the existence of god Flashcards
what Christians do not believe in the trinity
unitarinists and jehovahs witness
what do unitarists believe about the trinity
believe that god is one being it teaches that jesus was in some way a son of god but not that he was literally god
what do jehovahs witness believe about the trinity
they reject the trinity
they argue that jesus was created by Jehovah and because he has a beginning, unlike Jehovah he is not eternal
what does the nicene creed teach about the holy spirit
comes from both god the father and god the son
what does the eastern orthodox church believe about the holy spirit
believes that the holy spirit comes from the father
what does the orthodox believe about the trinity
believe that god the father is the source of all things.
god relationship with humanity
gods relationship with humanity is seen in genesis 1 when god says in the bible
let us make man in our image, in our likeness
this sets humans apart from the rest of creation and means there is a unique link between humans and god because humans were made in his image
how is gods goodness revelaed through creation
in the accounts of genesis when god creates the world and all that is in it everything that he creates is described as good
in his creation god provides all that is needed to sustain the world and its inhabitiants
how is gods goodness revealed through his provision of law
according to the bible it says that god desires pople to choose to do what is right
god has given humanity rules about how to live a good life, these laws demonstrate that god wants people to act in a way that is morally good and caring
it is because god is good his rules are good
how is gods goodness revealed through judgement
Christianity teaches that god will judge all humans when they die and that this will determine what happens to them after death
unlike any human judge, god knows and sees everythih
he is therefore able to judge fairly
how is gods goodness shown throu salvatiuon
as part of gods goodness god chooses to offer humans forgiveness
god sent his son jesus to die to cover all human sin once and for all.
Christians believe that if you have faith in jesus and repent then god will forgive them and they will be able to spend eternity in heaben with him when they die
problem of evil
many athiests do not believe in God because of the problem with evil. this is the argument which says that god cannot omnibenevolent or omnipotent because there is evil in the world
the philosopher jl Mackie evidenced this argument through the inconsistent triad argument. this argument says if god was omnipotent he would be able to stop all evil because he loves mankind, if god was omnipotent he would be able to stop all evil because he has absolute power he can do anything however there is still evil in the world we see moral and natural evil everyday
augustine
argued that the bible shows that god is wholly good and that according to genesis 1 created a world perfectly good free from defect evil and suffereing,
evil is just an absence of goodness
evidence to back up Augustine theory
god saw all that he had made and it was very good (genesis 1;31)
weaknesses of the ausgustine theory
schliermacer argued that it was a logical contradiction to say that a perfectly created world had gone wrong. either the world was not perfect to start with or god made it wrong, if so then it is god and not humanity who is to blame
Irenaeus theoadicty on evil
he suggested that evil could be traced back to human free will. Irenaeus said that god did not make a perfect world and that evil has a valuable part to play in gods plan for humanity. he thoufht that god created humans imperfectly in order that they could develop into perfection over time.
why do some Christians believe evil is necessary
some Christians believe that evil is necessary for us to understand goodness, it is because of the existence of evil that we can be aware of the goodness of god
other Christians think that suffering is a test of faith for believers and a punishment for the wicked
where does it teach Christians about their faith being tested
in the book of job god allows the devil to bring evil and suffering on job to see whether he will remain faithful to god. job does remain faithful and god rewards him
what is the design argument
William paley introduced this argument, he used an anology of a watch found on an heath
in the analogy paley suggested that a watch found lying on the floor and looked at would clearly show evidence that it has been designed
paley pointed out the complexity of a watch and all its parts function with the purpose of causing the hands to move in the same way paley argued that the world shows complexity and purpose that indicate it had also been designed
this was developed into the anthropic principle this refers to the way that the universe is so perfectly structured to ensure life would develop
the first cause argument
Aquinas observed that there is no event in the natural world that does not have a cause. the cosmological argument suggests therefore that the universe must have a cause
in this argument god is the casue
god himself deosnt have a casue
god is the cause of all things including tme and space
as the first cause he is eternal and unchanging
what is the moral argument
seeks to persuade people that our human sense of right and wrong makes it reasonable to believe that god exists
who were the people that contributed to the moral argument
john newman (1801-90) Immanuel kant (1724-1804) john hick
what did john newman say
john newman presented one form of the moral argument, he linked our sense of guilt when we do something wrong to the voice of god speaking through our conscience. He argued that it is god who has enabled each person to know right from wrong
newman taught that gods voice within us was a reminder that we were responsible to him, if there was no god then humasn would not have this inner sense of right and wrong
what did Immanuel kant say
kant also developed a moral argument for gods existence
kant argued that humans are aware of what they should do in any given situation in which they face a moral dilemma and hat they have a duty to do right and the good thing
however he recognised that sometimes even though people try to achieve this it may not always happen and their good doesnt nessecarily get rewarded in life
kant therefore aregued that in order for this to be fair god was real
what did john hick sya
he linked our behaviour in this life to our existence after death, he argued that in this life humans have to make descisions about what is right to do in any given situation he said that suffering and evil were oppurtunities for humans to learn and act in a way that would best please god
through this process hick said that people could become more like god who was absolutely good and perfect
why do some christiansreject john hicks argument
because it does not fit with the belief of god judging people after death
what do Christians believe about the holy spirt and their conscience and moral behaviour
Christians do believe that moral behaviour will have an impact upon gods judgement of people- seen through the parable of the sheep and the goats
Christians believe that by listening to their conscience and being guided by the holy spirit within them they are able to make good descisions and live lives that will be judged positively by god
how Christians view the bible as the word of god
for some Christians the bible is the word of god, these Christians believe there are no errors in the bible and it is true in all that it says
these Christians place the bible over science - calle dfundamentailists they belive that god is infallable
liberal views on the bible
an alternative view on the bible is a more liberal view that sees the sotries in the bible as myhtival and symbolic
in this approach individuals seek to find meanings in the bible and then apply that meaning to their own lives
conservative view on the bible
some Christians believe that the bible writers were inspired by god but that those writers were human and as such the bible may contain mistakes the bible therefore needs to be interpreted so that it is relevant and applicable today
god revelaed through miracles
many Christians believe that god still gets involved in the world today through miraculous works and that god reveals his power and his love for humanity through such miracles
however some Christians do not accept that god continues to do miracles in the world today. they argue that god revelaed himself thru jesus and finally thru the bible so no further revelation is needed
how can meeting an inspirational person affect a Christian
they hear the way that god has worked in and through the life of that inspirational person they may feel a sense of gods presence
can become inspired by the persons testimony
what is a revival
a time of increased numbers of people converting to islma
forms of religious experiences
conversions mystical experience visions charismatic and esctactic pentecostalists and glossolalia
conversion
causes a person to adopt a belief in god
mystical e
may leave the believer with a sense of peace and a oneness with god these experiences are so powerful and genuine that the person is left no doubt that god is real
they bring a stenghtening of faith for the individual but reveal nothing more about gods existence to other epopel
visons
person claims to see something supernatural
cahirmatic and e ecperience
people in religious extasy become less aware of the world around them and experience intense emotional and spiritual feelings about god
many people have experienced this while worshipping
charismatic Christian churches use the phrase being slain by the spirit to descirble their religiousextasy this usuall yhappens when a minister lays hads on people generally on their forehead and then they fall backwards
disagreements with cahirmatic and e ecperience
there is a disagreement among Christians whether rligiuso extacires and experiences such as being slin in the spirit are genuine acts of god
some Christians argue that no where in the bible do the prophets the apostles or jesus himself ever lay hands on someone allowing holy spirit to come through their hands and causing a person to fall over
what is pentecostalism
is a form of Christianity that emphasises the work of the holy spirit and the believers direct experience of the presence of god
Pentecostals believe that they are equipped with the gifts of the holy spirit
through their experience with god Pentecostals believe that they are equipped with the gifts of the spirit
, the these include speaking in tongues
eucharist
most denominations celebrate the eucharist in some form
the catholic and orthodox church teach a belief in transubstantiation during the eucharist through this prsctice catholic and orthodox church believers feel that they become united with Christ in contrastthe church of england teach consubstantiatiuon
the Baptist teach believe that the eucharist is entirely symbolic, the taking of the bread and wine is an act of remembrance of Jesus’ death and ressurection
the sacrament of penance
the sacrament of penance involves the confession of sins to a priest in the catholic church, the priest provides absolution to the person so that their sins are forgiven for catholics this enables them to draw close to god and relieves them of guilt
non conformist churches and the Anglican church do not teach that confession is a sacrament, this means that they believe that every individual Christian can come directly before god in prayer and confess their sins
