Christian Beliefs And Teachings Flashcards
Historical Context
- Christianity is over 2000 years old.
- Founded on the belief that Jesus died and rose
from the dead. - Disciples (followers) of Jesus spread the teachings
of Jesus across the world.
4th CE – Official religion of the Roman Empire –
Emperor Constantine.
1054 – Christianity split into Western Roman
Christianity (Catholicism – Pope) and Eastern
Orthodox Christianity.
16thCE – Church of England – King Henry VIII and
the branch of Protestant Christianity was formed.
Protestant Christianity split into the denominations
(branches) of Baptist and Pentecostal churches.
Today, Christian denominations (groups in a
religion) now exist side by side.
Core Christian beliefs
Monotheism – belief in one God (God the Father).
Jesus is the Son of God – he spread the teachings of Christianity.
2. God is limitless so is not restricted to one particular gender.
God does not have a physical body.
“You shall no other Gods before me” (Exodus)
Qualities of God
God has several important qualities;
Omnipotence = All-Powerful – unlimited
authority – there is nothing God cannot
do or achieve.
Omniscience = All-Knowing – total
knowledge of everything.
Omnibenevolent = All-Loving – God loves
humans – He wants what is best for them.
God created humanity because He is all
loving. This encourages Christians to love
each other in their daily lives. God sending
Jesus to earth was God’s greatest act of
love.
Omnipresent = Everywhere – God is
present everywhere at all times.
Immanent – working in the world
Transcendent – outside of time and space
God is Just
- God is the giver of justice – what is right
and wrong.
- Judge of human character.
- God does not support injustice e.g.
prejudice, oppression – Christians should
do what they can to prevent this.
Natural Evil
- Things that cause suffering but have nothing to do with humans e.g. earthquakes,
tsunamis etc.
Moral evil
- Actions done by humans that cause suffering e.g. lying, murder etc.
Problem of evil
- How can God be all-loving and all-powerful yet evil exist? He can’t so he does not
exist!
Theodicy
Christian solution to the problem of evil which says evil is here for a different reason so God can still exist
J.L Mackie – Inconsistent Triad -
- If an omniscient God exists, he would know that
people are suffering, because he knows everything. - If an omnibenevolent God exists, he would want to
stop people from suffering, as this would be a loving
thing to do. - If an omnipotent God exists, he would have the
power to stop or even prevent the suffering – he
could stop earthquakes, or cancer…
David Hume – “the problem of evil is the rock of
atheism”
Christian response to evil
However, God gave humanity freewill. So humans used their
freedom to disobey God, causing suffering. God cannot
compromise our freedom by removing evil.
St Augustine’s theodicy
• When God made the world, it was perfect.
• He believed this because in the creation story in the Bible it says “God saw what he had made and it was good” (Genesis)
• The first humans, Adam and Eve, disobeyed the rules God gave them and turned away from God.
• They were punished for what they did: In the Bible God says “Because of what you have done, the ground will be under a curse.” (Genesis)
• Their actions caused the suffering and evil in the world.
• Today, people suffer because of what Adam and Eve did, and because we make bad choices which cause more pain and suffering.
• Therefore, God does not stop suffering because we deserve it as a punishment for our sins and the sins of Adam and Eve.
St Irenaeus theodicy
• When God made the world, it was not perfect - God put suffering in the world because God knew it would be good for us.
• Suffering helps us to develop characteristics like kindness and forgiveness.
• If we lived in a perfect world, we would never develop into good people.
• Irenaeus said suffering is “soul-making” because it makes us better people.
Holy Trinity
There is 1 God but God has 3 parts to Him:
God the Father
Roles - Judge – ‘God is our Judge’, continues to
care for us like a father, creator of humanity and the world, sustains and rules everything.
God the Son
Roles - Redeemer and saviour, represents God in the world, performed miracles.
God the Holy Spirit
Roles - Invisible power of God which breathes new life into people, part of God that works within the world, helper and guider
Genesis Creation Story
Many Christians believe that this is true – God created the world in 6 days.
“In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth” Genesis
Creationists believe the creation story and think:
The Bible is inerrant (cannot be wrong) as it is from God
The world is only 6000-10000 years old as they use the Bible to track it
They don’t believe in fossil evidence as the only story of creation is the 6 day story in Genesis
However, some Christians believe that this story should not be taken literally, yes god created the world but no necessarily in 6 days
What do Catholics believe about the creation story
Catholics believe God caused the Big Bang. Pope John Paul II said “The
Bible is not a book of science” meaning it tells us why the world is here but not how
John Creation Story (New Testament)
The belief that all of the Holy Trinity created the world, including the God the Son as the Logos or voice of God.
Incarnation
‘Becoming Flesh’, God incarnate – Jesus was God in human form
Hypostatic union
Jesus was fully human but fully god at the same time
Nativity
The story of Jesus’ birth
Immaculate conception
The Gospels show that Jesus was conceived immaculately (not sexually) by Mary - Jesus is special - the ‘anointed one’.
- The immaculate conception shows that Jesus is incarnate made flesh in human form, fully God yet fully human and thus God the Son as part of the Trinity.
Why is immaculate conception important?
As he could create himself a body and send it to Earth,
Allows Christians to learn how to get close to God.
Start of Christianity
God became human in order to show people a better way to live
Why was Jesus crucified?
• The Roman Governor thought Jesus was committing BLASPHEMY (pretending to be God)
• They tortured him as they thought he was mad for calling himself the son of god
Why is the crucifixion important?
- It shows that suffering is ok – it is ok for Christians to suffer because Jesus suffered on the cross and was rewarded so the same thing will happen to humans.
- The crucifixion of Jesus shows that Jesus was fully human and fully God at the same time as he was willing to undergo all human suffering.
- Jesus atoned for our sins (made up for wrong doing) because he loved humanity. This is why the day he died is called ‘Good Friday’ as his death brough good for humanity as we could go to Heaven to be with God.
- Gives Christians hope that their sins will be forgiven and we will be saved (salvation).
- Shows God is omnibenevolent as he sacrificed his only son
- According to Luke’s version, Jesus forgave the guards who crucified him because they did not realise the significance of what was going on.
What is the resurrection?
- After Jesus was crucified, he was put in a tomb.
- 3 days after he died, some of Jesus’s followers went to the tomb to anoint
the body and prepare it for burial but the body of Jesus was nowhere to be
found. - Angels told Jesus’s followers that he had risen from the dead.
- Jesus made several appearances to his disciples and told them that he had
risen from the dead.
Why is the resurrection important?
- Many Christians believe that resurrection is a reality so it will happen to
them when they die! - Life after death is real – gives hope for an afterlife e.g. day of judgment and
personal judgement as Jesus rose from the dead and eventually went to
Heaven. - Christians feel God’s presence in their lives through the Holy Spirit. By
trusting in God their lives after death will remain in the presence of God. - Proves Jesus was God Incarnate so was telling the truth.
- Proves that God is omnipotent as he rose from the dead.
What was the ascension?
- The rising of Jesus to heaven after 40 days of appearances to his disciples.
Why is the Ascension important to Christians?
- Gives Christians hope for a life after death with Jesus.
- The ascension shows that Jesus is with God. It paves the way for the coming of the Holy Spirit to provide comfort and guidance.
- Inspires Christians to live a good life in the way God wants them to, so they can remain close to him in the afterlife.
- No need to fear death because Christians believe that resurrection is a reality.
- End of Jesus’ earthly life so next time he comes down it will be Judgement Day so Christians must be well-behaved so they can get to Heaven on this day.
- Jesus told his disciples to spread his teachings so others can be with God – “go and make disciples of all nations,
Afterlife and judgment
Christians believe that human beings receive eternal life as a gift from God, so a belief in God is dependent upon a belief in God.
When does judgement happen?
There are 2 possible options for when judgement happens:
1. Personal Judgement – Happens as soon as you die, you will be judged immediately, and
your soul will go to heaven or hell. “you shall have eternal life” (John)
2. Day of Judgement –
- On the Day of Judgement Jesus comes down to Earth (Parousia).
- All humanity will be judged at the same time at the end of time.
- It is important that Christians follow Christian morality and the teaching and example of
Jesus to be judged well.
Where do we go after death? Is it spiritual or is it a physical place?
Heaven
- Eternal life and peace – for people that have done good acts.
- A place free from sin and suffering.
- At one with God in his Kingdom.
- Everyone can go to heaven – in particular, if you are a baptised
Christian. This is because some Christians believe that God will forgive all sins.
Spiritual or physical?
• 1.Heaven is a physical place where we have a physical body
and exist in a way similar to the way we exist now, but in a perfect world with God.
• 2.Heaven is not a physical place but a spiritual existence where
our souls will live or join with God after death, but we have no physical body.
• Catholics believe this and it is called Beatific Vision (no body needed, only out soul exists after death)
Hell
- A state of existence without God – for people that have done bad acts and lived in
sin.
- Often depicted as the place of eternal suffering, terror, fire ruled by Satan.
- However there is great debate about whether a loving God would condemn people to eternal pain and torment. Some Christians believe that hell is simply a place without God.
Spiritual or physical?
- Some Christians think it is a physical place of punishment, torture and pain, with the Devil.
- Others think it is spiritual and your soul is taken away from God which is the ultimate punishment for Christian’s
Purgatory
Catholic belief – middle ground between Heaven and Hell where your soul gets purified.
Not been good enough for Heaven but not bad enough for Hell
What is salvation?
- Salvation means to be saved from sin and be granted eternal life with God.
- Sin has separated humans from God who is holy.
- Salvation enables humans to be close to God.
- Jesus is our saviour as he died for us even though he was innocent.
Ways to be saved by salvation?
Salvation through Merit
- A person achieves salvation by having faith in God, being a good person and
obeying God’s law.
Salvation through Grace
- Salvation is given by God through faith in Jesus. If you believe you will get to
Heaven
- It is not earned or deserved but is a gift from God because he loves us – God
is omnibenevolent.
