At the beginning of Lesson 1, I acknowledged philosophers and others who have helped shaped my beliefs. Information about most of them is readily available online, but here my intent is merely to list them alphabetically, to identify their key beliefs and perhaps provide brief commentary.
Agnosticism: the belief that a person cannot be absolutely or infallibly sure whether or not God exists at this point in time/history. We are born agnostic, then we begin to think and form opinions or beliefs regarding reality. As the apostle Paul wrote (in 2CR 5:7), “we live by faith rather than by sight (proof)”.
Atheism: the belief that a supernatural God does not exist. Atheists choose to believe fallaciously that there is insufficient evidence of God’s existence, so they assume God does not exist rather than realize they should (logically) have a propensity to believe in Him (cf. HB 11:1 & Lesson 1). Types of atheism include deism, humanism, and karmaism (cf. Lesson 1). Another type is pseudo-theism, which includes Hitler and all who perform demonic acts in the name of God (MT 7:21, 22:37-40, 1JN 4:7, JN 13:35, GL 5:6, RM 5:6-8, 13:8-9. etc.). The opposite view is theism (cf. Lessons 1 & 2).
Calvinism: the belief (based upon the beliefs of Augustine of Hippo regarding predestination) that God determines everything including human wills. Its fallacy is failure to acknowledge that God is just (2THS 1:6) and loves everyone (JN 3:16). It also fails to understand that limited moral volition is requisite for human personality. The opposing view is Arminianism, which believe that God neither causes souls to do evil and be condemned nor elects in an unfair or irresistible way some to repent and be saved (cf. Lesson 4 and TOJ #136). If God did predetermine souls, He would choose everyone to be saved (1TM 2:3-4, Universalism). Atheists also may believe in determinism by natural, physical laws.
Cosmaterialism: the belief that reality consists of only four dimensions (space plus time); there is no supernatural, spiritual or objective moral dimension. Its validity is that our physical senses do perceive the material dimensions, but its fallacy is asserting that there is no fifth, divine or objective moral dimension perceived by a sixth intuitive or spiritual sense (cf. Lesson 1).
Evolutionism: the belief that the current biosphere (life on earth) developed from nonliving ingredients during the course of billions of years. While it is true that there is fossil evidence to support this view, its fallacy is unwillingness by some to acknowledge gaps and its lack of predictive value. It is possible that God created organisms via evolutionary means, because the biblical account of creation taking only one week need not be interpreted literally (2PT 3:8) or as contradicting an evolutionary scale of time.
Hedonism: belief that happiness is mankind’s highest good. It is true that desire for joy is the motivation for behavior; even those who commit suicide do so in order to be happier. However, a greater good is realizing that eternal joy in heaven is found by satisfying God’s requirement for salvation (cf. Lesson 3). Even on earth, the highest degree of happiness would be experienced by the greatest number of people to the extent everyone adopted the divine viewpoint or cooperated with God’s Holy Spirit and behaved morally.
Islam: the belief that God’s will is most fully expressed by Mohammed in the Qur’an. The Qur’an contains many moral and theological teachings that are compatible with the Judeo-Christian Bible (e.g., Surah 2, v.62, 83, 87, 89 & 256). It is tragic that people who claim to serve God reject the NT Gospel. The apostle Paul harmonized indicated how Judaism and Christianity may be harmonized (in Romans 2:28-29 & 4:16-17), and he revealed that the purpose of Judaism was to provide the Messiah for the possible salvation of all people (Romans 3:21-31 & 9:4-5, IS 42:1-6, GN 22:18, DT 9:5-6). Thus, Muslims should become Messianic (Christian), although they may choose to follow the old customs (ACTS 15:5-29, GL 2:15-16, cf. Lesson 11).
Judaism: the belief that God chose the nation of Israel and revealed His will through the writings of Moses (Torah). Its validity is that Israel does play a significant part in the history of salvation—from the call of Abraham through the Exodus led by Moses to the birth of Jesus. Its fallacy ever since the restoration of the Mosaic law by Ezra after the Babylonian Captivity is ignoring the prophetic proclamations (IS 42:6, 45:22, 49:6, 66:23) that God’s plan was for Messiah to bless people in all nations with the hope of eternal life as by faith they become spiritual Jews (RM 2:28f., 3:29f., 4:16f., 9:6-8, GL 3:8f., EPH 2:11-20; see TOJ #17, #49 & #84). In order to harmonize the OT and NT, Jews should become Messianic or discount verses in the former that esteem the Mosaic laws more than Jesus’ salvation by grace.
Karmaism: the belief that souls are reincarnated according to a natural moral law that judges a person’s deeds. Although this recognizes that there needs to be an objective moral judgment in order for life to have ultimate meaning, it fails to acknowledge that there is scant supportive evidence (cf. Lesson 1).
Legalism: the belief that souls are judged and saved (via reincarnation or resurrection) by obeying a set of moral laws. While the Bible affirms that only the righteous will enter heaven, the NT teaches that good behavior is insufficient for meriting God’s forgiveness, so sinners should have gratitude for God’s grace or Gospel (cf. TOJ #21, #48, #54, #74, #121, #179, etc.). Legalism has been the heresy of all unorthodox cults (groups that pervert GRS from grace to legalism, usually by adding pseudo-scriptures). Even Roman Catholicism could be viewed as a legalistic cult until it reaffirmed the importance of the Holy Scriptures and accepted Protestants as fellow Christians during the Vatican II Council in 1962-65 (cf. GL 5:1f., 2TM 1:8-10, RV 22:18f.).
Mormonism
Mormonism is the belief that God revealed a more complete gospel (GL 1:6-9) through Joseph Smith.
Its validity is that the close of the NT era marked the beginning of the latter days moving toward the last day (ACTS 2:17f.), so Believers may be called latter-day saints (ACTS 2:17f., p.47).
Its fallacy is viewing only good members of the Mormon church as Believers who qualify for (the highest) heaven, which is the mark of a legalistic cult or pseudo-Christian denomination.. (See Legalism.)
Nihilism
Nihilism is the belief that there is no basis for morality and meaning; life is a farce. (See ECC 1:2, 14, 2:1-11, etc.)
Its validity is that without an objective rationale (whether karma or divinity) for why one belief or behavior is better than another, life does not have an “oughtness”.
Its fallacy is refusal to view the threat of subjectivity as a reason to have a propensity to hope that the moralists are right (Lesson 1).
Pantheism
Pantheism is the belief that God is omnipresent in nature.
Its validity is that the material universe does manifest the word of God (GN 1:3, 6, etc., PS 19:1-4 & 33:6).
Its fallacy is that nature is not omnitemporal/eternal or self-creative (p.15&31). Thus, God is supernatural or the Creator of nature (GN 14:19), which is not identical with deity.
Universalism
Universalism is the belief that God saves everyone.
Its validity is affirming the fact that God loves everyone (MT 6:44-48, JN 3:16, RM 5:6-8).
Its fallacy is misunderstanding the role of volition in personality, the theoretical goodness of the evil option, and the justness of hell. See Chapter Two (p.19f., DT 28)