The Age of Enlightenment
Many historians tuck the Age of Enlightenment neatly between the Glorious Revolution and the ______________ ______________, however, this backdrop really begins some decades earlier.
French Revolution
If salvation through grace was the road to heaven, this meant that they would have to repent and take the Words of Jesus _________________.
personally
Scripture says that we are here today and gone tomorrow. It also says that the ______________ of man is complete ________________ to God. Although it is important to use our brains, this use should always be measured against the ultimate and unchanging truth of God's Word.
wisdom
foolishness
As the Age of Enlightenment progressed, the Word of God was discarded more and more. The Enlightenment philosophers and writers taught that the truth doesn't come from _____________, but instead from our ability to _________ and ______________ the world around us. So, where in the world did these men come up with these ideas? The answer is found, at least in part, in the _____________.
Scripture
reason
observe
heavens
Newton is a good example of what was right and what was wrong about the Enlightenment. His work in science and mathematics is still famous and essential - and for good reason! However, he mistakenly believed that a person can ____________ better than ___________, and he allowed his own flawed understanding as a human being to guide his interpretations of God rather than the Bible.
reason
God
The word _________________, simply put, is the study of knowledge - what makes something true knowledge and not just an opinion or theory.
epistemology
In the fourth century, Augustine had said, "I believe in order to ________________". He was stating that he understood and submitted to the fact that all true understanding is authored by God himself.
Understand
"As Naturalism and Empiricism took hold, man became viewed increasingly as a biological ______________, and therefore we began to lose the _________-_________ of man.
machine
man-ness
________________, an astronomer of the early sixteenth century, had challenged more than just the placement of our planet in the universe. By determining that we live in a _________________ universe, he also brought the trustworthiness of faith itself into question.
Copernicus
heliocentric
Many Enlightenment philosophers and scientists adopted Newton's teachings about the laws of the universe and believed that they were what ran the ____________, not God. In fact, Enlightenment philosophers said that God himself ____________ change these laws of the universe. This false teaching ignores the fact that, as the Creator of the universe, God in His infinite wisdom designed the universe to function this way with these laws.
universe
cannot
Between the Reformation and the Enlightenment, there was a "hinge" of sorts in how people viewed knowledge. This hinge swung in two directions, with this question at its pivot point: Where does revelation or knowledge come from - _____________ or our ___________ _____________?
God
own minds
In the 16th century, Martin Luther nailed his ___________ Theses outlining his beliefs about salvation through ____________ _____________ to his town's church door.
95
grace alone
________________ is the belief that all things come from natural properties or causes. This viewpoint rejects any acknowledgment of supernatural interference.
Naturalism
Copernicus was joined by __________ and ___________, two scientists who agree - the universe does not revolve around us. The Church had, through misinterpretation of the Scripture, taught the theology of a _____________ universe. If they were wrong about something as big as this, what else wasn't true? The problem was not with Scripture. Instead, the issue was with people's incorrect interpretation of Scripture.
Galileo
Kepler
geocentric
Many of the Enlightenment philosophers taught that God may have created the universe, but He doesn't have anything else to do with it. This false view is called ________________.
Deism
The Age of Enlightenment was sparked by "an attempt of ______________ to cast off the doctrines established in the ______________.
philosophers
Reformation
French Enlightenment philosopher Rene Descartes wrote his system of thought: "________ __________, _____________ _______ _________." His thinking had completely separated his purpose of existing from anything to do with his Creator.
I think, therefore I am.
Empiricism is the belief that knowledge comes strictly from our ____________ _____________ and ______________. This is a point of view brought on by the rise in experimental science.
human senses
experiences
Science actually supports what the Bible teaches us about __________ and the universe. The problem is again, with _____________ misunderstanding things to fit their own ____________ _____________.
Creation
people
preconceived opinions
During this period of history, the Church was the hardest hit with all of the "new" ideas and belief systems being manufactured in the deceived minds of the would-be-wisemen who called themselves philosophers. The ___________ used the Church pulpits to teach that humans don't need God to live a good life and that all religions are basically __________ ___________. They also taught that ___________ was not really God, but instead just a really good, nice man and moral teacher.
Deists
the same
Jesus
The Reformation was sparked by the groundbreaking revelation that people are saved by _____________. Contrary to the teaching of indulgences, salvation cannot be _____________ or ______________. This whole shift in thought and belief changed everything and spun the religious world on its ear. It also spawned arguments and fights about what is _____________ and what is not.
grace
earned
bought
true
Some have said that there were two basic Enlightenment views of man:
________ __________ _____ __________;
We are a __________ _________ _________ ____ __________. Enlightenment philosophers became increasingly focused on the human aspect of their _____________. They emphasized the use of human ____________.
We have a body
soul that has a body
reality
reason
When the viewpoints of Naturalism and Empiricism, which qualify as worldviews, became more prevalent, mankind lost the view of the _________-________-_________-__________-_______-_________ unique specialness. They became viewed as a soulless "___________ ____________" rather than the crowning glory of God's creation.
made-in-the-image-of-God
biological machine
Also extremely influential to the Enlightenment thinkers was ___________ ____________ ___________. He was extremely intelligent. He is one of the mathematicians credited with developing _____________. His experiments in physics, light, and motion changed the way people looked at the natural world around them. However, just because he was smart does not mean he was never wrong. He was a human being, and all people are flawed. He was also interested in religion. Unfortunately, he relied on his individual ____________ rather than what the Bible taught, and this caused him to adopt false teaching about God.
Sir Isaac Newton
calculus
reason
In Genesis 1:26, we are told, "Then God said, 'Let us make human beings in __________ ___________, to be like us.' " God was talking to His ___________. We are created to look like God, not just physically, but in every way. We even have three parts that are equally us - ___________,_____________,and ___________. When we as humans try to remove God from our lives and from our culture, we are removing the one true source of our identity. It is similar to removing all mirrors and reflective surfaces from our lives; we would soon forget exactly what we looked like. If we want to know who we are, we must learn first who ___________ ____________.
our image
trinity
body
spirit
soul
God is