Lesson Three

Lesson three: Who is Man? Anthropology

In lesson 3 Dr. Tackett began by asking the question: “Why is there evil in the world?” The question of evil, Tackett said, “is probably the most popular and the most difficult question that is continually thrown in the face of Christians and Christianity.” He then said (and I concur) that he has “very seldom seen anyone respond to it correctly, because the truth is, this question should really be presented back to the world [rather than to Christians]. He noted that while we (Christians) have a number of sufficient answers for evil, the world is inclined to not accept our answers even though it does not have a sufficient response.  In fact, when this question is pressed back on the world, the worldly come up empty because they have nowhere to go with it.

We then saw several film clips of people trying to answer the “what is evil” question. We saw an interesting array of responses; some which would line up with orthodox Christian belief and others which were really nothing more than rambling ideas about the oddity and the need for evil.  

The quote from Jonathan Edwards work titled “The Freedom of the Will,” was a telling insight. Edwards said: “Of all kinds of knowledge that we can ever obtain, the knowledge of God, and the knowledge of ourselves, are the most important.” Edwards, who has been touted by many as being the greatest theological and/or philosophical mind to ever emerge out of America, seems to have hit the nail on the head. These elements, the existence of God (the cause) & the origin of man, form the foundation of both Christian and non-Christian worldviews (even when men deny that knowledge of God is possible). So in a discussion of the nature of, and the reason for evil, the difference between a Christian and non-Christian response will always be tied up in: Who is God? & Who is man?  To say that there is no God is to say something about the question of God’s existence; and so to say, “God is not,” is to say that “Man is all,” even though man’s existence is ultimately purposeless in an atheistic worldview.      

Finding out how someone answers these two questions, Tackett said, gives us a good understanding of where that person’s worldview is emerging from. Those who suppose there is a god, that god is in them, that god is a force or whatever the imagination assigns god to be, reveal deep and significant facts about how they answer all other questions in life. Whatever the question is, it can never be isolated from the underlying idea of Origin & Cause.

Dr. Tackett noted that as Christians, we are to be ever cognizant of the truth of how and why God has created man and what the result of the fall means; otherwise we may be uncertain as to the question of “who is man.” He noted Galatians 5:16-17 as a reminder of our own struggle. This passage reads:  But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.  First, all non-believers (such as were we) desire only to gratify the flesh. They do what they want with little or no internal opposition. Second, as Christians, born from above (John3:1-5), we have the desires of the Spirit who dwells within us, yet the desires of the flesh are still present. The flesh exerts influence in such a way as to oppose the Spirit to prevent us from doing that which we now desire to do more… to please God.  This also reflects the cosmic battle between the Truth (reality) and the Lie (illusion) regarding who Man is.

Dr. Tackett then used the remainder of the lesson to expose some of the most pernicious lies ever foisted upon mankind regarding his essence, his moral states and his needs.  You may recall that we looked at some aspects of mankind’s moral states as being: before the Fall, after the Fall and upon redemption. Those who are redeemed are found “in Christ” and saved by faith through grace. The unredeemed, those who have no faith, are ultimately assigned to everlasting damnation in hell.  Mankind’s essence is that God has created him and he therefore belongs to God rather than to himself. He was created in an innocent moral state, but due to his disobedience he fell and his moral state changed and became sinful. He cannot redeem himself because he has no righteousness in him whatsoever; therefore he has no ability to exercise a righteousness he does not possess. He needs a savior, who is Christ alone. 

Lesson four answers the question: Who is God?