Existence of God Flashcards
Omnipotent
All powerful
Omniscient
All-knowing
Onmipresent
Ever present
Eternal
Without a beginning or an end
Immanent
Involved in our lives in a personal level
Perfectly good
A source of all goodness
Judge
His judgement will determine what happens to us after death.
Infallible
Can not be wrong
Omnibenevolent
All loving
Holy Trinity
Three aspects of God : The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit
Inconsistent Triad
The belief that God can not be all powerful and all loving whilst evil exists in the world
Glossolalia
Speaking in tongues whilst praying to God
Sacrament
A visible sigm of an invisible grace
The Father
God is seen as a protector and a creator. Christians see their relationships with God to be a fatherly relationship
The Son
Christians believe Jesus was God in human form. He came to Earth to pay the price of human sin. He then rose form the dead to show his power over Earth. He also would provide an exemplar for how Christians should live
The Holy Spirit
The presence of God and force of Jehovah. This is how he is with them for their entire life.
Mark 1:10-11
Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice cam from heaven: “You are my Son, whom i Love, with you I am well pleased
Unitarianism
The belief that God was one being and that Jesus was the son of God and not God Himself.
Jehovah’s witnesses
They believe God is a single being named Jehovah. Jesus is not Gid because he is not eternal as he has a beginning.
God’s relationship with the world
Christian’s understandings of God’s relationship with the world come from the account in Genesis “For God so loved the world…”
God’s work in nature
“He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the Earth with rain and makes grass grow on hills” Psalm 147:8
God’s relationship with humanity
“Let us make man in our image, in our likeness “ Genesis 1:26
“God made man in his own image” Genesis 1:27
“God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number” Genesis 1:28
The Fall
Started when Eve ate from the tree of knowledge
Cain slaying Abel
Tower of Babyl
The four argumets for reality
Design Argument
Anthropic Principle
First Cause/ Cosmological Argument
Moral Argument
The Design Argument
The universe is so complex that it must of been designed by a being of power. This can be compared to a watch. This was conveyed through experiences of awe and wonder. Thought of by William Paley
William Paley (1743-1805)
- Philosopher
- Created the design argument
- Compared to a watch
- He thought that a watch could not simply assemble itself so it must have been created by a skilled watchmaker
John Stuart Mill (1806-73)
- Disagreed with Paley
- He said that Earth has many faults so it must not have been made by a skilled worker
- If a designer God existed, it would be a cruel God
- His creation brings all kind of pain
Work of Darwin
- Came up with evolution
- Believed that everything evolved from one common organism
- Rivaled creationism
Anthropic Principle
- The belief that the world was so perfectly created that it would develop
- Evolution has a purpose, to develop complex life forms
- ## Created by F.R Tennant
First Cause Argument or the Comsological Argument
- Identified by Aristotle
- Everything was created by something or someone
- Therefore, the universe must have a PRIME MOVER
- This is like a domino effect
- God however wasnt created as he is the PRIME MOVER
Moral Argument
- Moral sense of right and wrong
- Created by cardinal John Newman
- Newman taught that God existed to do this
Soul-Making argument
- Philosopher John Hick believed that free will was created for everyone to make what is right and wrong
- God existed to create suffering and evil so we could develop our ideas
- This would mold the person and contiue after death
Why do some Christians not agree with the Soul-making argument?
They disagree that God does not judge after death
But:
They do agree with that God judges people based on their decisions in life
1 Timothy 1:5
The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith”
2 Corinthians 1:12
Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world and especially in our relations with you, with integrity and good sincerity
Ethical Living
- The belief in God will affect the way a Christian lives
- As Christian stewards, people will buy products that show concern for the world such as Fairtrade products
-They will also consider how the products have been made
-They may use renewable energy, many churches have solar power
-
Jesus for ethical living
- Christians aim to live like Jesus as he met the needs of all that met him
Christians may achieve this through CAFOD and Christian Aid - Toilet twinning
Ways of experiencing God
- Revelation through scripture
- Revelation through Jesus
- Revelation through miracles
- Revelation through religious experiences
- Revelation through others
Fundemental Interpretations of the Bible
- Use the bible as a book of law
- When science and the Bible contradict, they believe the Bible
- An example is the Amish community
- Use the Bible for prejudices such as the Apartheid
Conservative Interpretations of the Bible
- they believe Bible writers were inspired by God
- The Bible was written in a specific time and it can have different interpretations today such as laws on slavery
- Some Bible stories may be fables such as Adam and Eve and David and Goliath
- They still believe that the authority of the scripture still can overpower those of science
Liberal views of the Bible
- The Bible is seen as symbolic and mythical
- The reject the creation story
- More of a personal account for their lives
- The authority of science should always overcome that of the Bible
God revelaed through Jesus
- God is belived to have been revealed through Jesus as he came to Earth and led to humanity’s salvation
- Holy trinity
- This was a way of showing human’s what he was like
- ## Also, it was to provide people an example of Godly living
Miracles
- Christians believed that God intervenes with Earth through Jesus
- The resurrection is a central Christian belief
- This shows God’s power
- ## This is also through his miraculous work
Four types of miracles
- Excorcisms
- Miracles over nature
- Raising the Dead
- Healing miracles
Examples of Biblical miracles
Matthew 8: 2-3 Acts 2:22 Luke 7:12-15 Mark 4:37-39 Acts 9:1-6
Matthew 8:2-3
Jesus heals a man of leprosy
Acts 2:22
Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazarteh was a man acredited by God to you by miracles …. which God did among you through him”
Luke 7:12-15
Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead
Mark 4:37-39
Calming of the sea
Moderm day miracles : Lourdes
- The virgin Mary visited Bernadette Soubouris to reveal a healing pool
- There have been many healings since
- Now a tourist hotspot
- 6500 people claimed to have been healed
- But the Catholic church only confirms 67
Inspirational People
- People may feel they have experienced God through inspirational people
- Mother Teresa
- People may feel God’s presence at work through the Holy Spirit
Christian inspirational figures
- People who have looked for change in secular law using Christian morals
- Elizabeth fry campaigned for prison reforms as she was driven by a Godly sense of love and compassion
- Quakers campaign for equality. George Cadbury campaigned for ethical living conditions on his estate
Missio Dei
- Translates to God’s mission.
- People who work for change in society
- Preach whilst doing so
- Jom Elliot travelled to Ecuador. Successfully preached the word of God to one tribe. At the next, some of his companions were massacred. But he still contiued out of his love for God.
Religious Experiences
- When people claim to have had an encounter with God
- They are left in doubt that it was God
- People move from a state of doubt to a state of assurance that God exists and is a supreme being
- Often impact the person causing them to change
Conversions
- Happen in many ways
- Causes a person to believe in God through an experience that defies the laws of nature
- God usually becomes centre of thier lives
- Conversion of Saul
The Conversion of Saul
Acts 9:1-6
9 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
Who is Saul better known as?
Paul the Apostle
Mystical Experiences
- When believers claim to have had an overwhelming experience of God
- These experiences are so full of awe and wonder that thwy are left in doubt of God’s existence
- These cannot be observed by others
Visions
- A person claims to have seen something supernatural
- Their visions are not visible to others
- Isaiah sees visions of God on his throne with angels around Him
- Lourdes
- However non-believers say these could be misinterpretations of a psychological experience
- There is no physical evidence usually to back things up
Charismatic Experiences and Ecstatic Experiences
- Religious ecstasy is an altered state of mind
- Many people who experience religious ecstacy are worshipping
- If this occurs in large groups, it is called a revival
- Charismatic churches use the term ‘Slain to the spirit’ in their ecstacy
- ## People are overcome by the Holy Spirit
Baptism in the holy spirit
- Pentecostal churches don’t believe in traditional baptisms
- They belive in giving control over your spirit over to the Holy Spirit
- This is so they can be filled with Christ
- People can be filled by God’s grace
Being filled with the holy spirit
Ephesians 5:18 Paul tells people to be filled with the Holy Spiri
