Is there any use of the moral law to man since the fall?

Although no man, since the fall, can attain to righteousness and life by the moral law;[1] yet there is great use thereof, as well common to all men, as peculiar either to the unregenerate, or the regenerate.[2]

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Theological Term of the Week

For the next few weeks, the theological terms will be the names of some traditional arguments used to justify belief in the existence of God. There is disagreement about the validity and usefulness of these proofs.

 

cosmological argument

An argument for the existence of God that begins with the existence of the universe and argues that the universe must have a cause, and that cause is God. 

• An example of a cosmological argument from Thomas Aquinas.
  

  The first and more manifest way is the argument from motion. It is certain and evident to our senses that in the world some things are in motion. Now, whatever is moved is moved by another, for nothing can be moved except it is in potentiality to that towards which it is moved; whereas a thing moves inasmuch as it is in act. For motion is nothing else than the reduction of something from potentiality to actuality. But nothing can be reduced from potentiality to actuality, except by something in a state of actuality. Thus that which is actually hot, as fire, makes wood, which is potentially hot, to be actually hot, and thereby moves and changes it. Now it is not possible that the same thing should be at once in actuality and potentiality in the same respect, but only in different respects. For what is actually hot cannot simultaneously be potentially hot; but it is simultaneously potentially cold. It is therefore impossible that in the same respect and in the same way a thing should be both mover and moved, i.e., that it should move itself. Therefore whatever is moved must be moved by another. If that by which it is moved be itself moved, then this also must needs be moved by another, and that by another again. But this cannot go on to infinity, because then there would be no first mover, and consequently no other mover, seeing that subsequent movers move only inasmuch as they are moved by the first mover; as the staff moves only because it is moved by the hand. Therefore it is necessary to arrive at the first mover, moved by no other, and this everyone understands to be God.       

• John Frame on the validity of cosmological arguments:

  [E}ven Aquinas’s view requires assumptions, namely that nothing exists or happens without a sufficient cause, and that causes (including the cause of the universe) are accessible to human reason. Many skeptics of the past and present would not grant those assumptions.
  
  My conclusion is that our concepts of cause, reason and infinite series depend on worldviews, on ontological and epistemological assumptions. They are insufficient in themselves to serve as grounds for worldviews. A Christian theist will think differently from a skeptic about these matters. His Christian theism will govern his concepts of cause, reason, and  infinity, rather than the reverse. 

Learn more:

1. Theopedia: The Cosmological Argument 
2. GodQuestions.org: What is the cosmological argument for the existence of God?
3. Wikipedia: Cosmological Argument
4. Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry: The Cosmological Argument
   
5. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Cosmological Argument
6. Ronald Nash: The Cosmological Argument (audio)
   

Related links:

• moral argument
• ontological argument
• teleological argument
• trancendental argument for the existence of God

This series of theological terms was suggested by Kim of Hiraeth.

 

Have you come across a theological term that you don’t understand and you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

Weather Reporting: January 1

There’s a reason small talk often centers around the weather: Everyone has it and everyone knows something about it. That means you have no excuses for not participating in this month’s bloggy theme, which is weather.

In much of the world, January is a month of weather extremes, and I think it’d be fun to hear a little about yours. If you live where it’s temperate year round, I like to hear about that, too. Post something weather related during the month of January and send me the link and I’ll link to your post in a collection of weather related posts.

I can think of several possibilities for weather reporting.

• Post your highs and lows for the day.
• Post a photo that shows your weather.
• Describe your weather.
• Get scientific and explain a weather phenomen.

The sky’s the limit. If it has anything to do with weather, I’ll link to it, as long as you send me the link.

And that’s where this year’s themed months will differ from the previous ones. You must send me the link. In the past I spent way too much time searching for a post I remembered reading but lost track of, and I’m not going to do that this time around. Even if you are my very best bloggy friend in the whole wide world, don’t count on me linking to your post if you didn’t send me the link. So make good use of the contact button under my photo in the sidebar and we’ll all be happy.

Expect to see the weather reports posted on Tuesday and Friday of each week. You are welcome to contribute more than one post to each collection of reports.

If you don’t have a blog, that doesn’t mean I don’t want to know about your weather. Go right ahead and tell me what it’s like outside your home in the comments of any Tuesday or Friday weather report.

Any questions?

And, as long as we’re on the subject, here’s what the weather’s like outside my house right now. 

 

I guess I can’t expect to get a suntan, but all in all, it’s not too bad for January in the Yukon.

How does your weather compare? (If you send me your weather post link in the next 24 hours, I’ll add it to this post.)

Update on Wednesday, January 2, 2008 at 8:04AM by rebecca

The updated weather reports from around the world and close to home:

• Fellow Yukoner Murry contributes a post with a photo of Lake Bennett that shows both ice fog and a sun dog, two fascinating weather features we see around here.
• Meanwhile, in Australia, Missmellifluous has beach weather….sort of.
• Leslie reports a winter chill even in Alabama, with her low temp not all that different from mine.
• Lindsey comments that it’s “REEEEEEEEELLLLLYYY cold here in NC. It was 75 at the beach on Saturday, and 22 today.”
• There’s a wind chill advisory in Illinois, so Kim posts a cold weather recipe.
  
• Carla is happy for the opportunity to tell us about her weather geekness and January in Ontario.
• Mark in Lemont, Illinois is colder than I am.
• Added on Wednesday evening: Island Sparrow is hunkered down in PEI with “plenty of food, wood for the fire  and a new Christmas book to read.” It’s the fourth storm, she says, this week. She’s posted some lovely photos of the snow.
• My sister-in-law Karen, who lives in southern California, writes that her latest local weather report says that “we will have more rain in the nest 8 days than in Noah’s time…”.
  

See what fun weather can be!