Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Section One, Believing in God
- Keywords
- Agnositicism
- Not being sure whether god exists
- Atheism
- Believing that god does not exist
- Conversion
- When your life is chaned by giving
yourself to god.
- Free Will
- the idea that humans are
free to make their own
choices and decisions.
- Miracle
- something which seems to break a law of
science ans makes you think only God could
have done it
- moral evil
- actions done by humans which
cause suffering
- E.g Murder
- natural evil
- Things that cause suffering but
have nothing to do with
humans
- E.g Earthquakes,
Tsunamis
- numinous
- The feeling of the presence of
something greater than you
- Omni-benevolent
- The belief that god
is all good
- omni-potent
- The belief that god is all
powerful
- Omniscient
- The belief that God knows everything
that has happened and everything
that is going to happen
- Prayer
- An attempt to contact God,
usually through words
- Religious Upbringing
- Reasons why Christian families raise their
families to believe in God
- Christians believe it is their 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
- How do Christian familes encourage their
children to believe in God
- Baptism
- A Child is welcomed into the Church with family, friends
and the worshipping congregation promising to support
them in the faith
- School
- Christian parents may choose a church school that
helps to educate them in the Christian faith
- Parents Examples
- Through their own examples,
Chirstian parents encourage
children to believe.
- By seeing their parents praying and hearing about the bible
through stories, and attending church they are more likely to
believe in God
- Community
- Young Christians can meet and share in
activities such as bible groups , youth groups,
prayer meetings or other events. This offers a
sense of Belonging
- 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
themselves
- Worship
- Children attend Sunday Scholl to learn
about Jesus, God and the Church. They are
also attend Church services and celebrate
Christian festivals
- Religious Experiences
- Numinous experiences
- An experience which completely
amazes someone and often inspires
awe and wonder. usually words are
not enough to descript the
exprerience but it leave a person
aware of a being greater than
themselves
- Conversion
- An experience that causes
and individual to change their
beliefs , ideas or complete
lifestyle. An atheist may
suddenly become a believer
in God a person my change
from one religion to another
- Prayer
- A method which believers
communicate with God. Prayer
can be personal or can be a group
experience. Believers pray to
sahre their ideas with God, to
praise him, to thank him for what
he has provided , ot ask for
forgiveness, or to show gratitude.
- 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.
- Some examples of miracles in the bible are :
- The feeding of the five Thousand
- The healing of the crippled man
- Giving the blind man sight.
- Some examples of modern miracles are :
- The healing of a person with a terminal
illness. Possibly even saving their life.
- Arguments for Christianity and the creation of
the word
- The argument for design
- Design is the result of intelligent thought
- The universe is so complicated it cannot have just "happened"
- Therefore it needs a designer
- The only person capable of designing such a
complex thing is God
- Therefore, God exists
- Arguments against the design argument
- Cannot 'prove' that God made the universe. It is only a
suggestion
- The appearance of design could be a result of evolution:
The scientific theory that everything has evolved and only
has the appearance of design.
- The Causation Argument
- Nothing happens by itself
- Everything that happens , must have been
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
- Scientific Explanations
- The "Big Bang" Theory
- An Enormous Explosion started the universe about 15
billion years ago.
- Evolution and Natural Selection
- Darwin's Theory of the gradual development
of species over millions of years
- That species naturally develop the best characterists to
survive in the habitat they live in . And only the fittest
survive
- The problem of unanswered prayers
- Prayers are communication with God. If they are unanswered, people might
think God is not listening.
- Many people experience pain and suffering
and pray to God to help them, if God does
nothing this may lead to them not believing.
- Christian responses to
unanswered prayers
- Some accept that they do not
have enough faith in God, so they
must carry on trying.
- They may feel that God is
not listening to them
- Some may accept that God
doesn't answer selfish prayers
- They may believe that God hears and answers all prayers
, but always in the way they expect , or want
- They may belive what they are
praying for is not part of Gods
will or Devine Plan
- The problem of evil and suffering
- Moral Evil
- Actions carried out by humans that
cause suffering
- Natural Evil
- Things that have nothing to do with humans but cause sufferent.
E.G: Natural Disasters
- If god is all good, He would want to remove
all evil and suffering from the world.
- If god is all knowing, he
would know how to
remove evil and suffering
- If god is all powerful , he
would be able to remove evil
and suffering from the world
- Christian Explanations to the problem of
evil and suffering
- Free will
- God gave people free will , This is
the ability to make choices for
themselves. Some accept that evil
and suffering is the result of bad
actions from humans
- Test From God
- Some Christians believe that evil and suffering
are a test from God to see how they react.
Some become stronger for example.
- God's plan
- Suffering happens for a reason : They are a part of
Gods Divine Plan. And people should trust God
because he knows why everything happens.
- Following Jesus' Example
- Evil and suiffering allows people to
follow the example set by Jesus in the
Bible. People can strive to do Good.
- How Christians respond to Evil and suffering
- Praying
- hoping God will give them the strength to
cope with what they face or praying for
others to be able to do the same
- Volunteering
- With a charity or orgianisation that
supports others when they are
suffering
- Helping others
- For example becoming a doctor or nurse so they can
help others to combat the suffering that they face.
- Strengthening their faith
- With the knowledge that God
has a plan for them
- Media
- Bruce Almighty
- Based on the idea of
taking on the job of God.