Christian Beliefs Flashcards
(46 cards)
Apostle
Each of the 12 chief disciples of Jesus Christ or an important early Christian teacher
God
The supreme being
Blasphemy
A religious offence which includes claiming to be god
Orthodox
A branch of Christianity mainly practiced in Eastern Europe
Catholic
A branch of Christianity, based in Rome and led by the pope
Resurrection
- rising from the dead
- Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Day
- an event recorded in all four gospels and a central belief of Christianity
Ascension
- the event, 40 days after the resurrection
- when jesus returned to god
Day of judgement
- a time when the world will end and every soul will be judged by god and rewarded or punished
Purgatory
- the intermediate state where souls are cleansed in order to enter heaven
Satan
- name for the devil
- the power and source of evil
History of Christianity
- 2000 year old
- founded on the belief that Jesus died and rose from the dead
4th century: official religion of Roman Empire
1054: Christianity split into western roman Christianity and Eastern Orthodox Christianity
16th century: Church of England is formed
Core Christian beliefs
- Monotheism
- Jesus is the son of god and he spread the teachings of Christianity
- God is limitless so he isn’t restricted to 1 particular gender
- God doesn’t have a physical body
Qualities of god
- omnipotence (all powerful)
- omniscience (all knowing)
- omnibenevolent (all loving)
- omnipresent (everywhere a all times)
- imminent (working in the world)
- transcendent (outside of time and space)
- god is just
Natural evil
Things that cause suffering but have nothing to do with humans
Moral evil
- actions done by humans that cause suffering
Problem of evil
If god is all loving and all powerful then why does evil exist- therefore good doesn’t exist
Theodicy
Christian solution to the problem of evil which says evil is here for a different reason so god can still exist
Who created inconsistent triad
J. L. Mackie
What is the inconsistent triad
- if god is omnibenevolent
- if god is omnipotent
- then why does evil exist
Augustine’s theodicy
- humans created suffering
- Adam and Eve disobeyed the rules god gave them, and wee punished from turning away from god
- their actions caused the suffering and evil in the world
- therefore, god does not stop suffering because we deserve it as a punishment for our sins and the sins of Adam and Eve
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
- this is called ‘soul-making’ because suffering makes us better people
What is the holy trinity
- god the father: god is the judge, the creator of humanity and the world, sustains and rules everything
- god the son: redeemer and saviour, represents god in the world, performed miracles
- god the Holy Spirit: invisible power of god which, part of god that works within the world, helper and guider
What is the genesis creation story
- story of creation
- many Christian’s believe that this is true
- god created the world in 6 days
What do creationists believe about the creation
- The bible is inerrant (can’t be wrong) because it from god
- The world is only 6000-10000 years old a they use the bible to track it
- They don’t believe in fossil evidence as the only story of creation is the 6 day story in genesis