the existence of god Flashcards
(42 cards)
what Christians do not believe in the trinity
unitarinists and jehovahs witness
what do unitarists believe about the trinity
believe that god is one being it teaches that jesus was in some way a son of god but not that he was literally god
what do jehovahs witness believe about the trinity
they reject the trinity
they argue that jesus was created by Jehovah and because he has a beginning, unlike Jehovah he is not eternal
what does the nicene creed teach about the holy spirit
comes from both god the father and god the son
what does the eastern orthodox church believe about the holy spirit
believes that the holy spirit comes from the father
what does the orthodox believe about the trinity
believe that god the father is the source of all things.
god relationship with humanity
gods relationship with humanity is seen in genesis 1 when god says in the bible
let us make man in our image, in our likeness
this sets humans apart from the rest of creation and means there is a unique link between humans and god because humans were made in his image
how is gods goodness revelaed through creation
in the accounts of genesis when god creates the world and all that is in it everything that he creates is described as good
in his creation god provides all that is needed to sustain the world and its inhabitiants
how is gods goodness revealed through his provision of law
according to the bible it says that god desires pople to choose to do what is right
god has given humanity rules about how to live a good life, these laws demonstrate that god wants people to act in a way that is morally good and caring
it is because god is good his rules are good
how is gods goodness revealed through judgement
Christianity teaches that god will judge all humans when they die and that this will determine what happens to them after death
unlike any human judge, god knows and sees everythih
he is therefore able to judge fairly
how is gods goodness shown throu salvatiuon
as part of gods goodness god chooses to offer humans forgiveness
god sent his son jesus to die to cover all human sin once and for all.
Christians believe that if you have faith in jesus and repent then god will forgive them and they will be able to spend eternity in heaben with him when they die
problem of evil
many athiests do not believe in God because of the problem with evil. this is the argument which says that god cannot omnibenevolent or omnipotent because there is evil in the world
the philosopher jl Mackie evidenced this argument through the inconsistent triad argument. this argument says if god was omnipotent he would be able to stop all evil because he loves mankind, if god was omnipotent he would be able to stop all evil because he has absolute power he can do anything however there is still evil in the world we see moral and natural evil everyday
augustine
argued that the bible shows that god is wholly good and that according to genesis 1 created a world perfectly good free from defect evil and suffereing,
evil is just an absence of goodness
evidence to back up Augustine theory
god saw all that he had made and it was very good (genesis 1;31)
weaknesses of the ausgustine theory
schliermacer argued that it was a logical contradiction to say that a perfectly created world had gone wrong. either the world was not perfect to start with or god made it wrong, if so then it is god and not humanity who is to blame
Irenaeus theoadicty on evil
he suggested that evil could be traced back to human free will. Irenaeus said that god did not make a perfect world and that evil has a valuable part to play in gods plan for humanity. he thoufht that god created humans imperfectly in order that they could develop into perfection over time.
why do some Christians believe evil is necessary
some Christians believe that evil is necessary for us to understand goodness, it is because of the existence of evil that we can be aware of the goodness of god
other Christians think that suffering is a test of faith for believers and a punishment for the wicked
where does it teach Christians about their faith being tested
in the book of job god allows the devil to bring evil and suffering on job to see whether he will remain faithful to god. job does remain faithful and god rewards him
what is the design argument
William paley introduced this argument, he used an anology of a watch found on an heath
in the analogy paley suggested that a watch found lying on the floor and looked at would clearly show evidence that it has been designed
paley pointed out the complexity of a watch and all its parts function with the purpose of causing the hands to move in the same way paley argued that the world shows complexity and purpose that indicate it had also been designed
this was developed into the anthropic principle this refers to the way that the universe is so perfectly structured to ensure life would develop
the first cause argument
Aquinas observed that there is no event in the natural world that does not have a cause. the cosmological argument suggests therefore that the universe must have a cause
in this argument god is the casue
god himself deosnt have a casue
god is the cause of all things including tme and space
as the first cause he is eternal and unchanging
what is the moral argument
seeks to persuade people that our human sense of right and wrong makes it reasonable to believe that god exists
who were the people that contributed to the moral argument
john newman (1801-90) Immanuel kant (1724-1804) john hick
what did john newman say
john newman presented one form of the moral argument, he linked our sense of guilt when we do something wrong to the voice of god speaking through our conscience. He argued that it is god who has enabled each person to know right from wrong
newman taught that gods voice within us was a reminder that we were responsible to him, if there was no god then humasn would not have this inner sense of right and wrong
what did Immanuel kant say
kant also developed a moral argument for gods existence
kant argued that humans are aware of what they should do in any given situation in which they face a moral dilemma and hat they have a duty to do right and the good thing
however he recognised that sometimes even though people try to achieve this it may not always happen and their good doesnt nessecarily get rewarded in life
kant therefore aregued that in order for this to be fair god was real
