existence of god Flashcards
unitarian beliefs
god is one being and there is no trinkity, jesus is not gods son
jehovas witnsess beliefs
god is one being, no trinity
‘and from the son’ significnce
written in the nicene creed, it says the spirit has come from jesus which highlights the trinties power
othodox beliefs on the spirit
spirit comes from god the father whos above everything
what genesis one tells us about god
he transcends time but is also personal and just in his creation of the earth
genesis one tells us about god and humans
we are described as beig created in the image of god and as being “very good”which means that we are jut beings who are tasked with stewardship over gods creatures
gods showing of his character through jesus
hes humble to lesse his being to a flesh incarnate human
hes benevolent as he wants to sacrifice his only son and also will forgive and help humans achieve salvation after their own sins
he exqually shows his omipotence by jesues ability to control nature and perform miracles
gods showing through prayer and sacremets
debated wether we need a higher priest in order to act as a mediatorto god, but god is preset in our prayers and confessions
catholics believe in the Eucharist, god is ther physically whilst others see it as spiritual, that god is with us when we perform sacrements
catholic beliefs about gods presece in prayer
we need a mediator with higher religious knowlege in order to make contact with god
god is physically there in the bread and wine
three ways gods goodness is revealed
creation, hes made us a good world
law, hes set up the morals for us to abide to
salvatiom, sacrifice of his only child to atoe for our sins
ways god is bad
noahs flood and his rage in genesis two show imperfections
he lets his good creatures sin and his moral creatures face suffering
natural order is injust and cruel- john sturat mill
john stuart mill
natural order is injust and gods making of it shows he is cruel
augustinian theodicy
we face evil due to the choices we make with our free will
arguement against augustinian
some very just people face suffering
why would god creae his beings in his own model who are sinning such as adam and eve
irenian theodicy
we need to edure suffeirng in order to understand what is good
opposition to irenian thoedicy
some suffering has no lesson from it
god should forgive and preach benevolence
people suffer who work to pleasr god
other thoedicies
evil is a test of faith
evil is a punishment for sin
comes from the fall so free will
book of job for problem of evil
we cannot understand the motivations of god but our faith will later be rewarded
cosmological/ first cause argument
everything has to have a cause but something has to be the beginning as even the universe must be caused, therefore the cause has to be god
- developed by Thomas Aquinas
opposition to the first cause arguement
why cant the universe be eternal if god can
why does god not have a cause if everything does
The Big Bang was a random event
There’s no proof for religious creation stories
moral arguement
-gods laws and our conscience of whats right and wrong comes from god
- John Newman
anthropic principle
-the earth is perfectly designed to allow us to live
-genesis 1 shows us how god creates the world in his desig and image
teleological/ design arguement
earth is so deeply complex and successful that it has to be by design
opositio to design arguement
- john stuart mill says natural order is injust and cruel
- the universe is to support life, the idea of design is an illusion
- design is a matter of chance because of natural selection
soul making as a response to the POE
its through the tribulations of suffering that we are strengthened and brought closer to god, like job we will be rewarded
reasons for an ethical life
god preaches benevolence and equality and agape through the good samaritan
ways to live an ethetical life
donate to charities and help christian ones eg cafod and chritsian aid
recyle and aid the enviroment
help christian causes and injustices
Betsy fry
chrsitian who worked for prison reform as she felt it went against gods teachings of agape
three ways to take the bible
Symbolic
literal
conservative- not everything is gods voice but it’s by humans in his image
ways god is shown through miracles
shows his omnipotence
helps others so teaches agape eg freeing the plauge of leprosy and helpig the blid
defies the powers of nature and death as jessus walks on water and halts the wind
ways god is shown in the world
communtiies such as taize monks and corrymeela
euchamamical churches
commuity aid such as cafod and chrsitian aid
god shown through scripture
literalists such as the amish live their life as the bible tells them to to the exact
god has revealed his teaching regardless of how literally to the people through the bible
some choose to adapt the morals to the modern age
mother theresa
set up charitiews to aid those in india
james hudso taylor
overwhelmed by horror at those dying in chinese genocide with no knowlege of god, so he went with missonaries to china to spread the gospel
pauls story of conversion
paul was called saul and was ungodly, he was made blind by god and when touched by the disiples he regained his sight, he went on to spread the gospel
mystical
awe due to the overwhleming trascnedant prescence of god
Theresa of avila
girl who constantly had visions and mystical prescnece that meant she could undertsnad the severity of sinning
extasy in prayer
a sense of overwhelm in the presece of god that means you enter a trance state
slain in the spirit
when youre in the prescnece of the holy spirit and a minister touches you you may fall backwards
example of pentecostal extatic prayer
when the apostles were taken over by the spirit and began to speak in tounges and became much more cofident in spreading the gospel
- 1994 Toronto blessings where large groups of people danced growled and became paralysed
Examples of religious experiences that lead to belief in god
- having a miracle or a definite feeling of god eg paul
- a prayer being answered
- belief in a miracle occuring eg the 69 at Lourdes
Reasons for the teological/ design argument
- laws such as gravity
- the mechanisms in a person like the eye and heart
- the complex ecosystems
Other reasons for believing in god
- so many religions believe in a higher power that it must exist
- people cannot be here by chance, we just have a purpose
- feelings of awe and wonder
Reasons people don’t belive in god
- John Stuart mills order of life is cruel
- prayers often go unanswered
- suffering eg. Darwin became atheist after his daughter died NOT because of evolution
- miracles pick and choose who to aid
- science
Reasons people don’t believe in miracles
- you need an eyewitness and people might lie
- magicians can do deceptive things
- science can now explain many miracles
- god must be evil if he picks and chooses who to aid- leaving tragedies like the holocast and starvation
God as personal to humanity
- god breathed life into adams nostrils in genesis 2:7
- god constantly cares for us- he gives us laws and cared for Adam and Eve in the garden
- god came down as incarnate to us on earth
- Holy Spirit is present in prayer (John 4:24)
Ex nihilo
- means god created the world from NOTHING
- shows us nothing else existed pre god and he is the only eternal figure
Protestant and Anglican beliefs about gods showing in prayer
- we do not need a mediator as jesys removed this need so now we can directly speak to god when oraying
Ideas around good being atemporal
- god created time so must be outside of it
- however if he is outside of time we can’t interact with him in the phsyical world so he must be temporal
Individuals behind anthropic principle
- FR tennant first used it
- John polkinghorne felt the precision needed to develop life supports it
Opposition to moral arguement
- psychopaths have no sense of guilt or moral judgement
