Homework: Worldview Paper

Your assignment from now until January 15 is the worldview paper. See the instructions on page 158 of the student manual.

Here is the schedule for the holidays:

• Week of Nov 19-23: No homework, instead try to convince family members at Thanksgiving dinner that you are a Muslim. Or New Age. Or both. (Joking). 
• Week of Nov 24-30: Work on paper, questions 1-3 (biology is coming...)
• Week of Dec 4: Class on biology
• Week of Dec 10-14: Work on paper, questions 4-6
• Weeks from Dec 17-Jan 4: Take a break for Christmas. Ho ho ho. 
• Week of Jan 7-11: Finish paper, questions 7-8, and proofread it several times
• Jan 15: Turn in paper at class

A few thoughts about the paper: 

1. EXPECTATION: I'm giving you plenty of time on this, so I expect it to be very good. It's only 4-6 pages and not due for 2 months. So you have time to make it an excellent paper. Make it something that you could give to someone and they would understand the basics of these 6 world views. 
2. LENGTH: It says 4-6 pages. Therefore it can not be less than 4 full pages. It can not be more than 6. Go figure. 
3. FORMAT: It tells you font size, margin size, etc. Do what it says. 
4. WORKS CITED: A couple of you asked if you can use in-text citations. Yes. Use those or footnotes. Please make sure your works cited page or footnotes contain all the right info (author, title, date, page, etc). 
5. GRAMMAR: I will grade for grammar, spelling, format, etc. So have momma or a buddy proof it. And use spell-check, for crying out loud. 
6. SOURCES: You can use class books/notes as one resource. The others you need to find on your own. Don't cite wikipedia. I don't want to see a couple random websites as your only sources. Anyone can put an article on the internet, so use good sources from university websites, reputable news organizations, or good journalistic magazines (places like plato.stanford.edu, TIME Magazine, or USA Today... stuff you can trust). You may have books on other religions already at home. Or you may want to hit a library. I want to see real books and good articles as sources. 

If you have other questions, let me know. Thanks! 

Thoughts on Doug

Hey guys. I have been thinking a lot about the Dear Doug letters from last week (the one about Amy who lost her brother, suffering, sovereignty and such). I even spoke with Jeff Hodgson about the letters to get his wisdom (as a counselor and pastor) on what to say to Doug and Amy. Here are a few thoughts for you all.

1. Most of you all admitted that you never have suffered much. It showed. Many of you seemingly didn't know how to speak truth in a manner that is winsome and helpful. Many of you all did what John Stonestreet talked about: "Romans 8:28... It'll work out fine! Trust God!" That's not helpful to someone whose heart is shattered and when it hurts to pray. 
2. Very few of you told Doug to pray for Amy, care for Amy, or encourage her. Romans 12:15 says to "mourn with those who mourn." That's a command. Remember also: "We urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all" (1 Thessalonians 5:14 ESV). Notice that you need to figure out the category of folks. Amy is not idle (meaning lazy); she is fainthearted. So she needs encouragement, not to be corrected in a direct way. Sometimes correction is needed, but it must be (according to this verse) encouraging, helpful and patient. I'd call very few of your letters encouraging and patient.  
3. Jeff and I agreed that we would never say, "God planned for your brother to die." On some levels it's true because he is sovereign and can stop anything, but it's also misleading and unhelpful. He would quote this: “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law" (Deuteronomy 29:29 ESV). In other words, we can't say with certainty why Amy's brother died. God sovereignly allowed it for a reason, but we don't know why or how God decided for it to happen. Those things are secret and not for us to understand. We can only know the things that are revealed to us, and that is that he loves us, cares for us, and promises give us peace and strength when we need it. That's clear, so talk about that. 
4. [EDITED 11/6] In the world God created, there was no death. Romans 5:12 says, “By one man sin entered the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Death was not part of God's perfect creation and will not be part of his perfected eternity. In the meantime, our world is fallen, and God allows sin and death to remain here. Jeff would tell a person doubting and hurting that while in this fallen world, God is in the business of redeeming. He redeems fallen people and he redeems terrible situations. That's true and helpful! 
5. Few of you used scriptures to prove your point. Remember, if Doug is doubting that God is in control, point him to verses that show that he is. Prove your point biblically, otherwise it's your opinion about God versus Doug's. 

Just a few thoughts. Hope it helps.