The existence of God
What god is like
Omnipotent - all powerful,
Omniscient - all knowing
Benevolent - all loving
Eternal - without beginning or end
Immanent - he is involved with our lives
The trinity
The father
The son
The Holy Spirit
Christians believe God was Jesus in human form and he rose from the dead to show his power over death
Protector and creator
Presence of God that is with them all the time
In Anglican Church, in confirmation the candidate is asked if they believe and trust in the father, his son and his holy spirit
Unitarianism is a Christian belief that states God is one being and that Jesus was the son of God, but not literally God.
Jehovah’s Witness believes that God is a single being and his personal name is Jehovah.
God’s relationship with the world
The world is dependant on God because he caused all things to exist and ensures that everything is provided for the Earth
God created the world ex nihilo (out of nothing) if he created it from a pre existing matter then it might suggest him not being unique in being eternal
God’s relationship with humanity
‘Let us make man in our own image, in our likeness’ - sets humans apart from the rest of creation. There is a unique link
He gave humans power of his creation, and the responsibility of looking after it. No other creature is given this role
The Ten Commandments - helps humans understand how to live a good life
Life and death of Jesus
Jesus came to earth to teach people about God’s love and to show people how to live in obedience to God
He died as a sacrifice for human sin, and repaired the relationship between humans and god, which Adam and Eve broke
God’s goodness
Creation - god creates the world to be good. And provides all that is needed to sustain the world
God gives humanity rules about how to live a good life for example he gave Moses the ten commander nets. God wants people to act in a certain way
God will judge all humans when they die, god knows and sees everything therefore he is able to judge fairly
God chooses to offer humans forgivness
Euthyphro dilema
Whether something is morally good because God has commanded it, or if something is good simply because God had commanded it. If God commands things because they are good then this suggests that goodness exists separately from God
Challenges to God’s goodness
Flooding of the world, Abraham to sacrifice his son Issac, God might be showing his anger, jelaous and lack of justic when he commands people to destroy other lands in order to take land for themselves
Evil as a result of human sin
Evil as a lesson
Evil as a test
Evil was brought into the world when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and took the apple from the tree of knowledge.
Evil is necessary for us to understand goodness. We can know be aware of the Goodness if God. However it does not explain the suffering of babies.
It is a test for faith for believers and a punishment for the wicked.
The design argument
P1. Universe is ordered for a purpose (the human eye)
P2. Order for a purpose cannot be a result of chance (watch)
P3. Order for a purpose must be the product of an intelligent designer
C1. Nature is the product of an intelligent designer
C2. God is the intelligent designer, as he is the only possible candidate because of the scale and scope of nature
Cruelty is the part of a natural order of things, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The cruelty must be a bad design in nature, if the designer is God then he would be a cruel Hod
Evolution (fossils) could be luck, doesn’t know the origin of nature. Watch is mechanical, nature is biological. It could have been chance
Yes but some things are ordered for a purpose but their are some things which aren’t ordered for a purpose e.g natural evil
The moral argument
P1. Is absolute moral laws exist, then God exists
P2. Absolute moral laws exist
C. God exists
Cultures have all created moral laws, e.g do not murder-Cultural relativism. No universal moral law
Moral laws come from somewhere other than God, like many - categorical imperatives. The best candidate is natural laws, these laws exists but naturally
Cosmological argument
P1. Everything that comes into being must have a cause. Human birth
P2. Infinite regress of causes is impossible - can’t go on forever. We know every effect has a cause but it can’t have an iconise number of causes
IC. There must be an uncashed first cause
C. The first cause is God as he is eternal
We get this from the bible, because it says God is Stendhal, the bible is true if God exists. Circular reasoning
Experiencing God
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