater than God Then there is no standard above God by which we test the claims of God This is very much wrapped up in the idea that because of the nature of God because of the singularity of God He's the one true

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God that exists. He is the ultimate authority Okay, and this is true on every level

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Metaphysically, he's the ultimate authority and within our worldview. He must be our ultimate authority He is the one that creates that sets the standard by which all of our reasoning is to proceed

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Okay, this is why we do not put God to the test we do not treat God as a hypothesis rather He is our starting point the one that we begin with Logically speaking not chronologically speaking.

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I'm not gonna get into that discussion now What does it mean to start with God? There's I think I have a video on that somewhere on my channel so you can check that out but be that as it may because God is the metaphysical ultimate and the

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Epistemological aspect of his revelation holds that ultimate authority as well. We are going to start with God we are not going to put

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God to the test and Treat him as a hypothesis to be tested and demonstrated

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We believe in demonstrating the existence of God But we do not believe demonstrating the existence of God in ways that assume neutrality

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Autonomy and that place an authority greater than God over God to determine whether he exists these principles

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I think are set right there in the Pentateuch if you can kind of draw these principles out from what it means for God to Be God in that context.

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Okay, and of course, this is more fleshed out in the rest of Scripture. Okay now God is the creator and sustainer of all things the

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Pentateuch Emphasizes God as the creator of the heavens and the earth Genesis 1 1 this concept underscores that Underscores that all of creation including human beings owes its existence and purpose to God God is not only the originator but also the sustainer of all life

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Further highlighting his ultimate role in the believers worldview if this is true of God how ultimate

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In our worldview thinking should God be what what place should he what should we hold him in it should be in that ultimate place

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Within our worldview. Okay Covenant relationship throughout the Pentateuch God establishes covenants with individuals and the

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Israelite nation These covenants are divine agreements that outline God's promises and expectations for his people by entering into these covenants believers recognize

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God as the ultimate authority and the one to whom they owe their allegiance and Obedience.

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What is the heart of the covenant? it is to love the Lord our God with everything that we are and if we're loving the

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Lord our God with everything that we Are and he is our ultimate because we are loving and we even with all our mind the way we think the way we reason

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The way we live he is the ultimate authority that we worship that we remain faithful to And so there you go

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You have this this idea of ultimacy and how that plays out right there for us in the

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Pentateuch Now when we consider moral and ethical considerations, so we have the worldview categories of metaphysics.

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What is reality? Epistemology, how do we know and ethics? What is right or wrong? How should we live our lives the

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Pentateuch contains the moral and ethical laws given by God including the Ten Commandments, right?

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Ten Commandments is given to us not in Genesis, but in Exodus And of course this establishes

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God's law for the people of Israel and there's a strong Focus upon our moral and ethical living

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Okay These laws provide believers with a moral framework for living in accordance with God's will

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Believers are called to adhere to these principles which are rooted in God's character and revealed through his word making

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God the ultimate source of Moral guidance God is the ultimate source of moral guidance

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We do not judge God based upon a standard that stands above God rather God himself is the standard and his standard which is rooted in his nature is expressed in the laws that he gives

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The laws of God reflect the nature and character of God himself. Okay, there is nothing greater okay, something isn't good because God arbitrarily says it's good nor is something good because there is a good that exists independent of God Okay, you get the whole euthyphro

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Dilemma wrapped up in there. There is nothing higher than God from within the Christian worldview God does not arbitrarily define his standards.

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God does not appeal to a standard that's higher than himself Rather God is himself the standard and the laws that he gives us reflects his very nature

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All right, and of course that it makes him is he's the ultimate source of our moral guidance and so that is very relevant to the presuppositional framework as The God that reveals his law is not an ambiguous deity

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But is the triune God who's revealed himself both in general and special revelation Of course, we have the categories of redemption and salvation

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The Pentateuch foreshadows the concept of redemption and salvation through various stories and rituals such as the

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Passover and the sacrificial system these elements point to the need for reconciliation with God and his role as the ultimate source of forgiveness and Salvation for believers.

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There is no salvation in anyone else Other than the God who's revealed himself in the

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Pentateuch and more expressly has revealed himself in the person and work of Christ And of course, we have the concept within the

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Pentateuch of divine guidance and Providence I mean you'd read the Pentateuch. I mean read the stories, right?

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God's guidance. I always when I teach this to my students in my in my school I always describe God as kind of the invisible hand.

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He's the invisible hand that moves the narratives along, right? Now, of course, he's not always the invisible hand, right?

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God will reveal himself in very pronounced ways throughout the Pentateuch But when we are simply just reading about historical events, we can kind of feel the invisible hand of God Providentially moving and guiding the story.

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Okay, this is so important the narratives in the Pentateuch demonstrate God's continual guidance and Providential care for his people even in times of trial and wandering in the wilderness

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This highlights God's ultimate role as the guide protector and provider for believers who trust in him

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Okay, and we also get this idea of God's guidance and Providence of the laws of nature

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Which is really the foundation of the entire scientific enterprise this idea of the uniformity of nature, right?

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Genesis 8 22 while the earth remains seed time and harvest cold and heat winter and summer and day and night

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Shall not see so all of this kind of wrapped up in various places in the Pentateuch Which is very very important in that God creates everything

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Defines everything controls everything and ensures based upon his

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Providential faithfulness that the world works in such a way that we can better have dominion of the world that he has created for us and for himself in his own glory and so all again all of this wrapped up in the

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Pentateuch and is vitally important to the presuppositional list and that because God is the one who divine

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Divinely guides all things and sets everything in motion by his Providence Okay because that is the case that is wrapped up in the idea that in order to properly know creation and define creation and To explain how creation works

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It's going to be rooted in who God is and what he has said about the things that he has created

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And then of course by faith we trust what God says and that gives us a basis upon which we do all else

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That trust is what we call faith Okay, biblical faith is not simply a belief that a

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God exists biblical faith oftentimes except in just a few cases Rarely refers to the belief that God exists rather the

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Bible assumes God's existence and calls it foolish to deny God's existence So faith in the

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Bible is typically associated with trust It's a relational trust not necessarily a belief that a

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God exists Okay, so it assumes God's existence and faith is a trust in the

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God who has demonstrated his Faithfulness, okay throughout the Pentateuch and of course throughout the rest of Scripture Okay, so in conclusion if I can summarize the points in summary the principles of the

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Pentateuch Emphasize that God is the ultimate presupposition for believers in terms of worldview morality our spirituality they establish

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God is the foundational and Unchanging reality upon which believers base their understanding of the world their relationship with God and their moral and ethical choices

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This perspective is central to the monotheistic faith and theology Presented in the

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Pentateuch and serves as the cornerstone of Judeo Christian belief. Okay, super super Important now, let me remove this here.

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Okay now There's so much more that could be said now. This is just kind of draw basic principles.

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All right again I'm not saying that the Bible is teaching in Handbook form with all of the language that's typically associated with presuppositional methodology the

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Bible doesn't teach presuppositional ism in that way, but the principles are there and and What makes our what what is the important element here is the consistency?

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With which we apply those principles in the apologetic task Okay because as I said before there are people who hold two different apologetic methodologies the question is and They would agree with a lot of the things that were just expressed here in this video but the question is when they are doing apologetics and when they're reasoning and when they're engaging an argument dispute and debate are they consistently applying

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These biblical principles. So for example, if you're if you're not a presupposition list, you might say well sure I don't think we should be neutral and I don't think we should be autonomous, right?

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We shouldn't assume those categories But does your method allow those categories to sneak in because they are inherent in the method

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That's a very important question to ask. Okay and presupposition list. Are we

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Consistently applying these biblical principles when engaging with the unbelieving world.

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Okay, this needs to be rooted Not just in our love for God and our desire for consistency with what he's commanded

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This also includes the way and I always say this you guys know I'm known for always saying this right this also includes the manner in which we share which we share this, right?

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What are the two greatest? Commandments to love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind and to love your neighbor

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The second one is like on to it to love your neighbor as yourself and this all of the law hangs together

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Okay, demonstrate your love for God by doing apologetics faithfully and demonstrate your love for God by demonstrating your love for others

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Which reflects your genuine and primary love for God? All right, well that concludes this episode

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Where we covered presuppositional ism, I guess we could call it presuppositional principles found in the

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Pentateuch If you can think of more maybe something I missed write it down in the comments

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I'd like I can't promise that I could respond to any of the comments. I've been so busy but I definitely want to read through and maybe

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Get some more insight. I know there are folks who are really knowledgeable in Presuppositional apologetics and you're very knowledgeable in the

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Pentateuch if I miss something, please feel free to share and Hopefully that can garner some nice respectful conversation and dialogue in the comments section

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All right. Well that concludes my teaching segment here just as a heads up There are gonna be some more articles on the revealed apologetics blog and they're gonna be posted soon

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So keep an eye out for that. I've got some speaking engagements coming up as well in early

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October I will be speaking at a school in Pennsylvania I'll be speaking to parents and faculty on the topic of worldviews and how to implement

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Presuppositional apologetics in the classroom and in the home So that will involve me visiting the school visiting the classrooms answering questions and then in the evening

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Giving a talk to the parents and the faculty. So please pray for that I hope that goes very well and it's very it's very much an honor to have that Privilege and I've got another speaking engagement out in January So all that to say if you need a speaker

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If you need a lecturer or a workshops on apologetics or things like that. I am also a traveling speaker

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So if you like what you hear here and you want me to come to your church or anything like that Reach out to me.

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You can Reach out to me through my website, right? There's a contact section where you can kind of email me from there or you can just email me straight out it

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Revealed apologetics at gmail .com And I can come to your event or a conference or whatever.

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You're you're you're you're putting on and I'd be happy to share Everything that I've learned over the years and I love to teach so I'd be happy to share that So if you're interested in that that is definitely something that is possible

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All right. Well, that's it for this episode and I am already working on the next episode

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So hopefully it won't take as long as this episode has I think the last live stream

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I did was I don't know like three weeks Ago, so hopefully I can get some more content out, but that's it for this episode