Of what use is the moral law to all men?

The moral law is of use to all men, to inform them of the holy nature and will of God,[1] and of their duty, binding them to walk accordingly;[2] to convince them of their disability to keep it, and of the sinful pollution of their nature, hearts, and lives;[3] to humble them in the sense of their sin and misery,[4] and thereby help them to a clearer sight of the need they have of Christ,[5] and of the perfection of his obedience.[6]

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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. As you might imagine, there is quite a bit of disagreement about the validity and usefulness of these proofs.

 

Teleological  Argument

An argument for the existence of God that begins with evidence of order, complexity, pattern and purpose in the universe and argues from that evidence that the universe must have an intelligent and purposeful designer.

 

• From William Paley’s Natural Theology (1802), a bit of his watchmaker analogy, which is an example of a teleological argument.
  

  In crossing a heath, suppose I pitched my foot against a stone, and were asked how the stone came to be there; I might possibly answer, that, for anything I knew to the contrary, it had lain there forever: nor would it perhaps be very easy to show the absurdity of this answer. But suppose I had found a watch upon the ground, and it should be inquired how the watch happened to be in that place; I should hardly think of the answer I had before given, that for anything I knew, the watch might have always been there. (…) There must have existed, at some time, and at some place or other, an artificer or artificers, who formed [the watch] for the purpose which we find it actually to answer; who comprehended its construction, and designed its use. (…) Every indication of contrivance, every manifestation of design, which existed in the watch, exists in the works of nature; with the difference, on the side of nature, of being greater or more, and that in a degree which exceeds all computation.     

Learn more

1. Teleological Argument from Theopedia
   
2. The Teleological Argument from Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry
   

This series of theological terms was suggested by Kim of Hiraeth. The graphic at the beginning of the post was also done by Kim. See more of her work at Bookworm Bookmarks.

 

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 8

Let’s start today’s collection right here at home and go from there.

Yukon: Fawn, who lives down the street from me, has noticed one big advantage to cloudy nights.

I posted about yesterday’s weather and called it average. I got a complaint from Chris, who had to do some work out in the stronger than average wind.

Ontario-io: Kim has had dismal weather with lots of fog, low clouds and rain. There’s nothing more dreary than a January thaw.

New Zealand: Catez makes us all jealous with photos and a description of the summer sea.

Nevada:  Candyinsierras reports:

In my part of the world today [Sunday], we have many inches of new snow, a levee that broke to the east flooding a town, no church since we drive an hour to attend  and chains are required, and so perhaps I will snowshoe at a local park.

Illinois:  Kim reports that in Chicagoland, it was like mud soup on Sunday, and today they have “[t]emperatures in the 60’s, heavy rain, tornadoes, flood warnings.”

California: Ellen took a muddy walk on Saturday.

Darlene sends a link to a photo of the beautiful snow-capped peaks over Los Angeles.  

Update: Carla lives in Ontario now, but she tells us about a long ago January day in Idlyllwild, CA. 

British Columbia: Violet, who had snow that turned into rain, gives a round-the-world tour of interesting things made from ice.

Northern Ireland: One word from Elaine: Storms.

Minnesota: Right now, Kevin’s having a bit of a January thaw, but he’s posted pictures of a snow storm from last winter. 

United Kingdom: It’s going to be wet, wet, wet, …and windy,  says Ann.

You can join in this month’s weather fun, too. You’ll find the details for participating here, and if you send me your report before tomorrow (Wednesday) morning, I’ll add it to this post. If you send it after that, expect to see it in Friday’s weather report.

If you sent me a link and I missed it, please let me know, okay?