U2 Section 1: Believing In God Flashcards
A) What is atheism?
Believing that God does not exist
B) Do you believe prayer works?
I do not believe prayer works as I do not feel Gods presence when I pray and I pray for good things but my prayers aren’t answered thus I doubt Gods existence.
As well as this if God is omnibenevolent then he should want to answer good prayers eg world peace, but we don’t have it. If God doesn’t answer prayers, how do we know he exists? We must be talking to ourselves.
C) How can Christenings lead to belief in God?
Christening=Parents promise to bring up their children as Christians and teach them about God. As their parents believe in God their children have no reason to doubt he exists.
C)How can prayers lead to belief in God?
Prayers=Show that speaking to God is a natural and an important part of their lives and encourages children to believe in God. Answered prayers help show God must exist.
C) How can Church lead to belief in God?
Church=Going to church and seeing so many people praying and worshipping God, is likely to make them feel that God must exist.
C) How do Christian faith schools lead to belief in God?
Christian faith school=Going to a faith school, eg Church of England school, would mean God and Christianity would be a normal feature of school life. People they respect (parents teachers clergy) will believe in God, so they will be more likely to see God as real.
D)i) Does evil and suffering disprove God?
I do believe that evil and suffering disproves God as a benevolent God would not want people to suffer and would remove suffering. An omnipotent God would be able to remove suffering. An omniscient God would have stopped suffering from ever happening in the first place. Therefore either God is none of these things or he simply does not exist.
D)ii) Why might some people disagree with your view on whether evil and suffering disproves God?
Some people, for example some Christians, may disagree with me because they believe evil is not Gods fault as humans have free will. They think that we are not programmed like robots and thus can choose evil and then suffering occurs. Also, it allows Christians to to follow Jesus’ example. Jesus taught believers the need for prayer and good works-without suffering, we cannot do this. Lastly, natural suffering is a result of the fall-when a curse fell on earth after humans disobeyed God. It shows their need for God, and he will one day fix things by creating a new Heaven and a new Earth.
