Theme C – Existence of God Flashcards
Thomas Aquinas’ Argument – Qua Regularity:
- The world is full of order, complexity and
patterns such as the changing seasons and the
planets orbiting the sun. - These natural things cannot order themselves on
their own (because they cannot think!) so there
must be a designer who causes these patterns. - For Aquinas, only God is powerful enough to
design such an ordered universe so God must
exist. - Look at the image of the planet’s orbits…a planet
cannot think so God must be the one behind
these patterns.
William Paley’s Design Argument – Qua Purpose
He compared a watch to the universe – he is not
saying the world is a watch but says a watch is so
complex, we know it must have been designed
rather than appeared by chance.
1. Complex things do not appear by chance, they
have to be designed e.g. a WATCH IS SO
COMPLEX IT MUST HAVE A DESIGNER
2. 3. 4. The world is very complex (like a watch)
The world cannot have happened by chance
The world must have been designed by an
intelligent designer
5. This designer is God
Paley used the natural example of an eye to show
how complex our bodies are – he believed that such
a complex organ like the eye could not have
happened by chance
Does the Teleological Argument prove the existence of God? STRENGTHS
- Supported by the Bible: the Bible
speaks about God creating and
designing a good and complex world
e.g. Genesis says ”In the beginning
God created the heavens and the
earth” - Fibonacci Sequence: complex
mathematical pattern that is seen in
nature e.g. in seashells or the swirls of
the Milky Way all follow this pattern.
No one knows why the pattern is here
so there must be a designer. - The world is just right for life: if the
Big Bang exploded differently by a tiny
fraction then the world we know
would not exist…surely a designer
caused this to happen just right for
life to exist (Tennant)
Does the Teleological Argument prove the existence of God? WEAKNESS
- Evolution: Darwin would say that
evolution can explain how complex
organisms are so there is no God, it
can all be explained by nature.
Multiple Gods? : Complex machines
are usually built by more than one
people so why does a complex world
show the Christian God? Surely there
could be multiple Gods or a different
universe designer?
Evil in the world: nature is evil e.g.
earthquakes, flooding so there is no
evidence of design or a loving God (JS
Mill
- Evolution: Darwin would say that
Thomas Aquinas – First Cause Argument
The cosmological argument is also called the
“first cause” argument because Aquinas is asking
the question: what caused the universe to come
into existence? And his answer was God.
Cosmological argument in brief
-Everything that exists must have a cause
-The universe exists, so it must have a cause
-Whatever is the cause of the universe must be something outside of the universe, something eternal and powerful.
-This eternal and powerful First Cause must be God
-Therefore, God exists
Dominoes show the First Cause Argument
- For the dominoes to fall, there MUST be a cause
e.g. pushing the dominoes. - Without the First Cause, the dominoes would not
fall. - The universe exists so there must have been a
First Cause that is not caused by anything to start
the chain of causation that led to the world being
here the way it is. - E.g. you were caused by your parents; your
parents were caused by your grandparents and
so on
Does the Cosmological Argument prove the existence of God? STRENGHTS
- Supported by the Bible: the Bible
speaks about God creating the world
e.g. Genesis says ”In the beginning
God created the heavens and the
earth” - Big Bang and Religion are
compatible: Scientists are unsure why
the Big Bang happened so some
religious believers think that God
caused the Big Bang which supports
the First Cause Argument. - Principle of Sufficient Reason
(Leibniz): The universe must have a
good reason why it is here, the Big
Bang does not provide that as there
are too many questions still, only God
as the cause means there is a full
explanation.
Does the Cosmological Argument prove the existence of God? WEAKNESSES
- Argument contradicts itself: why
can’t God have a cause if everything
in the universe has a cause. - Big Bang was random and not
caused: Scientists believe the Big
Bang was random so God couldn’t
have caused the universe or the Big
Bang (like some Christians believe)
Hume said just because everything in
the universe has a cause, doesn’t
mean the universe has a
- Big Bang was random and not
What was the 1st miracle happened at Lourdes?
In 1858, a young girl called Bernadette was living in the small
town of Lourdes in France.
She witnessed a number of visions of Mary, the mother of
Jesus. In these visions, Mary spoke to Bernadette and on
one particular occasion she gave Bernadette instructions about
where to dig in the ground. Bernadette
followed Mary’s instruction, and dug a well where water was
running underground.
People who bathed in this water or who drank it became cured
of various illnesses and diseases, and before long Lourdes
became a very popular pilgrimage site for Christians,
and particularly for Catholics who have a strong devotion to
Mary.
Another miracle at Lourdes
Jean-Pierre Bely was a soldier in WW2. He was shot 5 times
in the back and the bullets were stuck in his spine. Doctors
could not remove the bullets because the operation would
kill him. He was paralysed.
Jean felt a tingling feeling in his whole body, and for the
first time in over 30 years he was able to move his legs. A
few days later he was walking. When the doctors examined
him, the bullets were gone from his spine, and he had no
physical damage to his body whatsoever. John
believed that God had cured him.
Examples of Miracles in the Bible
Jesus Walking on Water - Matthew 22
Jesus Feeding the 5000 - Matthew 13
Richard Swinburne – Supporter of Miracles
- Swinburne believed that miracles do happen, and it is reasonable to
say they are from God. - He does not accept every miracle but created two principles to test
miracles to prove that it came from God.
Principle of Testimony:
it is reasonable to believe what someone tells
you unless you have a good reason not to believe them (e.g. they
have lied before)
Principle of Credulity
what we think we experience happened e.g. I
saw a cat run across the road this morning…I believed this was real
and should therefore be believed. If I had a vision of God one day, I
should believe it as my senses don’t usually lie to me.
Do miracles prove the existence of God? STRENGTHS
- Supported by the Bible: the Bible
speaks about God performing
miracles e.g. Jesus walking on water - Swinburne provides a more
humane approach to people – not
all humans lie or are hallucinating. - Miracles can cause changes in
people like William James said –
people change religions or their
attitude to life and they gain
knowledge about God…some
miracles have empirical evidence of
the after-effects.
Do miracles prove the existence of God? WEAKNESSES
- Extraordinary claims like miracles
need extraordinary evidence – not
just peoples’ word for it - People lie
- Science can explain why some
miracles happen and if it can’t it is
because we don’t know enough yet
but we will be able to explain it in
the future. - Stephen-Evans argues that
religious people interpret events
in a religious way so they may think
an everyday experiences involve
God.
Natural Evil
- Things that cause suffering but have nothing to do with humans e.g. earthquakes,
tsunamis etc.
Moral Evil
- Actions done by humans that cause suffering e.g. lying, murder etc.
Problem of Evil
- How can God be all-loving and all-powerful yet evil exist? He can’t so he does not exist!
Theodicy
- Christian solution to the problem of evil which says evil is here for a different reason so
God can still exist!
Inconsistent triad J.L Mackie
- If an omniscient God exists, he would know that people are
suffering, because he knows everything. - If an omnibenevolent God exists, he would want to stop people
from suffering, as this would be a loving thing to do. - If an omnipotent God exists, he would have the power to stop or
even prevent the suffering – he could stop earthquakes, or
cancer…
David Hume – “the problem of evil is the rock of atheism”
St. Augustine’s theodicy
• When God made the world, it was perfect.
• He believed this because in the creation story in the Bible it says “God saw what he had made and it was good” (Genesis)
• The first humans, Adam and Eve, disobeyed the rules God gave them and turned away from God.
• They were punished for what they did: In the Bible God says “Because of what you have done, the ground will be under a curse.” (Genesis)
• Their actions caused the suffering and evil in the world.
• Today, people suffer because of what Adam and Eve did, and because we make bad choices which cause more pain and suffering.
• Therefore, God does not stop suffering because we deserve it as a punishment for our sins and the sins of Adam and Eve.
St. Irenaeus’ theodicy
• When God made the world, it was not perfect - God put suffering in the world because God knew it would be good for us.
• Suffering helps us to develop characteristics like kindness and forgiveness.
• If we lived in a perfect world, we would never develop into good people.
• Irenaeus said suffering is “soul-making” because it makes us better people.
Does the Problem of Evil show there is no God? YES
- Logical Problem of Evil – All-
powerful and all-loving God is
logically contradictory to evil e.g.
love is opposite of evil so God is not
real.
Natural evil – only explanation is God,
God created nature so created natural
evil which means he is either not-
loving which Christians will not agree
with or he is not real.
Too much evil in the world e.g. the
Holocaust, Wars, death, Covid-
19…how can there be a God?
- Logical Problem of Evil – All-
Does the Problem of Evil show there is no God? NO
- Evil is here for a different reason
so God does exist but evil is
humans fault so we need to deal
with the consequences
(Augustine Theodicy)
Evil helps us grow and develop
character so God can exist as well
as evil (Irenaeus’ Theodicy)
- Evil is here for a different reason
How can science challenge religion?
• Natural disasters like floods can now
be explained by science
• People used to look for God for answers but our
knowledge through experiments and reason
has grown
• Science will eventually explain any gaps in our
knowledge
How can science support religion?
• The Bible is not taken literally
so science can tell us how, by
religion tells us why
• The Pope in 2014 said “The Big Bang
does not contradict the divine act of
creation” showing they can work
together
• Many religious believers are scientists
e.g. Isaac Newton believed
science was a gift from God
• Georges Lemaître, a Belgian Catholic
priest, was one of the first people to
propose almost 100 years ago that
the universe first began when
extremely condensed matter rapidly
expanded (now called the “Big Bang
theory”).
Examples of Special Revelation in the Bible
- The Annunciation (Luke) - Angel Gabriel
appeared to Mary in a vision and said she would
get pregnant through the Holy Spirit - Saul’s Conversion (Acts) – Saul was persecuting
Christians and one day he got blinded by a light
on the road to Damascus. A voice of God spoke
to him and made him blind for 3 days and at the
end, he became a Christian and a good man. He
changed his name to Paul (later became St. Paul)
Moses and the Burning Bush (Exodus) – God
appeared to Moses in a vision of a burning bush
to tell him to free the Jews from slavery
- Saul’s Conversion (Acts) – Saul was persecuting
How does Special Revelation impact the lives of
people?
William James was an American philosopher and
medical doctor writing in the early 1900s. He studied
special revelation and collected accounts from
hundreds of people who claimed to have
experienced God in this way. He concluded that
there were some common after-effects of
these experiences – specific ways in which the
experiences had impacted the recipient:
•Change > the person experiences a significant
positive change in the life.
•
•Elation > the person experiences a feeling of
positivity and deep inner contentment.
•
•Purpose > the person feels a new sense of purpose
in their life.
Alternative Explanations to God?
- People were hallucinating
- People might feel guilt over their decisions so
that might make them change - Experiences with other people e.g. listening to a
speaker about their life might make you change
yours - Your upbringing and education can guide you to
make different choices - People are telling lies
General Revelation: Nature
- Believers see God’s qualities in nature through its complexity, design and
patter.
General revelation through nature is a theme that is common throughout
the Bible which contains many passages which speak about how God
reveals himself to people through the natural world.
Psalm 19 speaks of the heavens and the earth and how the things God
has made reveal his existence to people: The heavens declare the glory of
God.
Psalm 46 contains a poem about nature and says, Listen, be still, and
know that I am God
General Revelation: Conscience
Immanuel Kant argued that God reveals himself to humans
through their conscience (inner voice) to help guide us to
making the right decisions
Qualities of God seen through Revelation:
Omnipotence – God can do anything including speak
to humans through visions, nature and scripture
Omnibenevolence – God loves us so helps guides us
and give us a beautiful world to live in
Immanence – We see God working IN the world by the
order in nature (Design Argument) and we see God
working IN the world by appearing to people in visions
Transcendence – we see God being outside of time as
he can appear to humans by extraordinary means and
God is not in the world which is why we only see his
qualities in nature
Personal – God is personal by him revealing himself to
humans and his teachings of Jesus help us get closer to
God
Verbally Inspired- BIBLE
•The Bible is literally word-for-word from God
• God directly told the Bible writers what to
write
•The Bible writers are merely scribes to God
• Bible is therefore inerrant: cannot be wrong
“Now I have put my words in
your mouth” – Jeremiah
Divinely Inspired: BIBLE
•Bible writers may have been inspired by God
or faith but they wrote the words themselves
•Bible therefore reflects the attitudes and
opinions of the time periods in which it
was written
•Bible is therefore not totally inerrant
“Scripture is God breathed
(inspired)– Timothy
Enlightenment:
- Means awakened or someone who has come to understand religious truths and God.
- Buddhism and Hinduism focusses on Enlightenment i.e. Moksha is understanding Brahman and your
Atman becoming one with Brahman.
How to achieve Enlightenment?
- Believers aim to reach Enlightenment through prayer, worship, reading holy texts so they can deepen
their understanding of God. - E.g. Imagine standing behind a wall, there is a small hole so you can see through, but you need to
make the hole bigger. By doing different things it will make the hole bigger – just light enlightenment,
keep working hard to gain more knowledge. - Doing meditation, going on Pilgrimage
- You can gain enlightenment (knowledge of God) in Christianity through revelation (General and
Special) as well as committing your life to
GENERAL REVELATION is a better way to learn about God because…
More believable as you can see it through everyday things
- Happens to multiple people
- Simple experiences to show
God’s qualities
- Shows his personal qualities e.g. omnibenevolence by giving us beauty
- Easy for people to understand and interpret
SPECIAL REVELATION is a better way to learn about God because…
- More personal
- Unique experience usually 1:1 e.g. John Pridmore (gangster who converted after a voice of God told him to change) and Moses and Burning Bush
- Closer relationship with God
- Gain specific knowledge of God through these experiences
- the revelation can give you a purpose or change you e.g. William James
