Believing In God Flashcards
(42 cards)
Agnosticism
Not being sure whether God exists. A person who holds this view is called an agnostic.
Atheism
The belief that God doesn’t exist at all. A person who holds these views is called an atheist.
What do Christians believe?
They believe that God :
- Is Omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent
- Created the world and everything in it
- Answers prayers and can perform miracles
Why don’t Atheist’s believe in God?
- Science explains how the world was created, not religion
- There is no physical proof that God exists
- Many events that theists belive are due to God e.g. miracles, can be explained by science or as coincidences
- Evil and suffering in the world prove that an all-loving and all-powerful God cannot exist
Why are some people Agnostic?
Because there is no evidence to prove that God or doesn’t exist.
Omnipotent
All-powerful
Omniscient
All-knowing
Omni-benevolent
All-good
Why do Christian families raise their children to believe in God?
- Christians believe it is duty to marry, have a family and raise their children within the Christian faith
- Christians believe their religion gives children a secure basis and helps them through difficulties
Give 6 examples on how Christian families encourage their children to believe in God:
1) Baptism: A child is welcomed into the Church with family, friends and the worshipping congregation promising to support them within the Christian faith.
2) School: Christian parents may choose a church school that helps to educate children in the Christian faith.
3) Parents’ examples: Through their own examples, Christian parents will encourage their children to believe in God. By seeing their parents praying, hearing about God through Bible stories and attending Church, children will be more likely to believe in God,
4) Worship: Children attend Sunday School to learn about Jesus, God and the Church. They also attend Church services and celebrate Christian festivals.
5) Confirmation: A child will be encouraged to confirm and renew the vows made for them in Baptism when they are old enough to make this decision for themselves.
6) Community: Young Christians can meet and share in activities such as Bible study groups, youth clubs, prayer meetings, or other events. This offers a sense of belonging and community. Young adults are supported by th Church and may also meet partners in the Church community.
Numinous experience
An experience which completely amazes someone and often inspires awe and wonder. Usually words are not enough to describe the experience but it leaves a person aware of a being greater than themselves.
e.g. A Sunrise
Conversion
An experience that causes and individual to change their beliefs, ideas or complete lifestyle. An atheist may suddenly become a believer in God or a person may change from one religion to another.
e.g. In the Bible Saul originally persecuted Christians. After his conversion experience he became a Christian.
Prayer
A method which believers use to communicate with God. Prayer can be personal, or can be a group experience when believers worship together. Believers pray to share their ideas with God, to praise him, to share their ideas with God, to thank him for what he has provided, to ask for forgiveness or to show gratitude.
e.g. Carmelite monks have an hour of silent morning prayer every day.
Miracles
An act of God that appears to be impossible as it goes against the laws of nature. It is usually performed for a religious reason.
e.g. Jesus performed many miracles in the Bible such as the calming of the storm, the feeding of the 5000 or the healing of the crippled man.
What is the design argument?
Give an overview:
- Design is the result of intelligent thought
- The universe shows evidence of being designed (e.g. gravity, ozone layer)
- This suggests that a being with intelligence designed the universe
- The universe is too complex to have happened by chance or be designed by any being other than God
- Therefore God exists
Who is William Paley?
A Christian philosipher
What is William Payley’s version of the design argument?
1) Payley compared the world to a watch
2) If a person saw a watch for the first time, he or she would immediately know it had been designed because it is so complex
3) A watch has many parts that have been carefully made and put together to work successfully, so it must have been planned and designed
4) Paley argued the same of the universe, saying it could not have happened by chance and must have had a clever designer
5) The only being capable of designing the universe is God
6) Therefore God exists
What is the argument against design?
The design argument may lead other people not to believe in God because:
- We cannot possibly ‘prove’ Gods existence and the design argument only suggests he is the designer
- The appearance of the design could actually be the result of evolution: the scientific theory that everything has evolved and only has the appearance of design
Evolution
This is the idead that species developed gradually over millions of years and adapted to their surroundings. For some, evolution may suggest the appearance of design.
What is the causation argument?
Give an overview:
- Nothing happens by itself
- Everything that happens must be caused by something else
- The universe cannot have happened by itself
- A powerful cause was necessary to cause the universe
- This cause has to be God
- Therefore God exists
What is the Cosmological argument?
Cosmological argument is another name for the Causation argument.
What did Thomas Aquinas argue?
In the 13th century, he argued that everything that happens is caused by something else. However, he argued that you cannot go back indefinitely and that there must have been a first cause of the universe. Aquinas beleived this first cause had been God and called him the unmoved mover because he is the start of the universe.
Who was Thomas Aquinas?
He was a philosipher and theologian
What are the arguments against the Causation argument?
- The causation argument cannot be proved
- Even if everything in the world seems to have a cause, it doesn’t mean that the universe had a cause
- The argument only suggests that God is the cause of the universe
- There are other possible causes of the universe such as the scientific ‘Big Bang Theory’
- If everything has a cause, what caused God?
