1.1 Christianity Beliefs & Teachings Flashcards
Describe the 3 types of Christians
- Catholic Christians who are based in Rome and are led by the pope
- Orthodox Christians, who split from the Catholic Church in the Great Schism 1054, and are generally practiced in Eastern Europe
- Protestant Christians, who split from the Church in the 16th century
Give one quote about God
“I am the lord your God… you shall have no other God’s before me”
First of 10 commandments
What are the three qualities of God?
- Omnipotent - All-powerful
- Omnibenevolent - All-loving
- Just
What do Christians believe about God’s omnipotence?
God is omnipotent as he is the supreme being who has unlimited authority
How is God omnipotent?
- God shows his power through his creation of the world and the resurrection of Jesus, which shows his power over death
- “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible”
What do Christians believe about God’s omnibenevolent
God is omnibenevolent because he loves all without exception or prejudice, and uses his power to do good
Evidence that God is omnibenevolent
- God shows his omnibenevolence by sacrificing his own son Jesus, so that humans could gain atonement and salvation
- “God so much loved the world that he gave them his one and only son”
Explain how and why God is Just
P, E
- God is just because he will judge every single person fairly with equal rights and value on judgement day
- “God is fair and just” (+Parable of the Sheep and Goats)
What are the other qualities of God?
Excluding the main three
- Omniscient - All-knowing
- Transcendent - Eternal, outside the limits of space and time
- Immanent - God’s involvement in the world (e.g. Jesus, miracles)
List three arguements about the nature of God?
Also known as the Problems of Evil and Suffering
- If God is omnibenevolent, why does he allow people to suffer?
- If God is omnipotent, why does he not prevent evil and suffering?
- If God is just, why does he allow injustices to take place?
Give 4 solutions to the Problem
of Evil and Suffering
- Moral Evil - The devil tempts people into going against God and commiting sins (e.g. Adam and Eve)
- And humans have free will, which they can abuse, so hurts others (we are responsible for our actions)
- David Hume’s triangle - He cannot be both loving and all-powerful
- Life is a test - We need to show God that we are worthy of heaven (like the story of Job)
Define and Describe the trinity
The trinity is the unity of the three “Persons” of the one God, consisting of:
- God the Father - Creator of all life. Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnibenevolent
- God the Son - Jesus, the incarnated, flesh form, of God
- God the Holy Spirit - The unseen power of God at work in the world, which influences and guides Christians and sustains everything on Earth
Why is the Trinity important?
It helps Chrsitians gain simplified understanding of God, who is beyond the understanding of humans
Genesis Creation Story
- Day and Night
- Sky
- Sea, land, vegetation and plants
- Lights in the sky, Sun, moon and stars
- Fish of the sea, birds of the sky
- Animals & Humans
- God rested
Explain how God is able to create the world?
God pre-existed before the world and is transcendent (outside the limits of space and time) so he is able to create the world and is not controlled by it
Give three quotes to show that all three parts of the Trinity were active in the creation of the world
- In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth…
- …and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters
- In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made
Describe the importance of the Genesis
- The world was planned and ordered, not an accident
- Which means that human lives have a purpose and meaning because God created those lives
- Humans are made in the “image” of God so all humans are of value
What are the different interpretations of the Genesis?
- Fundamental Christians / Literalist - Believe every word of the genesis is literally true and is exactly as describes as in the Bible (so a day is 24hrs and God created the Earth in exactly 7 days)
- Linguistic Interpretation - There may be misunderstandings in the language (e.g. does day mean our day or a period of time?) which are human errors as God inspired the writers
- Metaphorical Interpretation - The Genesis story is a myth with a metaphorical / symbolic message
Incarnation
Incarnation is the belief that God the Son took on a human flesh form
This is seen in the Christmas story when Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary to tell her that she was pregnant, even though she was a virgin, but she concieved through the power of the holy spirit
“the Word became flesh and lived amongst us”
Importance of incarnation
- The virgin birth of Mary provides evidence that Jesus was the Son of God and was both human and divine as he was born miraculously
- It shows that Jesus knows what it is like to be human, to suffer, and to go through all the things that we do
- It helps Christians to understand the extent of God’s love as Jesus had to become incarnated to make reconciliation with God possible through the sacrificing of his life as a payment for human sin
- It shows Christians how to live peacefully and with forgiveness - just as God showed them in the form of Jesus
Argument and counter-argument against Jesus’ divinity
- If Jesus was fully divine, he should have full knowledge of what was happening - yet at time his knowledge was limited (e.g. he didn’t understand fully about the end of the world)
- To become fully divine, he had to give up some of his divine knowledge - a great sacrificial act
What happened when Jesus was baptised
- A dove (symbolic of the Holy Spirit) appeared
- A voice from heaven spoke “This is my son with whom I am pleased”
Describe the crucifixion story
- Jesus was sentenced to death for blasphemy (cliaming to be God) by the Jewish Romans
- He was crucified on the cross and Mark records that the Earth became dark
Three Biblical quotes on the crucifixion
“Surely this man was the son of God”
“God, why have you foresaken me?”
“‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’ When he had said this, he breathed his last.”
