God and Revelation - Y11 Flashcards
Strengths of the Design argument
- Universe is fine-tuned for life
- Universe is beautiful, beauty is uneccessary and it might be the work of a good,loving God
- Thiests argue that God is beyond human understanding and there is an explanation for natural evil that humans will not/never understand
- Scriptures support idea the God is the designer (Bible, Quran, GGs) - Bible Genesis “God made all of creation in 6 days”
- Quran says complexity and order in universe are “signs”
What is the design argument? Who said it?
- Aims to prove the existance of God
- By saying the universe is complex, intricate and so its designer is God eg trees give out o2, take in co2, unique thumbprints
- Rejects idea that we are created by random chance or existance from Big Bang
- Uses watch analogy
- By William Paley
What is the anthropic principle?
- Tennant argued God planned the world so everything was perfect for humans to develop
- gravitational force just right
- Thiests believe that this fine tuning cant be chance but is deliberate action by God
Arguments against design argument
- Theory of evolution - explains appearance of deisgn without deisgner. Darwin says “fixed laws” eg eye developing from earlier, simpler forms
- If God is perfect, why is his creation not? eg flaws in nature (disease, disablility), brutality in nature Tennyson said nature is “red in tooth and claw” which means it operates on violence
- Universe could be a brute fact (fact without explanation) - Bertrand Russel “the universe is just there and thats all”
- Designer doesn’t have to be God, could be a deist God (God with no interest, just a force in universe), could be an intelligent non God designer, more than one God (when a building is designed it needs architects, plumbers, universe is much bigger so more than one God)
What is a miracle?
Event that contradicts the law of nature and has religious significance
Examples of miracles
Jesus
- faith healings (treated ppl who were blind, had leprosy, sick)
- Power over nature (turned water to wine, walked on water)
- Excorcisms performed
- Resurrection
- 5 loaves and 2 fish fed 5000
* Moses split the Red Sea to allow Israelites to escape
* Hadith: Muhammad pbuh splitting the moon
* Night Journey - Muhammad pbuh flys from Mecca to Jerusalem in 1 night (omnipotence of God)
* Lourdes - faith healings since 19th centruy, 66 confirmed since 1882 (shows God is all powerful and loving)
* Abraham/ Ibrahim saved by fire
Miracles prove God exists arguments
- God is omnibenevolent and therefore his intervention with his creation is what we would expect eg faith healings
- Many first-hand testimonies offered as evidence
- God is the only explanation to the breaks in the law of nature
- They don’t always happen to believers, cause people to convert - could be God’s way of guiding smn
- Lourdes - 66 since 1882, checked by doctors and priests
Miracles do not prove God exists arguments
- Stories may have been invented eg Jesus walking on water
- We are trusting ancient sources, may be unreliable
- David Hume: Miracles usually occure in “ignorant and barbarous nations”
David Hume - insufficient witness of “good sense, education and learning” - Coincidence
- Thiests want them to happen to they interpret ordinary events as miracles
- Fake “miracles” for money and fame
- God would be choosing and picking who he wants to help which is not fair and loving
What is the first cause?
- Aquinas states there must be a first cause which must be uncaused (not caused by anything else)
- Says “therefore it is necessary to admit a first cause, to which everypne gives the name of God”
- Everything is caused by something in the universe and this chain cant go on forever, so there must be a first, uncaused cause which is God
Criticisms of the first cause
- If God is eternal why can’t the universe by eternal? Universe doesnt have a beginning - Steady State Theory - universe is eternal and it has always existed
- Big Bang Theory - Athiests believe Universe could have resulted from a random spontaneous event, not an action by God, religious account of creation are myths
- Why is God exempt from this argument? Who caused God?
- Quantum Physics suggests the universe may be possible without any cause
- Could be something other than God
- In religious scriptures, God is much more than “First Cause”
- World has flaws, if God was the first cause, he made mistakes, not the God in religious teachings
Athiest
Person who believes there is no God
Agnostic
Person who believes that we cant be sure whether God exists or not
Thiest
Person who beleives in God
Arguments against belief in God
- Science provides all the answers so belief in God is uneeded
What did David Hume say about evil and suffering?
analysis
Evil and suffering in the world is considered the “rock of atheism”
* Rock - immovable, problem that wont never go away
2 types of evil
- Moral evil - human actions
- Natural evil - natural disasaters, disease
