Section 1

Question 1

How does infant baptism lead to belief in God?

Answer 1

Parents will promise to bring up their children as Christians and encourage them to believe in God.
Young children follow their parents example.

Question 2

What are prayers to Christian children?

Answer 2

Children are often encouraged to talk to God, to thank him for the good and ask him for help on the bad things.

Question 3

How to prayers lead to belief in God?

Answer 3

Children will grow up with the belief that God is listening to them.
They may believe that God has answered their prayers.

Question 4

What happens during bible stories?

Answer 4

Children are encouraged to read the Bible, beginning with picture books that re-tell the stories in a simple way.

Question 5

How do bible stories lead to belief in God?

Answer 5

Children learn stories from the Bible

They learn that God has always been involved in history

Question 6

What happens when a Christian goes to church?

Answer 6

Christian families often attend a ‘Family Service’ at church

Question 7

How does going to Church lead to belief in God?

Answer 7

Children are surrounded by fellow Christians who all believe the same thing.
Seeing others pray and worship God is likely to make them think that God must exist

Question 8

What happens during Christian festivals?

Answer 8

Families celebrate Easter and Christmas and other important events such as Lent (before Easter) and Advent (before Christmas)

Question 9

What happens during Sunday School?

Answer 9

Most churches run special classes for children to teach them Christian belief and how to live a Christian life

Question 10

How do festivals lead to belief in God?

Answer 10

Children are taught the Christian meaning of Easter and Christmas and celebrate it in Church, sharing in everyone’s happiness

Question 11

How do Sunday schools lead to belief in God?

Answer 11

Learning in more detail about God, Jesus and the Bible helps to back up what a child’s parents taught them.

Question 12

What happens during Church School?

Answer 12

Most churches are owned or party-owned by the church and they encourage worship in assemblies and Christian teaching in RE.

Question 13

What is infant baptism?

Answer 13

Christian parents are likely to have their children baptised. As part of this sacrament water is sprinkled on the baby’s head as a symbol of God taking away their sins.

Question 14

How does church school lead to belief in God?

Answer 14

Children and young people continue to be surrounded by Christians at school.
Belief in God is still seen as normal.
Pupils are likely to believe it if their teachers tell them it’s true.

Question 15

What is a first communion?

Answer 15

The Sacrament of confirmation involves lessons from the Priest about Christianity and the nature of God

Question 16

How does a first communion lead to belief in God?

Answer 16

Children learn more about God in their confirmation lessons and possibly have a religious experience when the bishop lays his hands on you.

Question 17

What is a youth club?

Answer 17

Many Churches run youth clubs where young people can have fun and attend Christian events together.

Question 18

How does a youth club lead to belief in God?

Answer 18

Young people are surrounded by others teenagers with the same beliefs

Question 19

What is confirmation?

Answer 19

As part of fulfilling their vows at baptism, Christian parents are likely to encourage their children to be confirmed as full members of the Church.

Question 20

How does confirmation lead to belief in God?

Answer 20

The sacrament of Confirmation involves lessons from the Priest/Minster, about Christianity and the nature of God

Question 21

Definition of a mystical experience

Answer 21

An experience of the divine, which is difficult to describe

E.g. Hearing Gods voice or seeing a vision

Question 22

Definition a conversion experience

Answer 22

The feeling that there is something inside you wanting you to change your life and believe in God.
It is sometimes called a regenerative experience because it gives you a feeling of being born again.
- Paul converted

Question 23

Definition of a charismatic experience

Answer 23

An experience where the Holy Spirit descends upon you, for example , speaking in tongues, prophecy or healing

Question 24

Definition of a near-death experience

Answer 24

An experience of God when in the process of dying or having died, but then being resuscitated
- Drowning/Seeing the light

Question 25

Definition of prayer

Answer 25

All religious believers think that they can make contact with God through prayer. Prayer can be formal or informal - The Lord's Prayer

Question 26

Definition of a miracle

Answer 26

A belief that prayers are answered or that an act of God has occurred. It is a event that seems to break the laws of science and can therefore only be explained by God - Someones who's heart stopped beating has come back to life

Question 27

Definition of a numinous experience

Answer 27

A feeling of great wonder, where you feel there is something greater than yourself, which you can only call God. It is often described as an experience of the transcendence - Looking up at the stars and feeling like you are a tiny piece of a big puddle

Question 28

Arguments for the Design Argument

Answer 28

``` Evidence of design - the eye The Fibonacci sequence - present in nature, perfect form, must have been designed Metaphor/example is understandable - the watch Only God could have created this - to create this you must be omnibenevolent ```

Question 29

Arguments against the Design Argument

Answer 29

Inductive leap - the conclusion that makes God made everything is not supported by the premises Darwin - things made due to evolution E.g. The eye - survival of the fittest, why would God create something to die out? Dawkins - the universe does not need to have a purpose - everything happened due to evolution David Hume - world created and things happen by chance E.g. Monkey keyboard = Epicurian thesis John Stuart Mill - why would God create a universe with flaws? - Sun which causes massive cancer to humans.

Question 30

Arguments for the Cosmological/Causation Argument

Answer 30

``` Explains why the universe exists Explains how God exists It is a clear argument - something could not come from nothing Ties in with science Goes with the Big Bang Theory Attributes of God, omnipotent, eternal ```

Question 31

Arguments against the Cosmological/Causation Argument

Answer 31

``` Inductive leap Contradicts itself - who caused God? Assumes a starting point Assumes God is eternal Series of uncaused causes ```

Question 32

Is it the responsibility of the media to provide a fair and religious outcome?

Answer 32

If someone is prepared to put forward their views, they must be prepared to be contradicted - Richard Dawkins must be prepared for people to disagree and hate him

Question 33

How can the media influence a person's belief in God?

Answer 33

Make people think that religion is fun and community orientated - The Vicar of Dibly promotes Christianity as a thing of happiness and community The media has power to make people agree/believe with someone or a religion, hate a religion or convert their views - the news They use stereotypes/mockery/comedy - The Book of Mormon The media feeds of people's insecurities - the news, Islamic state

Question 34

Is the way religion is portrayed in the media fair?

Answer 34

The media portrays the news in a negative light, always focus on the bad, 'shock sells ' - News only focus on IS attack not the beauty of Islam Some social media use their platform to celebrate multicultural festivals - Snapchat 'live broadcast' Eid,Diwali

Question 35

How might miracles lead people to lose faith in God?

Answer 35

Inconsistent triad/the problem of evil If he's all loving how could he allow bad things to happen In the same situation, why does he only give a miracle to some people and not everyone?

Question 36

How do miracles lead people to believe in God?

Answer 36

It breaks the laws of science = must be God

Question 37

Explain Irenaeus' theodicy

Answer 37

Suffering is necessary for improvement of human souls through character building - Courage and resilience The world is a 'vale of soul making' We are in an immature moral state, though we have potential for moral perfection God gave us free will. Evil and suffering are as a result of that.

Question 38

Explain Augustine's theodicy

Answer 38

God is perfect and created a perfect world - In the Bible he says that he saw his created and declared that 'it was good' When Adam and Eve are the apple from the 'Tree of knowledge' they ruined human perfection As a result evil is not Gods fault, it is as a result of human temptation - Classical theistic view still works

Question 39

Simple Christian responses to evil and suffering

Answer 39

Pain is a punishment for the bad things we do - Augustine Pain is a test of our faith in God - Job in the Old Testament - Irenaeus We learn from pain - Irenaeus Evil and suffering are as a result of free will - Irenaeus, moral evil is derived from human free will and disobedience

Question 40

What does prayer mean to religious believers?

Answer 40

They can communicate with God They can listen to God 'Power of Prayer' prayer brings them closer to God Learning through reflection

Question 41

How does prayer help affirm belief in God?

Answer 41

Confirms good relationship with God

Question 42

How do Christians respond to the problems of unanswered prayers?

Answer 42

They say that he does answers but in unexpected ways God doesn't interfere in day-to-day problems Communicating with God helps us find answers in ourselves Prayer is a test of faith

Question 43

Why do unanswered prayers lead people away from God?

Answer 43

Being let down by God Not feeling God's presence can make people question God's existence Can lead people to be agnostic or atheist

Question 44

How might atheists use unanswered prays as evidence for God's non-existence?

Answer 44

If he was all good + powerful he would've responded | God doesn't exist so obviously he won't answer

Question 45

What are the conclusions of the Problem of Evil?

Answer 45

God doesn't exist | He isn't of the classical theistic view

Question 46

What is the belief behind creationism?

Answer 46

The universe and life originated from 'specific acts of divine creation'. God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh.

Question 47

Christian responses to the Big Bang Theory

Answer 47

Many Christians have no problem in accepting the Big Bang theory. They see the cosmologists helping them to understand how God brought the world into being - the Big Bang could have been the mechanism God used. And there is nothing in the theory itself which proves that there is no such being as God.

Question 48

Evidence behind the Big Bang Theory

Answer 48

All the galaxies and moving away from us, the further away and Galaxy is the faster it is moving away. These two features are found in explosions Scientists discovered cosmic microwave background radiation (redshift = the displacement of spectral lines towards longer wavelengths in radiation from distant galaxies and celestial objects) received from all parts of the universe it is thought that the heat leftover from the original explosion.