christian beliefs Flashcards
Inclusive Christians
- Other Christians believe you should only go to heaven by accepting Jesus and his teachings, but, some members of other religions and some non-Christians may be able to go to heaven
- God saved people before Christianity existed. God will save people who lived right lives as if the God they followed had been the right one
- When religious people die they will realise Jesus’ teaching was the right way and convert after death
Problem with inclusive Christians
It goes against what Jesus said in the Bible (John 3:16)
What is religious pluralism?
Accepting all religions as equally valid and correct and can all coexist
Problems with religious pluralism
- Pluralist belief goes against the teaching of Jesus so is not always considered as truly Christian
- Most other world religions reject pluralism and are either inclusive or exclusive
Exclusive Christians
- Some Christians are exclusive, this means they believe only those people who follow Jesus and live by his teachings will go to heaven
- Christians who hold this belief are inspired by the teaching “I (Jesus) am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father (God) except through me”
Problems with exclusive Christians
- This is often seen as intolerant and discriminatory
- Would God not be cruel to say the majority of the population will no go to heaven?
- How could a loving God allow anyone to go to hell because they’ve been born into a non-Christian culture
Christina beliefs - who goes to heaven?
- Some christians believe only christians go to heaven (exclusivists)
- Some christians believe all good people with faith, of any religion, go to Heaven (pluralists)
- Some people question whether a loving God would be capable of sending someone to Hell, although a fair judge would have to send to Hell those who had done very bad things
- Would a loving God send good people who were not christian to Hell? That seems unfair?
Protestant beliefs on heaven and hell
- Protestants hold strongly that when Jesus died on the cross, he took upon himself the punishment for the world’s sin
- Therefore they believe that you can go to heaven by having faith in Jesus Christ, not through living a good life or belonging to a particular church
- Although Protestants believe that entering heaven requires one to have faith in Christ and that is all
- It is widely believed that people who have lived an evil life will be denied entry to heaven
What does monotheistic mean?
A religion that believes there is only one God
What does omnipotent mean?
Almighty, having unlimited power; a quality of God
What does benevolent mean?
All-loving, all-good; a quality of God
God as omnipotent
- This means all powerful with unlimited authority
- Christians believe that there is nothing God cannot do or achieve
- “Nothing is impossible with God”
explain the christian belief of god as omnibenevolent
- For Christians, the idea that God is loving is very important, they believe that God loves all humans, and wants what’s best for them: “God is love”
- They believe that God created humans because he is all loving and desired to bestow love upon creatures: “the lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love”
- This encourages Christians to love each other in their daily lives by treating everybody with care and respect
- Christians believe that God’s greatest act of love was sending God’s son, Jesus, to Earth: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…”
Explain the concept of the Trinity
The belief that there are three ‘persons’ in the One God; the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are separate, but are also being
Who is the Holy Spirit?
The third person of the Trinity whom Christians believe is the inspiring presence of God in the world
Explain the belief of God as the Father
- Christians believe that the first person of the Trinity is God the Father
- He is believed to be the creator of the earth and all living things in it
- As creator of life, he acts as a good father would towards his children
- He is believed to be omnipotent, omnibenevolent, omniscient and omnipresent
What does omniscient mean?
All-knowing
What does omnipresent?
Present everywhere