Christian Beliefs Flashcards
What do Christians believe about the nature of God?
Christians believe that God is:
- Monotheistic; only one God ‘‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, the land of slavery’’.
- Omnipotent ‘‘Let there be light’’ ‘‘Nothing is impossible with God’’ - Bible
- Omnibenevolent ‘‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son’’ - Bible link to agape love He has for Jesus and humanity.
- Just ‘‘A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.” -Bible
-** The Holy Trinity; **God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are 3 in 1 and 1 in 3; triune nature ‘‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God’’.
All these qualities allow for Christians to strive to emulate the qualities of God and commit good deeds on earth. Christians also always feel closer to God as they know due to his insert quality everything will be okay on earth - a sense of comfort.
CONTRAST
- The problem of Good and evil; the Inconsistent Triad devised by the philosopher J.L Mackie argues that God cannot be either loving or omnipotent if there is evil in the world. -> Christians counter this with
- Original sin - which is why we have salvation
- Free will
- The Devil on Earth
- Evil teaches Christians patience
- Evil draws Christians closer to God.
Trinity, for and against:
AGAINST
‘‘The Lord is one’’
‘‘I am the Lord your God’’
FOR
‘‘Gave His only begotten Son’’
‘‘Another Comforter’’
What do Christians believe about the creation of the world?
- All Christians believe God is the Creator ‘‘In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth’’ - Bible
- Christians believe that God created the world in 6 days and rested on the seventh (fundamentalist and catholic)
‘‘By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work’’ - Bible - ** OUT OF NOTHING^^^ EX-NIHILO**
- While liberal christians argue that this is down to interpretation; perhaps 6 phases rather than 6 days?
The Bible doesn’t explicitly say 6 days - eg ‘‘Through Him all things were made’’ - the Bible doesn’t specify in how much time.
Ppl could be unsure - Bible written by man? Infallible due to original sin?
Could suggest maybe the HS created the world? link to ‘‘In the beginning was the Word’’
What do christians believe about the afterlife?
THE AFTERLIFE:
- Judgement day and rapture; Judgement day is the day the dead will rise and Jesus Christ will return to Earth for the second and final time. Here, everyone will be judged, and their deeds committed on earth will be weighed, including whether they believed in Jesus Christ. - The dead’s souls will rise. ‘’ Whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life’’ - Bible
- Heaven and Hell - depending on whether believed in Jesus and deeds, souls will be sent to Heaven or Hell ‘‘Whosoever believes in Him shall not perishes but have eternal life’’
^^ Catholics believe that people who have committed small sins’ souls will be cleansed in Purgatory, other denominations don’t believe this.
- Salvation - must believe in Jesus
‘‘I am the way the truth and the life, No one comes to the father except through me’’ - in this case, coming ‘‘to the father’’ means entering Heaven - Humans are born w original sin, Jesus is the atonement for this sin so we must believe in Him in order to enter Heaven.
- The Story of sheep and Goat - sheep = Jesus’s followers and Goats = those that weren’t; ‘‘He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left’’
- Resurrection of the dead = RAPTURE - after death, the dead will rise and be judged by God; ‘‘The dead will rise first’’ - Bible.
What do Christians believe about salvation?
- Humans are born with original sin due to Adam and Eve.
- So the relationship between God and humanity was broken.
- But Jesus restored this through His death and resurrection which atoned for the sins of humanity, so humans are saved from sin and its consequences -ATONEMENT
- So Christians must recieve salvation through him
'’I am the way the truth and the light’’
‘‘Whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life’’
‘‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son’’
**Also carrying out good deeds;
‘‘Love thy neighbour’’
‘‘Make disciples of all nations’’
‘‘Faith without action is dead’’
‘‘Be ye doers of the Word’’
egcharity, evangelism, going to church
**
- Salvation through works
- Salvation through grace
2 ways Christians can receive salvation?
- Salvation through works, obeying the law of God
- Salvation through grace, the grace of God that fills Christians who believe in Jesus - this grace is a gift.
What do Christians believe about the resurrection?
- It is a miracle and a display of God’s omnipotence and omnibenevolence
- Jesus resurrected in order to atone for the original sin of humanity
'’I am the way the truth and the light’’
‘‘Whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life’’
‘‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son’’
‘‘Father into your hands I commit my Spirit’’
