Believing in God Flashcards
What is the Design Argument?
It says that the universe is far too complex and ordered to have just ‘happened’; it must have a designer. That designer is God.
Give an example of an argument for the Design Argument.
William Paley said that if you found a watch (even if you didn’t know what it was) you would know it had a purpose and had been designed. The designer of all is God.
Give the 2 main arguments against the design argument.
-Even if the world is designed it does not mean that God is the designer. Evolution and natural selection accounts for it seeming to be designed. -If it was designed then the designer was not a omnipotent, omnibenevolent designer (as God would be) because there is suffering and lots of natural disasters.
What is the First Cause Argument?
Things cannot happen without a cause. The universe needed a cause. This cause would have had to be something extremely powerful that is eternal. The universe was caused by God.
Where did the First Cause Argument originate from?
St. Thomas Aquinas (Christian in the Middle Ages)
Give the 3 main arguments against the First Cause Argument.
Atheists and Agnostics: -The universe is eternal and goes back to infinity -There is a starting point (e.g. The Big Bang) - scientific explanation. -Even if we can prove that the universe had a beginning we cannot prove that the beginning was caused by God.
What is the Argument from Religious Experience?
People believe that they have spoken to God, or God has sent them a sign, so God must exist.
How does communicating with God during prayer and/or meditation prove his existence?
People who believe in God believe that they can speak to God and God will reply, or send a sign.
What is ‘retreat’?
When a person leaves their home and everyday life to go somewhere where they can give God their full attention.
What is a charismatic event?
An event (during worship) when they believe they are given the gift of Holy Spirit. E.g. During Pentecostal Worship.
What is Pentecostal Worship?
Based on the event of the Pentecost (when the disciples recieved the Holy Spirit), it is when some worshippers may feel themselves filled with the Holy Spirit.
What is a miracle?
An event which breaks the laws of nature and cannot be explained.
What are the 2 types of miracles? Give examples.
-Events that break the laws of nature (e.g. Jesus turning water into wine) -An incredible coincidence that prevents a tragedy (e.g. A child falls from a balcony and happens to land in a mans arms who happens to have them outstretched at that very moment).
Give the Argument for Miracles.
There is no explanation for what happens, so it must be a supernatural event therefore caused by something outside of nature. God is outside of nature so God intervened. Therefore God exists.
Give the Argument against Miracles.
Miracles are just coincidences and most accounts of miracles are anecdotal so they may be inaccurate or exaggerated.
Give the moral argument (For).
Thiests believe that our sense of right and wrong must have come from an external source, as it does not benefit us individually (people even become unhappy for behaving morally). This source must be God (conscience is the voice of God inside our heads telling us what to do). Therefore God exists.
Also (theism)
- We do the right thing even if we do not want to so we are obeying
- So morality is a command that must be obeyed
- The command must come from an ultimate authority
- The ultimate authority is God
- Therefore God exists
Give the moral argument (Against).
Athiests say that morality developed with evolution to ensure that people were controlled by laws and rules (as we are more intelligent than other species).
Also:
Atheists/Agnostics say that;
- People have guilt feelings because they have gone against their families’/society’s rules
- Not everyone feels guilty even if they do something that is thought of as wrong
