The universe, creation and the place of human beings

Question 1

Types of Christians - Fundamentalist

Answer 1

• Interprets the Bible and its teachings as literal truth
• If something in the secular world were to oppose the Bible’s teachings in any way, they must be wrong.
• The believe the Bible is the only thing they can rely on

Question 2

Types of Christians - liberalist

Answer 2

• Interprets the Bible and its teachings spiritually, as a document full of wisdom and guidance.
• They believe it contains important knowledge on Jesus and God.
• Could fully accept and reconciliation other views along with Christianity - e.g. science
• Sees the bible as undogmatic - not undeniably true

Question 3

Christian belief about the value of world: Stewardship

Answer 3

-God has given humans the responsibility to look after the world and preserve its environment, other animals etc.

Question 4

Stewardship quote

Answer 4

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it”

Question 5

Dominion

Answer 5

-God has given humans the power and authority to rule over the world and subdue its inhabitants.

Question 6

Dominion quote

Answer 6

“Fill the Earth and subdue it”

Question 7

Relationship between animals and humans: commonality

Answer 7

Humans and animals are equal, they all underwent the same process of development. development

Question 8

Commonality quote:

Answer 8

“All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals” breath = soul

Question 9

Dominance (humans and animals)

Answer 9

Human beings have the right to exercise control and power over animals as they have been built in the image of God (imago Dei)

Question 10

Dominance quote

Answer 10

“Let us make mankind in our image, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky”

Question 11

Buddhist view on animals - 1 of the 5 moral precepts

Answer 11

One of the five moral precepts in Buddhism state that, one is not to harm living things and that harming other living things would be unskillful and lead to bad karma.

Question 12

Human nature: creative nature

Answer 12

• We are made in the image of God (imago Dei)
• We can exercise free will (as seen with Adam) and have the power to do what we desire
• We are (like God) good
• We have a soul (“breath of life”)

Question 13

Creative nature quote/soul:

Answer 13

“Breathed into his nostrils the breath of life”

Question 14

Human nature: fallen nature

Answer 14

• We have a congenital tendency to sin and do bad things
• This originated from the first original sin committed by Adam
• Or some believe, is derived from birth as we are born through sin (sex)

Question 15

Human nature: Richard Dawkins

Answer 15

“The successful gene is usually ruthlessly selfish” He believes that the successful gene is inertly selfish and therefore gives rise to selfish desires and behaviour in one’s lifetime.”

Question 16

The soul: Christian belief

Answer 16

Christian regard the soul as an immortal, metaphysical essence that carries on into after the death and decay of the physical body, and that after death God either punishes (hell) or rewards the soul “heaven”

Question 17

The soul: Buddhism:

Answer 17

Buddhists believe in sunyata: Whereby there is no ‘you’ and that ‘you’ is an empty concept. And that we’re going through everchanging reconstruction with no fixed self; this is Anatta.
The energy within us moves into another being and we are reincarnated.

Scientific evidence: cells in our body replace itself entirely in 7-10 years.

Question 18

The soul: Hobbs- physicalism

Answer 18

The universe is only physical, therefore everything in it can only be physical.

Something that isn’t physical like the soul, therefore, cannot exist.

The mind or soul has to be a material apart of the body and not a separable spirit that is exempt from physical properties.

Question 19

The soul: Ryle

Answer 19

Ryle believed the idea of a soul was absurd.

He used the term and compared the idea of a soul (ghost in a machine) to point out how irrational it was that a non-living thing was living in a material vessel.

Question 20

Selfishness- Christian beliefs

Answer 20

“Love thy neighbour as thyself” Implies that Christians should show concern for others and not indulge only in themselves.

The parable of the good Sumerian is a parable told by Jesus himself in the Bible. It recounts the experience of a Jewish traveller who was stripped of all clothing and possessions, in which initially many people walked by including priests who ignored and did not give him assistance, and the only person passing by who chose to help him was a Sumerian who was a race that despised the jews. This opposes human selfishness and shows that people should, in fact, help others.

Question 21

Selfishness - Non-Chrsitian beliefs - Charles Darwin

Answer 21

Charles darwin a prominent biologist believes that humans are born with selfishness due to the theory of evolution and the principle of ‘survival is the fittest’, whereby humans are intrinsically predisposed towards selfishness to survive and reproduce.

Stimer also believed otherwise, he proposed something called the union of egoists, whereby humans are and should be driven by self-interest in order to make progress and to cooperate with others with similar goals.

Question 22

Selfishness - Non-Christian beliefs - Stimer

Answer 22

Stimer also believed otherwise, he proposed something called the union of egoists, whereby humans are and should be driven by self-interest in order to make progress and to cooperate with others with similar goals.

Question 23

Ignorance - Christian beliefs - imago Dei

Answer 23

We are made in the image of God (imago dei), therefore we are rational and morally aware, hence everyone has the ability to differentiate right from wrong

Question 24

Ignorance - Christian beliefs - Aquinas

Answer 24

Our conscience is infallible and humans are occasionally prone to make mistakes - our conscience sometimes makes us believe something bad is good. However, Aquinas believes Christians have a duty to educate themselves via the Bible and Jesus’ teachings. For example, some people may think Euthanasia is good as it eases suffering, but one of the primary natural laws is to preserve life meaning Euthanasia is bad.

Question 25

Ignorance - Christian beliefs - Jesus

Answer 25

Jesus, when he was dying on the cross, said that the people who crucified him did not know what they were doing (ignorant) and that they should be forgiven. Jesus asks God to forgive the people who crucified him as he believed they were ignorant of his wrongdoings, this suggests that ignorance can be excusable.

Question 26

Ignorance - Jesus - quote

Answer 26

“Father forgive them for they do not know what they do”

Question 27

Greed - Christian belief - the root of all evils

Answer 27

Money in itself isn’t bad but loving money is. Loving money (greed) can lead to many evils and is the root of all evils

Question 28

Greed - Christian belief - the root of all evils - quote

Answer 28

“The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil”

Question 29

Greed - Christian belief - loving money means you cannot love God

Answer 29

Loving money means you lack faith and love in God.

Christians can and must only show their love and reverence for God, through worship, prayer and their actions, not through their affluence.

Question 30

Greed - Christian belief - loving money means you cannot love God - quote

Answer 30

“No one can serve two masters, for you will hate one and love the other. You cannot serve God and money”

Question 31

Greed - capitalism

Answer 31

Capitalism with private ownership is an example of greed, but under the right institutions can allow prosperity and progress. Capitalism incentivises competition and allows for more economical growth which in turn helps the poor and reduces poverty.

Without greed there would be no competition and incentive to try harder and work towards a better future.

Question 32

Free will - Christian belief

Answer 32

We are built in the image of God (Imago Dei) and therefore have the power to exercise free will and choose and act freely.

Question 33

Free will - Genetic determinism

Answer 33

Humans are born with a genetic code, how we behave is determined by our character which is determined by our genetic makeup. Example: MAOA gene which is the warrior gene, that causes some people to be more suited and predisposed to fighting and combat.

Question 34

Psychological determinism

Answer 34

Children learn by imitation and are very receptive to new influences. Eg. a child brought up by hard-working parents might develop a studious character because that is they’ve been brought up to believe in to be the norm. Therefore one’s actions and behaviour is determined more so by their upbringing and not of their own free will.

Question 35

Physical determinism

Answer 35

Assuming physicalism is true and nothing is beyond the physical world, and as every physical thing has a cause and effect, the actions we produce in our physical brain also have a cause and effect. Our sense of freedom in that we’re able to make choices and have thoughts is an illusion and our actions are simply as a result of causes that preceded it.

Libet experiment: test subjects were hooked up to brain scanners and were asked to flex their wrists whenever they wanted to. They were also asked to look at a special clock and record when they wanted to flex. The results showed that the subjects showed signs that they were about to flex before they themselves determined that they were about to flex their wrists, this shows that this isn’t a freely made decision and is more so a subconscious decision made without out acknowledgement (free will)

Question 36

Predestination

Answer 36

Calvin states that due to God’s omniscience, humans are all predestined to a fate that was set before one’s birth. The choices for salvation was not a human choice but rather a divine one.
God made two predestined groups, the elect who will receive eternal life, and the reprobates who will receive eternal damnation.

Question 37

The nature of God - natures

Answer 37

Omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, omni benevolent

Question 38

The nature of God - anthropomorphisation

Answer 38

God is given human attributes and characteristics so us humans can better relate to him. Does not mean he himself is originally human.

Question 39

The nature of God - holy trinity

Answer 39

God the Father
God the Son (Jesus)
God the holy spirit

Question 40

The nature of God - natures - quotes - omnipotence

Answer 40

“nothing is impossible with God”

Question 41

The nature of God - natures - quotes - omnibenevolence

Answer 41

“God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son”