Part One, American Government and U.S. Constitution

Lesson 7 of 27:	Name: _______________________

Part II: The Founders' Basic Principles –	28 great Ideas that Changed the World

5th Principle : The Role of the Creator

All things were created by God, therefore upon Him all mankind are equally dependent, and to +Him they are equally responsible. .

Reading Assignment: Lesson 7: The 5000 Year Leap: 5th Principle: The Role of the Creator (pages 95-101)

Lesson objectives:

As a result of this lesson. the student should be able to discuss the following questions/topics:

The Reality of the Creator

•	A Self-Evident Truth

•	Evolution defies reason and experience (John Locke)

•	Brain talk: -Chance will not create a watch. -Universe is a product of Intelligent design! -The atheist is irrational!

•	Locke's Formula to know There is a God:

1. I exist, therefore I am. "Cogito ergo sum"

2. I am a something.

3. A something cannot come from a nothing.

4. Must be an all-knowing Something

5. Superior to everything He created

6. Anglo-Saxon for ultimate good is "God"

1. Tell why John Locke concluded that an atheist was "irrational." (pages 95-96)

John Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding

•	Everyone can know there is a divine Creator

1. Each person knows he exists.

2. Each person knows He is something.

3. Each person knows something could not be produced by a nothing.

4. Whatever brought man and everything into existence also had to do something.

5. This something according to all the organizing, arranging and ordering apparent would have to be all-knowing to produce the same.

6. This something would have to be superior to everything so produced.

7. This statement of superiority would make the something the ultimate "good" for all that had been produced.

8. In Anglo-Saxon language, the word for supreme or ultimate good is "God."

2. Explain the five steps by which. according to Locke, everyone can know there is a divine

Creator. (96)

•	Because man is cognitive (or reasoning), God must be the same.

•	Because man has compassion and love, God must be the same.

•	The Creator would have a sense of right and wrong – and an equally strong sense of indignation or wrath for violations of the same. Thus a sense of "justice."

•	Other attributes of humankind must be shared with his Creator if made 'in His image.'

- sense of humor. - artistic abilities – all these are gained by observation who is a 'thoughtful person'

•	So atheists fail to apply self-reasoning and observation given them by their Creator.

3. Describe several attributes of God that Locke said would be easy for man to identify. (97-98)

•	Locke's Attributes of God

1. cognitive (reasoning)

2. compassion and love

3. sense of right and wrong

4. sense of humor

5. great artist

6. hundreds of things if one just thinks about it

4. What are the two ways men learn about God's laws? What kinds of truths are made known by

each method? (98-99)

[Natural Law, Revealed Law]

•	William Blackstone

1. Creator "impressed certain principles upon matter from which it can never depart"

2. Will of God expressed in order of universe = natural law

3. All human law depends on natural law

5. Were the founding fathers deists? Give examples showing that the founders regarded

themselves as being dependent on a living. intelligent, benevolent, caring, and responsible God.

(99-100)

•	Nearness of God

1. Deist = God created but then left

2. Founders believed God:

- was close

- answered prayer

- protected them

3. Washington wrote 67 times during war of God's providence

6. Of what value were religious convictions to the validity of public oaths? (100-101)

•	"In God We Trust"

1. No idle gesture

2. Required oath by all public officials

3. Must believe in God to take oath

4. Non-believers not allowed to testify in court

Every step of advancement of the "independent" American nation seems to have "advanced" with "the character of providential agency" – George Washington