The Bible teaches that God is the Creator of this world and all that is in it. It teaches us further that God’s creation was perfect. Lucifer, or Satan, corrupted perfection and ultimate goodness in creation by wanting to become like God. This resulted in the introduction of evil in God’s creation. Satan enticed Eve with a similar proposition in Genesis 3. Eve introduced the idea to her husband and they both agreed to the satanic lie: to become their own god – resulting in disobedience and every kind of evil that is found in the world up to the present. Evil is a real problem in this world. At the root of every kind of suffering, lies evil. Evil abounds, for man has rejected his nature as a created, limited, finite being, and tries to be what he could never be – divine. This was man’s original sin: he wanted to be god. Man often repeats this sin to this day. The Apocalypse presents to the reader God’s plan of salvation to redeem humanity back to its state of ‘goodness.’ Further, the Apocalypse teaches that God is Sovereign and that He is in control of His design. The book presents hope in the midst of suffering for the believer. At the same time, another message of judgement upon the evil inhabitants of the earth, the cosmos and evil is presented. God is holy and all that He stands for is good. Evil contradicts God’s nature and has to be destroyed for good to triumph. It is for this reason that we need to survey Rev. 17:1-19:10, for here we will witness the self-destruction of evil which is God’s design. We will also witness the triumph of good as evil is destroyed. The Apocalypse of John presents to the reader God’s design of allowing evil to run its course. Much emphasis is placed upon the Christ-event of Jesus’ sacrificial atonement as the “Lamb of God.” This event allows mankind a way out of following the path of wanting to be his own master and god. It shows to man his utter helplessness and hopelessness in saving himself from evil’s grip. It is only those that recognize their state of human depravity and their inability to save themselves, who find a release from evil’s grip through Christ’s atoning work alone. Only then will believers experience their true humanity – in God. Revelation 17 and 18 presents evil in two spheres. Firstly, evil is personified as a prostitute who seduces people away from God into idolatry. Idolatry is witnessed in organized religion and even unorganized religion (e.g. Marxism, atheism, science, etc.). Any argument for redemption from a problem, and an argument for salvation from these problems, ultimately leads to a belief system or religion. This will mean that all persons are religious, for they subscribe to some form of belief system which liberates them from something that they would deem oppressive - whether it includes a personal deity or not. Our argument is that every belief outside of the Christ revealed in the Scriptures, is idolatry. Idolatry finds its root in the Beast, or the Anti-Christ, symbolized by the prostitute’s prominent position on the beast (Chapter 17). She is described as “sitting” on the beast, signifying her unity with the beast and her representation of the beast on earth as his ambassador. The beast is identified as the great persecuting power that rules by brute force and is the supreme enemy of Christ and the Church. In chapter 13, the beast’s influence is discussed. To ascertain the identity of the beast, John writes, “This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666” (v.18). We are of the opinion that the Book of Revelation has to be understood from an Old Testament perspective, for it is quoted extensively and its prophetic symbolism often repeated. The only instances that the number “666” is used in the Old Testament, is found in 1 Kings 10:14 and 2 Chronicles 9:13, both describing the weight of gold that Solomon received annually. We read in 1 Kings 11 of Solomon’s downfall where he took for himself “… seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines” (v.3). These marriages helped him to develop commercial ties with the rest of the world, which soon resulted in Solomon following after many gods. Solomon’s alliances, through commercial security, led him away from God. Now his trust was placed in worldly alliances and not on God for prosperity. Secondly, those links soon led him into idolatry. John uses Solomon’s downfall to help his readers identify the beast. This beast of chapter 13 is further described in chapter 17 as the one who leads the inhabitants of the earth into idolatry through the prostitute. In chapter 18, the beast is portrayed as the one who seduces people into commercialism, through the prostitute. The seducing of humanity into idolatry and commercialism is still the beast of modern times. This beast prevents man from acknowledging God and entering into a relationship with Him. It is this beast of Idolatry and Commercialism that Revelation reveals as the seducers of mankind, pointing them away from the living God. Revelation 17-18 outlines the final judgement and destruction of the beast’s evil system. The Apocalypse describes God’s complete eradication of the evil beast and his accomplices, ushering in a new heaven and a new earth, with a once again, perfect humanity to fellowship with Him for all eternity. Revelation 17:1 to 19:10 outlines how God goes about in ridding His creation of evil. It teaches evil’s self-destruction - which is God’s design. It further describes the lost-ness of those that indulge in evil, little realizing that they are also responsible for evil’s demise – which is God’s design. It culminates with the joy of the righteous over evil’s destruction and their permanently restored fellowship with their Creator. The outworking of God’s design regarding the demise of evil needs to be viewed in the light of the Sovereignty of God (to which the Apocalypse provides an excellent understanding). We will witness the worldly system’s influence on humanity in John’s day, which is not much different to the present, for history has a way of repeating itself. We will discuss how believers are to respond to the influences of Idolatry and Commercialism (CHAPTER 2). Secondly, an exegetical analysis of the pericope chosen will prove the ultimate triumph of God in the destruction of evil, and will also describe the eternality of the believer’s position in Christ (CHAPTER 3). Thirdly, a correct understanding of the sole worship of God is necessary for believers, therefore the theology and content of worship teachings and practices (as witnessed in the songs of Revelation) will be discussed in Chapter 4. Finally, a correct understanding of God, and His role as Creator and Sustainer of creation, will be dealt with under the broad headings of GOD, MAN, SIN, COSMOS (CHAPTER 5). / Prof. J.A. du Rand

[From chapter 1]. The doctrines on the universality of sin are attempts to give theological explanations for the empirical and historical evidence of the universality of sin. They are attempts to explain why it is that each and every person that enters this world has a bias towards sin ; why such a highly organized, intricate and majestically complex being like man, the crowning glory of the created realm in every case has this weakness we call sin ; why it is that after 6,000 years of the history of mankind the present generation is as plagued with this malfunction as the first; why it is that sooner or later all of us commit sin in one form or another. Indirectly these doctrines also seek to protect God's uniqueness and oneness against the dualism of evil and good and following from this second reason are attempts to explain the presence of sin within the good creation of God. However, these attempts are fraught with difficulties and invariably each explanation that is offered raises other pertinent issues that the Christian thinker does not wish to accept as side effects to his answer. This has resulted in scholars over the ages attempting to modify or reinterpret previous doctrines in order to allow for these issues to be taken into account. There has, therefore, as we shall discover, been much diversity and debate as to the form and contents of these doctrines.

Abstract available in pdf file.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--McMaster University, 2003. / Advisor: Zdravko Planinc. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 347-362). Also available via World Wide Web.

Permission from the author to digitize this work is pending. Please contact the ICS library if you would like to view this work.

王賜惠. / "2003年5月". / 論文(哲學碩士)--香港中文大學, 2003. / 參考文獻 (leaves 86-89). / 附中英文摘要. / "2003 nian 5 yue". / Wang Cihui. / Lun wen (zhe xue shuo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 2003. / Can kao wen xian (leaves 86-89). / Fu Zhong Ying wen zhai yao. / 導論：本論文的寫作目的與方法問題 --- p.1 / Chapter (A) --- 本論文的寫作目的 --- p.1 / Chapter (B) --- 文的方法 --- p.1 / Chapter (C) --- 用的形而上學槪念架構 --- p.3 / Chapter 第I章： --- 從形而上學看世界的本然面目 --- p.5 / Chapter (一） --- 田立克的觀點：田立克的本體論 / Chapter (A) --- 存在結構的第一層：自我與世界 --- p.6 / Chapter (B) --- 存在結構的第二層：三對極性 --- p.9 / 小結 --- p.11 / Chapter (二） --- 唯識宗的觀點：唯識宗的本體論 / Chapter (A) --- 現象界的虛假性 --- p.13 / Chapter (B) --- 從假現象到真實的本體-阿賴耶識 --- p.15 / 小結 --- p.21 / Chapter (三） --- 田立克與唯識宗本體論之相似性 / Chapter (A) --- 自我意識與阿賴耶識的相似性 --- p.22 / Chapter (B) --- 存在狀態的相似性 --- p.23 / Chapter (C) --- 價値意義的相似性 --- p.23 / Chapter 第II章： --- 罪惡世界的形上根源 --- p.24 / Chapter (一） --- 田立克的觀點：「自我意識」的覺醒 / Chapter (A) --- 本體界的「非存在」性 --- p.24 / Chapter (B) --- 「自我意識」的覺醒 --- p.26 / Chapter (C) --- 從「自我意識」的覺醒到「自我凸顯」的慾求 --- p.28 / Chapter (D) --- 從焦慮到自我肯定 --- p.29 / Chapter (E) --- 從焦虜到自我凸顯 --- p.32 / 小結 --- p.35 / Chapter (二） --- 唯識宗的觀點：「末那識」的執我慾求 / Chapter (A) --- 「末那識」的執著本性 --- p.37 / Chapter (B) --- 「末那識」的執著對象和目的(所緣) --- p.39 / Chapter (C) --- 「末那識」的依靠對象(所依) --- p.41 / Chapter (D) --- 「末那識」執我的後果 --- p.42 / Chapter (E) --- 「實我」的哲學意涵 --- p.44 / 小結 --- p.47 / Chapter (三） --- 「自我意識」與「末那識」之相似性 --- p.49 / Chapter (A) --- 「自我」本質的相似性 --- p.49 / Chapter (B) --- 「自我」慾求的相似性 --- p.49 / Chapter (C) --- 「自我」慾求在後果上的相似性 --- p.50 / Chapter 第III章： --- 罪惡世界的本質 --- p.51 / Chapter (一） --- 田立克的觀點：割離的實存界 / Chapter (A) --- 本體世界的瓦解 --- p.53 / Chapter (B) --- 實存界中範疇的割離 --- p.57 / Chapter (C) --- 三種象徵「割離」的人性表現一不信、狂妄、邪慾 --- p.58 / 小結 --- p.61 / Chapter (二） --- 唯識宗的觀點：虛妄分別的世界 / Chapter (A) --- 六識如何變現境相 --- p.63 / Chapter (B) --- 從六境的呈現到諸煩惱的出現 --- p.64 / Chapter (C) --- 虛妄分別世界的本質 --- p.67 / Chapter (D) --- 由虛妄分別世界到生死輪迴的苦果 --- p.71 / 小結 --- p.73 / Chapter (三) --- 割離的實存界虛妄分別界之相似性 --- p.74 / Chapter (A) --- 性質之相似性 --- p.74 / Chapter (B) --- 結構之相似性 --- p.74 / Chapter (C) --- 理路之相似性 --- p.75 / 結論 --- p.76 / 附論：宗教對話的意義和重要性 --- p.80 / Chapter (A) --- 宗教對話的重要性 --- p.80 / Chapter (B) --- 宗教對話的態度問題 --- p.81 / Chapter (C) --- 本論文在「宗教對話」上的價値意義 --- p.83 / 參考文獻 --- p.86

Thesis (M.A.E.T.)--Western Conservative Baptist Seminary, 1988. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-106).

<p>The essay intends to problematize the notion of heroism in Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game by contemplating the hero himself as well as his enemies. Particular focus will be placed on the good and evil dichotomy, arguing that it is essential to the heroic tale since the hero is supposed to fight evil and foster good. Seeing that Ender is also a murderer, the matter debated will be that he both is and is not a hero.</p>

Revised Thesis (doctoral)--Monash University, Australia, 2005. / Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (p. 347-367) and index.

The essay intends to problematize the notion of heroism in Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game by contemplating the hero himself as well as his enemies. Particular focus will be placed on the good and evil dichotomy, arguing that it is essential to the heroic tale since the hero is supposed to fight evil and foster good. Seeing that Ender is also a murderer, the matter debated will be that he both is and is not a hero.