Teaching Notes are Bible studies we taught before GraceLife Ministries began publishing articles online in 1995. Some were presented as sermons, others as group studies.
Our hope is that these older studies will be a blessing to you in your life and ministry. Please use them in any way God leads you.
These teaching notes are from a study about Atheism and Philosophy.
[These notes are from a study taught more than 40 years ago. The notes are in outline form.]
A very small percentage of the world’s population are born again children of God. The majority of people do not believe in the biblical Jesus. They have varying forms of belief in the subject of God and religion.
There are literally thousands of different religions and hundreds of millions of different gods in the world’s scattered communities.
I want us to look today at some of the major religious beliefs of man and better understand the world’s concepts of God.
- One idea is that there is no God. I used to believe that. More than one-third of the world’s population is controlled by official atheism. More than half of the world accepts atheism as a way of life and more than three-quarters of the earth’s population lives as if there was no God. (share personal testimony of atheistic beliefs)
- Another concept is agnosticism. The agnostic says, “I cannot know if there is a God. God may exist, but it is not possible to know him.” (indepth)
- From the extreme of atheism and agnosticism the pendulum of faith swings to polytheism — belief in many gods. The polytheist says, “There are many gods of various abilities and levels of authority.” The Hindus have more than 330 million gods. Other eastern religions have enormous numbers of gods who do everything from bringing rain to putting the sun to sleep at night. (indepth)
- Then there is the pantheist who says, “God is everything and everything is God. God is not distinct from his creation.” One belief common to many pantheistic religions is reincarnation. (indepth)
- The fifth group is called monotheism. This is the belief that there is one God; that God is one Person but not a trinity. Mohammedanism (Islam), Judaism, and certain “Christian cults” are monotheists. (indepth)
- The final group is true Christianity. These people say, “There is one true God, in three Persons, distinct from His creation.” (indepth)
Along with religion that has dramatically affected the thinking of billions of people, there is philosophy. There are eight basic philosophies that I want us to look at for a few moments. (chart)
[Invitation for salvation]
[Thank you for reading these teaching notes from more than 40 years ago. My prayer is they will be a blessing to you and your ministry.]
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Founder & Director of GraceLife Ministries View all posts by gracelifethoughts
