Diversions for a Guilty Conscience “Because I refuse to give up my real transgressions, I invest other things with inflated significance and give those things up instead. Perhaps I have pressured three girlfriends into abortion, but I oppose war and capital punishment, I don’t wear fur, and I beat my chest with shame whenever I slip and eat red meat. Easier to face invented guilt than the thing itself.” (p141f)

UNBELIEF SWALLOWING UP A BIT OF THE WORD OF GOD A portion of the Word of God presented to unbelief Unbelief reinterpreting the Word of God within its own categories “Unbelief controls my interpretation of the situation”

UNBELIEF FORCED INTO A CONTRAST IN MANY AREAS SIMULTANEOUSLY A portion of the Word of God presented to unbelief as part of a network Unbelief challenged at multiple points “Word of God controls my interpretation of the situation”

Sin-caused Viewpoint Alteration 2:17 eat  [surely]  die (3:3 eat  die) 3:4 eat  [not surely]  die Special revelation of a cause-effect Denial of special revelation that leads to a cause without an effect Divinely-created law- structure discoverable by man Anthropogenic law- structure invented by man Basis of reasoning, science, and law Reasoning, science, and law “floating” in mid-air & subject to manipulation

Who Has the REAL “Evil Problem”? Christian: Pagan: Good Evil 8 8 Good/Evil Mix is Forever “Normal” Good/Evil Mix is “Abnormal” & Temporary Creator: creation: 8 8 Good ||| Evil Good Evil CrF J

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us For the eager longing of the creation eagerly awaits the revelation of the sons of God For the creation was put in subjection to “vanity”, not willingly, but because of the One-Who-put-in- subjection [it] in hope.

“Man can stand superhuman suffering if only he does not lack the conviction that it serves some purpose. Even less severe pain, on the other hand, may seem unbearable, or simply not worth enduring, if it is not redeemed by meaning....” “It does not follow that the meaning must be given from above;...that nothing is worth while if the world is not governed by a purpose....We are free to redeem our suffering by making something of it...The plain fact is that not all suffering serves a purpose;...and that if there is to be any meaning in it, it is we who must give it.” from Walter Kaufmann, The Faith of a Heretic, p. 165

Because the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God For we know that the whole creation groans and travails together in pain until now Not only [it], but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit—and we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting on adoption, the redemption of our bodies For by hope we are saved, but hope seen isn’t hope... But if we hope for that we don’t see, by means of patience we wait for it.

“Christian faith undercuts the urge to fix everything on our own, through the conviction of the final helplessness of man and confidence in the providence of God— through certainty that only God can set everything to rights, and faith that in the end, He will. Man can only ameliorate, not sure. But there will be a Judgment....Without confidence in providence, our vision of every Commandment goes askew” from J Budziszewski, What We Can’t Not Know, p. 68 “No deity will save us; we must save ourselves” – Humanist Manifesto II (1973)