Life And Death Flashcards
What is the phrase for creation from nothing?
creatio ex nihilo
What is the phrase for creation from pre existent matter?
• creatio ex materia
What does Genesis mean?
• first book of the bible
• means beginning
Creatio ex nihilo
Creation from nothing
Creatio ex materia
Creation from pre existant matter
Genesis meaning
Means, ‘beginning’
First book of the bible with Adam and Eve (creation)
What is creation?
Making something on purpose
Literal interpretation
• also known as strict construction
• understanding something exactly as it is said - e.g. Christians believe god created the world in seven days
Creationists
• believe that Genesis is a historical account of how the world was created in six days of 24 days
• rejects science
• Earth was created in 6 days through the Spirit of God, who commanded ‘let there be light’ ‘let the earth produce all kinds of plants’ and ‘let the water be filled with many kinds of living beings’
• every word in the Bible is truth, therefore science is false as it conflicts this
Liberal Christians
• accepts science
• the Bible should be understood as a collection of parables and symbolic stories, true in the sense of their meanings
• there is no problem with religious believers accepting scientific accounts of creation. Religion and science are not at odds with each other, they just explain things in different ways
• Bible contains religious wisdom, not historical events. Truth behind Genesis account lies in belief that God created the Universe - Pope Francis backs up this belief
• God created the universe using the Big Bang and evolution as mechanismss
Scientific belief of creation
• three years before his death, Stephen Hawking explained that although there is no proof that God created the universe, it is incredible that we are even here at all
• scientists also admit, ‘On the face of it, life does seem to be too unlikely to be just a coincidence’
• Stephen Hawking’s study and research back up the account that the universe started at one single point, and was spontaneously created by the laws of nature out of nothing
• time and space began 13.8 billion years ago from a single point, when a dense concentration of energy (singularity) began to cool and expand
• sub atomic particles, hydrogen and helium were released
• clouds of gas formed stars and galaxies
• there was a general belief that the universe is still expanding, energy is propelling
• evidence such as microwaves detected from moment of singularity by telescopes
• questions about whether the universe is still expanding
• other evidence includes the study of cosmology, showing subatomic particles and atoms formed, which then led to the formation of stars and planets
• does not give a complete picture
Hindu creation stories
• periodic cycles of creation
• there was a vast ocean - serpent (Ananta Shesh) holds Vishnu asleep, and a lotus sprouts from Vishnu’s navel
• Brahma splits the lotus into 3 parts - heaven, Earth and sky
• Vishnu encourages him to make something - the ‘om’ sound was uttered, encouraging creation
• produces animals and humans - male and female species
• Trimurti came from the lotus too
What is naimittika?
• the process of a universe being created, developed and destroyed, then created again, in an endless cycle
Purusha
• primeval cosmic being - all that has ever existed and all that will ever exist
• from him the universe (an everything in it) comes about
• in the early vedas, Purusha was a cosmic being who created the universe by sacrificing himself
• eternal, authentic spirit
Afterlife for Catholics
• Catholics believe in ‘The Four Last Things’ - Death, Judgement, Heaven or Hell
• believe in the ‘immortality of the soul’ - even when the body ceases to function, this carries on in the afterlife
• resurrection = new resurrected life after they die
• St Paul uses analogy of a seed to describe resurrection, ‘what is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body’
• St Paul says our physical body is sown in ‘dishonour’ and ‘weakness’ and is both ‘perishable’ and ‘physical’
• in the after life we are resurrected to be ‘imperishable and spiritual’ and in ‘glory and power’
• God will judge all and decide their eternal destination
• judgement on how a person responds to God’s offer of salvation
• ‘particular’ judgement = faced immediately after a person dies
• ‘final’ judgement = at the end of time when we are all judged
• heaven - if you accept offer of forgiveness you get eternity with God
• Church helps people receive salvation by encouraging them to keep faith in God, share God’s word through good deeds and confess for reconciliation if you commit a mortal sin
• free will means people can reject God
• Hell = ‘the condition of everlasting separation from God’ - Youcat 162
• ‘God does not damn men’ ‘Man voluntarily deprived himself of eternal life by excluding himself from communion with God’ - Youcat 162
• ‘burning’ in Hell - symbolic of what you have rejected
• Parable of the Rich man and Lazarus
What is the after life?
The life which happens after death. A Christina believes there is heaven or hell whereas someone who does not believe in God may say there is no afterlife.
Environmental sustainability
Ensuring that the demands paced on neutral resources can be met without reducing capacity to allow all people and other species of animals, as well as plant life, to live well, now and in the future.
What is euthanasia?
When someone kills someone who is dying in pain from an incurable disease. The patient may have asked for them to do this (voluntary euthanasia). If the person is in a coma and has not asked but the person kills them because they feel the person would have wanted this to happen then this is involuntary euthanasia.
Evolution meaning
The process by which different living creatures are believed to have developed from earlier. Less complex forms during the history of the earth.
Abortion meaning
This is when there is a medical operation to remove an unborn baby from the womb before it is capable of surviving in the outside world.
Stewardship meaning
The word ‘steward’ means to look after - Christians believe they should be looking after the world for God
Sanctity of life meaning
Christians believe that everyone’s life is sacred/special/holy because God creates all life and within everyone is part of God - the soul
Quality of life meaning
The extent to which life is meaningful and pleasure able
Soul meaning
This is the non-material part of a person (it cannot be seen) which makes the person what they are. Christians believe it is the ‘breath of life’ which God gave Adam when he created him. The soul is eternal.
Assisted suicide, meaning
This is when someone helps someone else kill themselves because they do not want to live in pain
Purgatory meaning
This is the place before Heaven, by Catholics, believe everyone has to go to have their sins cleansed before they can enter heaven
Purpose of mankind - Christian
Live in a loving relationship with God and so worship him. Humans are special because God created them differently to animals, made Adam from dust and breathed in him the breath of life, ‘soul’
Look after the world for God as stewards
Stewardship
• to care for the Earth
• Genesis 2:15 says to ‘cultivate and care’ for the Earth, believe in looking after it for God
‘God took the man and put him in Eden to work it and take care of it’
Christians believe that God flooded the world (Noah) then man had misused it and this should be a warning to Christians
Dominion
To dominate
Evangelical Christians take the Bible literally - ‘subdue it’
Humans were made special, so have a special role
Christian view on overusing resources
Old Testament says to ‘conserve’ the worlds resources
‘When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time’
Christian response to environmental issues
•Christians thank God for his gift of the world at Harvest Festival
• Chico Mendes - (rubber tapper) used non-violence to stop deforestation and was murdered
• support Christian environmental charities like CAFOD or Christian aid who have long-term projects in the Third World such as providing clean water and educating the farmers in conservation
• join a conservation organisation such as Greenpeace or World Wildlife Fund
Message of parables
Sheep and goats = Jesus will judge on Judgement day
Rich man and Lazarus = bad will be punished and separated from God forever
Lost son and lost sheep - God is forgiving if you truly repent
Christian funeral rites
• flowers - beauty of heaven and the afterlife
• words, ‘I am the resurrection and the life’ - showing those who follow Jesus will live again after death (said at beginning of ceremony)
• balloons released to show the soul going to heaven
• symbol of the empty cross - because Jesus has risen
• eulogy given on the persons life
Humanist funerals
• offer a personal and fitting way to say goodbye
• conducted by ‘celebrants’
• bring people together to express sadness but also celebrate life
• focus sincerely and affectionately on the person who has died
• pay tribute to connection made in life without praying/singing hymns
What is euthanasia ?
• helping someone to die, who has an incurable disease and who is suffering in great pain and will die anyway
• nothing in the Bible, which directly says euthanasia is wrong, but goes against the sanctity of life
• types include voluntary, involuntary, active, passive, assisted suicide
Against euthanasia
• the sixth commandment says ‘do not murder’
• sanctity of life - body is a ‘temple of the Holy Spirit’ god gives it so decides when it can be taken away
• Catholics are against euthanasia however they say that a doctor can give pain relief even if this does shorten the life of the patient (double effect)
• patient must be able to confess sins and receive the last rites
Arguments for euthanasia
• ‘loving thy neighbour as thyself’ - agape
• we have free will
• God would not want people to suffer with no quality of life
• Peter Singer = atheist philosopher - quality of life is the most important value we can hold, euthanasia should be legal in the UK
• Humanist Dignity Dying Movement campaigns to make euthanasia available to those who want it and do not see why we don’t have ‘the right to die’
Abortion is wrong because…
• God creates human life, no one should destroy what God creates
• ‘thou shall not commit murder’
• Catholics believe life begins at conception
• God said, ‘go forth and multiply’
• The Didache says, ‘You shall not kill by abortion the fruit of the womb’
• pope teaches every baby is a gift from God
Teleological argument
• proposed by William Paley
Watch analogy = design argument
Something as intricate as the earth needs a designer
However not everything has a purpose
Blind spot/men having nipples
Theory of evolution shows how we adapt without the need of a designer
Complexity doesn’t necessarily mean design
First cause argument
St Thomas Aquinas
• cause and effect
• cause is God, effect is the world
