Knowledge Of God’s Existence - Christianity

Question 1

Natural theology

Answer 1

The theory that knowledge of God can be gained by the power of the human mind.

Question 2

Revealed theology

Answer 2

Knowledge of God can be gained from God’s revelation to us e.g in Jesus and the Bible.

Question 3

Natural Law as Natural Theology

Answer 3

Primary precepts are the manifestation of God’s will on earth

Heavily reliant on reason - thinks God wants us to work things out

Aquinas’ Five Ways - a good example of Natural Theology as a proof for God through nature and observation

Question 4

What arguments are all based on Natural Theology

Answer 4

Any design argument

Question 5

What attributes of God can be seen through Natural Theology

Answer 5

Omnipotence

Omnibenevolence

Question 6

What did Augustine claim the conscience was

Answer 6

A way of knowing God

Question 7

What did Cicero note

Answer 7

That many people have had a sense that there is an infinite being who is control of the universe, across different cultures and times

Question 8

What did Calvin claim

Answer 8

That we have a ‘sensus divinitas’ which could be translated as a ‘seed of divinity’ or an innate sense of God

He wrote: ‘There is within the human mind, and indeed by natural instinct, an awareness of divinity’

Question 9

What did Aquinas believe God built into us

Answer 9

Reason

Kant thought that this separated is from animals and categorised us with God
- Genesis 1 ‘Imago Dei’ - made in the image of God i.e with reason

Question 10

Why is human moralising a way of knowing God

Answer 10

Because He is a moral creature and we too are moral creatures

Question 11

What can be known about God through Natural Theology

Answer 11

His will

His existence

His attributes

His reason

Question 12

Criticism of Natural Theology arising from Christian sceptical view of humanity

Answer 12

They believe the idea that humans look upon themselves to learn about God is the pinnacle of anthropocentric and arrogant

When Jesus said he is ‘the way and the truth and the life’ it becomes contradictory for Christians to put their reason above him

There are consistent reminders of human fallibility - we cannot overemphasise our corrupted human nature

Question 13

Criticism of Natural Theology from the issue of interpretation

Answer 13

Can see things differently in the world very easily: e.g a beautiful sunny day vs genocide changes our interpretation very quickly

The Problem of Evil makes it difficult to look outside and thing of a loving God - the Problem of Evil itself is an example of Natural Theology

‘The only possible way a God could exist is if it were a cruel God’ - Mill

Question 14

Criticism of Natural Theology from Epistemic Distance

Answer 14

God wouldn’t want us to know him because then we would lose free will

God wants faith, not empirical certainty as that devalues faith

Jesus said that those that came after him had greater faith.

Question 15

The beauty of the world

Answer 15

The existence, creativity and wisdom of God is obvious everywhere we look

Awe at nature is equivalent to awe at God

‘The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands’ - **Psalm 19:1

Question 16

Events throughout history

Answer 16

There is a belief in Christianity and Judaism that people can gain insights to God by looking at the past

The events of history were dictated by God so what pleases or displeases Him can been - our prior relationship with God

‘You brought your people Israel out of Egypt with signs and wonders, by a mighty hand and outstretched arm with great terror’ - Jeremiah 32:21-23

Question 17

Traditional wisdom

Answer 17

God can be revealed by the insights of wise people; those who spend many years trying to live a moral life gain an understanding of God

‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding’ - **Proverbs 3:5-6

This is ironic as it relies on humans to discover God - anthropocentric

Question 18

The words of prophets

Answer 18

Messengers of God, commissioned to reveal his word

They don’t just spread their opinions but communicate God’s will through explicit access to God

‘Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying “Whom shall I send?”
And I said “Here I am. Send me!”’ - Isaiah 6:6-8

Question 19

Religious experiences

Answer 19

God can reveal himself through religious experience, like God appearing in dreams to communicate or to talk through angels

The Book of Revelation is a dream that John had

‘He had a dram in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending’ - **Genesis 28:12-13

Question 20

Natural Laws

Answer 20

The natural law of physics, which can easily be experienced, demonstrates the existence and nature of God

‘For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities… have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made’ - Romans 1:19-20

Question 21

The person of Jesus

Answer 21

Jesus, as the incarnation of God, allows human minds to comprehend God

Jesus’ actions reveal the nature of God

‘The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us’ - John 1:14

Question 22

The Bible

Answer 22

Christians believe it’s a source through which God can be known

It reveals knowledge outside the reach of natural theology such as the the purpose of Christ

‘All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness’ - **2 Timothy 3:15-17

Question 23

The life of the Church

Answer 23

The Church is seen as the ‘body of Christ’ which continues his work, so the Church can reveal God through the Holy Spirit

Their job is to safeguard the Bible and interpret it correctly

‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me’ - Luke 22:19

Question 24

How reliable are the revelation accounts in scripture?

Answer 24

Traditional teachings (i.e Proverbs) are examples of anthropogenesis - they come from a cultural understanding and not from God

Words from prophets are very reliable as they are straight from the mouth of God

Question 25

How useful are the revelation accounts in scripture relative to each other or natural theology

Answer 25

Stories and how God relates to us gives us an understanding of our relationship with him - only tellable through stories

Question 26

Is Natural Theology at odds with Scripture?

Answer 26

No, scripture points to Natural Theology as a way of knowing God; using our reason

Scripture tells us to use a range of evidence

Question 27

‘*Mad,… *

Answer 27

… bad or God’ - C.S Lewis

Question 28

The resurrection

Answer 28

An unprecedented form of revelation

Only witnessed by a small number of people going through significant grief - fabricated?

The foundational revelation on which Christianity hinges

Unitarians (Christian), Jews and Muslim see Jesus as merely a prophet

Question 29

What even happened before Messianic prophecies and belief in heaven

Answer 29

The Jewish people were subjugated by the Babylonians in years prior

So, a wish fulfilment may have occurred for a soldier to overthrow their oppressors and also for heaven and hell to just justify the pain they underwent

Question 30

Justin Martyr

Answer 30

An early-Church thinker of inclusivist standing who believed that ‘Jesus is the embodiment of the message, God’s wisdom’

He thought even Plato would resultantly go to Heaven

Some people see Jesus more as a message than as a human

Question 31

Raimon Panikkar

Answer 31

A Christian pluralist who believes there was Christophany in all religions

Question 32

What does the large quantity of sources of revelation mean

Answer 32

Not any single one has to be totally reliable but when taken as a whole, adds up to sufficient evidence

Question 33

‘*Faith is the great cop out,… *

Answer 33

… the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is the belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence.’

Question 34

What does Dawkins point to

Answer 34

Freudian wish fulfilment
- Dawkins calls it ‘infantile’ to believe in God, corroborating Freud
- Afterlife created post Babylonian conquest

Flew said Christians keep changing their criteria to make God unfalsifiable

Question 35

How does Dawkins mischaracterise faith

Answer 35

Faith is something evidence supports and is not against or lacking of evidence in any scenarios
- We have lots of evidence for religion
- Dawkins is as guilty for having faith in evolution

Question 36

‘A wise man…

Answer 36

… proportions his belief to the evidence’ - Hume

Question 37

What does Hume believe

Answer 37

We need to be careful of certainty based on the extent of existing evidence
- Faith therefore is not necessarily apart from evidence

He takes issue with causation as we can’t observe causal relationships (e.g gravity - movement from Newtonian to Quantum)

Despite this, he acknowledges we believe in many things we uncertain of
- We wouldn’t get out of bed if we didn’t believe in causation
-Therefore, Faith is a necessary component of life

Question 38

Augustine and Newman defence

Answer 38

Faith is important due to our fallibility, proven by Dawkins

Darwin was a Christian most his life, losing faith upon the death of his daughter and not his theory

Acts 17 where Paul shows we should have some evidenced belief in Jesus
- Doesn’t think Christianity is something you should just accept but should be to add what you’ve already worked out
- Paul commends reason

Question 39

Barth

Answer 39

‘The finite has no capacity for the infinite’ meaning we cannot fathom God so it is idolatry to put earthly things on God’s level

The wording ‘no capacity’ shows we have no ability at all to know anything of God