RS Christian Beliefs

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The Trinity

Christians believe in one god with three roles:

Tri + unity = three together

God the Father

God the Son

God the Holy Spirit

Role as the Son: when he's described as the son it refers to God choosing to come to earth as a human being. It also supports that Jesus is God incarnation. Mary's son, who pays for our sins with his blood.

Role as the Father: To generate/create things. Although all three roles are equal, the father began things he sent the Son and the Spirit into the world.

Role as the Holy Spirit: The Holy Spirit has many roles. He helps us pray, gives us new life acts as a comforter and helps us understand God's work. He lifts up Christ and convicts us of sin, helping to live a holy life.

The Nicene Creed

quotes for God as the Father: divine, creator

'the Father'

'not made of one Being with the Father. Through him, all things were made'

'right hand of the Father'

'the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the father'

'With the Father and the Son, he is worshipped and glorified'

quotes for God as the Son: spreads belief, salvation, protect, sacrifice, rescue, restore

'Son of God'

'the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son'

'With the Father and the Son, he is worshipped and glorified'

quotes for God as the Holy Spirit: comforts, guides

'the Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.'

'by the power of the Holy Spirit'

'and his kingdom will have no end'

'we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord the giver of life'

'we look for the resurrection of the dead'

The Holy Spirit is God's spirit at work in the world, he is omnipresent, nobody knows what he looks like but he is depicted as a dove (Matthew 3:16), he is a god in another form. The purpose of the Holy Spirit is to help Christians develop God-like characteristics, make us live a life of harmony and he burns away impurities. The Holy Spirit helps Christians understand what God wants, He inspires faith, He strengthens and sustains faith. Effects of the Holy Spirit are changes in a person's behaviour and beliefs and more God-like.

Gods roles as the Son:

Matthew 3:13-17

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness.” Then John consented.

16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him, I am well pleased.”

Bible references:

Mark 8:22 - he is a healer

Hebrews 2:14-18- caring, guider

New Testament- son of God, a messenger from heaven

Luke 15:1-7- message to convert

Gods role as the Holy Spirit:

He guides and changes, christians with the Hly Spirit are more tuned than those without, when baptised the Holy Spirit comes into your life. Christians are monothiests- they believe in one God in three different roles. The Holy Spirit is guidance, baptism, a comforter, cleanses, cares for, omnipresent.

John 15:26 'The Spirit will help you and will tell you about me'

Acts 2:4 'The Holy Spirit took control of everyne, and they began speaking whatever languages the Spirit let them speak.'

Gaatians 5:22-23 'God's spirit makes us loving, happy, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled...

Gods role as the Father:

He is powerful, a creator, a teacher, a protector, creative and loving. He is a personal God you can have a relationship with him. God and Jesus' relationship.

Christian Beliefs about the trinity:

some believe that the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit are not one in substance or essence; instead, they are three seperate beings who are united in will and purpose, as one God.

Jehovah's witnesses believe that Jehovah is the only true God, Jesus was created by God so it God's son and the Holy Spirit is God's power, so therefore in not a person

Unitarians believe there is only one Godand the Jesus was man whose teachings and life gave him moral authority, but not divinity, they believe there is no difference between God and God the Holy Spirit.

There are some smaller groups who do not believe in the Trinity but Christians will not recognise these as Christians.

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the creation of the universe and of humanity

There is two types of Christians, literalist Christians (takes the bible literally) and conservative and liberal christians (take messages from the bible, not literally)

Literalist Interpretation of The Creation Story is...

The universe and everything in it was built in 6 days

Human and animal life has existed on planet earth virtually from the beginning of existence

Adam's made from the earth and Eve's made from his ribs

Originally one man and one woman from which the rest of human race descended from

By the end of day, 6 planet earth was covered in vegetation and inhabited by human and animal life

Conservative and Liberal Interpretations of The Creation Story...

God created the universe over billions of years

They both believe...

God created the universe and all that's in it:

Genesis 1:1 'God created the universe'

Humans are uniques and special they have value and purpose:

Genesis 1:26 'they will be like us and resemble us'

Genesis 1:27 'making them to be like himself'

Humans choices cause evil and suffering

Humans are superior to animals:

Genesis 1:26 'they will have power over the fish, the birds and all the animals'

Genesis 1:28 'I am putting you in charge of the fish the birds and all the wild animals'

God gave Adam & Eve a soul and breathed life into them:

Genesis 1:27-28 'He created them male and female, blessed them'

Genesis 2:7 'he breathed life-giving breath into his nostrils and the man began to live'

Everything in the universe has been placed carefully and purposefully by God. Nothing is accidental and without value.

Genesis 1: through out the story 'Then God commanded'

Genesis 1:25 'he was pleased with what he saw'

Genesis 2: 8 'Lord God planted a Garden in Eden'

God's creation was balanced, harmonious and perfect

Genesis 2:3 'He blessed the seventh day and set it apart as a special day'

Science does not stop the belief in God, it just takes the story of Genesis as how to treat the earth and not how it was formed. They do not believe evolution happened in 6 days and they believe it was a metaphor for the billions of years it took. Science and Religion can work hand in hand, God's particle is a theory, that started evolution and the big bang is God's tools to create the world.

Just like religion, there are unanswered questions in science, where did the first particle come from? How did complex natural processes come about?How do they all perfectly work together?

Noah's theory: all God did was give light and form earth and nature. Humans and Animals evolved themselves. Religion is the why and Science is the how it explains the process but not why they are the way they are.

Creations story importance today:

Humans are valuable because they have God-like characteristics intelligence, morality, compassion but they are not physically like him. 'Everything has a place and purpose, nothing accidental without value'. Humans are different in all things and animals because God gave humans a soul and the ability to have a relationship with Him. He also gave them authority and power of plants and animals. The purpose of humans is to look after and take care of God's world and what he created. It is also the repopulate the earth.

Humans looking after God's planet is stewardship, this is to take responsibility for it without having ownership. Christians believe they have a God-given duty to care for the planet and all its inhabitants. As stewards Christians believe they have a responsibility to maintain the balance and harmony of the created order.

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The Incarnation

John 1:1-18

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him, nothing was made that has been made.4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

15 (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) 16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

-The word, the word was God.

-Conceived through the Holy Spirit, a man sent from God called John.

Timothy 3:16 in the message the author uses a fragment from an ancient Christian hymn; confession of faith

He appeared in the flesh, (God in human form, the incarnation)

was vindicated by the Spirit, (that Jesus was Divine (God Incarnate) was shown to be true)

was seen by angels, (Was born by the Holy Spirit)

was preached among the nations, (Story of Jesus spread and told by others)

was believed on in the world, (other believers around the world)

was taken up in glory. (refers to Jesus' ascent into heaven following the resurrection)

Matthew 1:18-25

18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.”

22 All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

-Jesus the Messiah to protect people from their sins, Immanuel

-Pregnant through the Holy Spirit, not a normal contraception, suggests Jesus is different

The son of God suggests Jesus is the holiest person to ever live and he was God at work supremely in human life. Majority of Christians believe Jesus was God incarnate. However Unitarians believe in the moral authority of Jesus but do not necessarily believe in the divinity of Jesus, they believe God is one person and one being, Jesus is the son of God but not actually God, Jesus is the prophet of God, Jesus is a supernatural being but not God.

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The last days of Jesus' life

The Last Supper

Maundy Thursday the night before the crucifixion, Jesus shared a final meal with his disciples.

Luke 22:19-20 'And he took the bread, ... , "this is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me." ... after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood."

After this Jesus and his disciples had a discussion about greatness in which Jesus taught that in his kingdom the greatest would be the one who served. Jesus prophesied that Peter would deny knowing him three times before the crow crowed.

The Betrayal and Arrest

As Jesus talked to the disciples, Judas arrived. The followers wanted to fight but Jesus told them to put their sword away. One of his followers struck a servant anyways but Jesus healed him and ordered there to be no violence. Peter then denied knowing Jesus three times, then the crow crowed and he wept bitterly.

Luke 22:4 'And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus.'

Luke 22:34 '"I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me."'

Luke 22:42 'Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.'

Luke 22:56-62 'A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, “This man was with him.” But he denied it. “Woman, I don’t know him,” he said. A little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” “Man, I am not!” Peter replied. About an hour later another asserted, “Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.” Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. 61 The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.'

Luke 22:48 'He approached Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus asked him, "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?"'

Luke 22:49-51'"Lord, should we strike with our swords?" And one of them struck this servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear. But Jesus answered, "No more of this!" And he touched the man's ear and healed him'

The Trail

Taken to the Jewish council known as the Sanhedrin. He was condemned for claiming to be the 'the Christ the Son of God' which was regarded as blasphemy. Pilate could not find him guilty of treason so he offered to release either Jesus or freedom fighter Barabbas. The crowd chose Barabbas and Jesus was condemned to crucifixion. He was then mocked by soldiers, who were mocking him to pretending to be king.

The Crucifixion

The four gospels all agree Jesus was crucified on Good Friday and that Simon of Cyrene carried the cross for Jesus. A sign above Jesus said he was the King of the Jews and bystanders mocked him and challenged him to come down from the cross. One of the criminals either side of him asked him to save himself and the two criminals either side of him, however, the other one said he deserved to die for what he had done, but Jesus had done nothing wrong.

Luke 223:34 'Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.'

'today will be within paradise'

'Father into your hands I commit my spirit'

The centurion of the guards said 'surely this was a righteous man'

The resurrection

His body was buried in his tomb, early on Sunday morning Jesus' women followers went to anoint the body. When they entered the tomb it was empty, then two men appeared in gleaming clothes and told her that Jesus has risen.

The gospel of Luke then says he appeared to two disciples travelling to a village near Jerusalem. They did not realise it was Jesus until he broke the bread, Jesus then disappeared. They then told the other disciples what had just happened and as they were talking Jesus appeared.

Luke 24:36 'While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said, "peace be with you."'

The Ascension

St Luke records 40 days after the resurrection, Jesus told his remaining disciples to stay in Jerusalem where they would receive the power of the Holy Spirit. Then he was taken up and two men in white appeared to tell them that Jesus had been taken into heaven. Christians believe the ascension removes Jesus from the limitations of human flesh and allowed him to be present wherever his followers were.

The importance of these events in understanding the purpose of the life of the Jesus Christ

The last supper is the most important form of Christian worship, as the priest share bread and wine with the congregation, just as Jesus did with the disciples. Christians believe that Jesus' death on the cross brought about salvation from sin. 'If Christ has not been raised our preaching is useless and so is your faith' (1 Corinthians 15:17) this is a belief for the resurrection and is remembered and celebrated by Christians in most of their services today. The ascension reminds Christians that Jesus has gone to heaven to prepare a place for them so they don't fear death.

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The nature and significance of salvation and the role of Christ in salvation:

Nature of salvation

Sin is an action that breaks God's law. Sin is a barrier between our relationship with God. Sin can be:

original sin, inherited from the actions of Adam and Eve.

personal sin, which is the consequence of a person's own actions.

Many Christians believe that those who die with unforgiven sins will not be able to get to heaven. Salvation means being saved from sin and repairing your relationship with God.

Jesus' role in salvation Jewish people believed that salvation came from obeying the 613 laws given to Moses in the Torah. However, Christians believe Jesus came to earth for a more permanent fix. They believe Jesus died on the cross and paid for the whole of humanities sins. When people believe in Jesus they believe in God's grace.

'For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him' John 3:17

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.' Acts 4:12

Atonement means reconciliation and is what is to describe Jesus' salvation and the healing of the broken relationship between God and Humans.

Salvation from sin is important for Christians because without salvation a person's sin will prevent them from having a relationship with God and send them to hell in the next life. The only way they can have eternal life with God. Salvation from sin was the purpose of life, death and resurrection of Jesus. He is the saviour of the world.

Divergent Christian understandings of atonement:

Roman Catholic: teaches that Christ offered himself as a sacrifice for human sin as an act of love. So Jesus' death on the cross made 'satisfaction' for our sins. In this view, salvation comes through taking the sacraments of the Church.

Evangelical Protestant: understanding is often known as the Protestant 'penal substitution theory. Believe God's justice meant he needed to punish human sin. However, rather than punish humans Jesus took the punishment on himself. In this view, salvation comes through faith in the atoning death of Christ by taking Jesus as one's Lord and Saviour.

Liberal Protestant: they believe Jesus brought about atonement was by acting as a moral example to humanity. They believe through his teachings, the example he set in his life and most of all through his death on the cross, showed God's love for humankind. In response to the love shown by Jesus, humans were inspired to follow his example and live a good life and to repent their sins, this repairs their relationship with God. In this view, salvation comes from living the Christian life and following the teachings and example of Jesus.

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Christian Eschatology

Eschatology refers to beliefs about death, judgement and life after death.

All Christians believe in life after death, they believe this is possible because humans have a soul. The belief in the soul is from Genesis 2:7 'The Lord God .... breathed into his nostrils the breath of life'

Resurrection/Judgement of the body: some Protestants believe that when people die, they will remain in the grave until God ends the world, this is known as the last day, which will follow the second coming of Jesus, this is the belief that Jesus will return to the earth and declare the end of the world. At this time the dead will be resurrected and both the living and the dead will be given resurrection bodies. This is also supported by when Jesus was resurrected and the disciples were kept from recognising him because he had a different earthly body. 'Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognising him' Luke 24: 15-16

Everyone will then appear before God for the final judgement, to decide if they go to heaven or hell.

Christians believe in judgement come from the parable of the sheep and the goat (quotes in another section). It states you are judged on if you have helped one of Jesus' brothers or sisters and if you have helped people in need. If you have fed the hungry, clothed the naked, visited the sick and those in prison and welcomed strangers.

There is also the story of the rich man and Lazarus: this shows how a rich man who has everything and more would not help a beggar who was at his gate, it then states that after death the rich man 'was buried in Hades, where he was in torment' but the beggar was 'carried to Abraham's side.'

Possibilities about life after death:

The individual will be resurrected and will have transformed the earthly body. The corpse will be raised from the grave ut will be changed in the process.

The individual will have a new and different heavenly body given by God.

The resurrection will be a spiritual, not a physical one.

All of these possibilities suggest that the soul does not automatically continue to exist after death. God must resurrect the person, in one of the ways suggested above, for them to continue to exist after death. God recreates or rebuilds.

The immortality of the Soul: Some Christians believe they are made up of a body and a soul, they believe the soul is non-material and immortal. They believe when the body dies the soul will leave the body and continue to leave with God in a spiritual way. These believe there is a spirit world where God can be experienced in a much more immediate way. They believe the nature of the afterlife is determined by what people have done in there life, good Christians will go to heaven and bad Christians will go to hell.

Other Christians do not believe in any type of heaven they believe everyone should have a chance to learn from their mistakes and so there is a variety off heavens that they can move up until the reach God's presence.

The immortality of the soul is based on the belief that after his ascension, Jesus became a spirit and went to the spirit world. Also, during the crucifixion Jesus told the robber beside him he was going straight to paradise. Why would a robber be going to paradise if there was heaven?

1 Corinthians 15 'Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep... God gives it a body as he determined... The body that is sown perishable, it is raised imperishable... it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.'

Catholic teachings about life after death:

The Roman Catholics believe people who are perfectly purified will go to heaven, people who have died with unforgiven sins (and possible good members of other religions and good non-religious people) will be sent to purgatory to be purified of their sins, and evil people will go to hell. At the end of the world, they believe God will judge everyone and create a new earth and new heaven this will be where the resurrected souls go and the souls from hell will go back to hell.

Heaven and Hell:

All Christians believe heaven is the perfect place in the company of God. They all believe it is a place of everlasting life where Christians go after death. However, they also believe that hell is opposite to heaven and is a place of suffering away from God: views on heaven and hell:

Most Catholics believe all Christians will eventually go to heaven and that good follower of other religions will go to heaven but everyone else will go to hell.

Some Christians believe that only good Christians will go to heaven and everyone else will go to hell

Some believe that all good people go to heaven and bad people will go to hell

Other Christians believe there is no hell and that there are only levels of heaven.

The Orthodox church of the east teaches that 40 days after death there will be a judgement of each individual, God will decide where a soul will wait until the second coming of Christ.

Some believe hell is a place of separation from God to cleanse and burn away evil. It is a place of purification and correction. Not a place of physical torture.

Traditional ideas about heaven:

a place of reward, serenity, joy, love and bliss

when in heaven you reside in the presence of God

some descriptions of, angels, shining lights, magnificent colours. (Revelations 4:2, 5:6)

Some who accept traditional ideas believe it is a physical state.

Traditional ideas about hell:

believe God cannot let evil go unpunished, based on punishment and a place of punishment.

Matthew 5:22 and Revelation 20:15 refers to punishment in the next life. Fire is a dominant image.

Many Christians believed that hell was a physical place, ruled by the devil where demons are. Place of eternal pain.

Purgatory:

Catholic Christians believe this is a place where people go who have died with unforgiven sins go to be purified of their sins so they can go to heaven. Protestant Christians believe there is no such place as purgatory has no biblical foundation. 'and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture'

2 Corinthians 5:1-10 where st paul says:

Christians know that if their body is destroyed they have a non-physical place in heaven

Christians aim to be in heaven

Christians do all they can to please God while leaving on Earth.

They do this because they know everyone will appear before God for the final judgement.

Why are they important today?

Because they believe whatever happens to them after death will be a result of their actions in the life they have lived. They believe they will be judged by God and if they have lived a good life they will be allowed into Heaven.

They believe in it preventing people from reaching heaven and they believe people who die with unforgiven sins will go to hell. However, the Catholic church teaches those who die with unforgiven sins will go to purgatory to be purified. These teachings mean Christians will try and live a life without sin.

They believe the current life makes sense if there is a life after death, otherwise what is the point of life.

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Evil and Suffering:

Moral Suffering

This is suffering caused by humans misusing their free will. It is always possible to choose to good instead of evil but when humans choose evil they usually cause moral evil. War is a good example of moral evil as they cause large amounts of suffering, and kill lots of innocent people. All wars are caused by humans who could have chosen to act differently. Rape, murder and burglary are all clear examples of moral suffering. However some moral suffering is hard to see, such a famine as this could have been caused by humans who choose to plant a cotton crop instead of food crop or caused by drought. So it can depend on the circumstance. This is known as an act against what God whats us to do, as told by the ten commandments.

Natural Suffering

Suffering that has not been caused by humans, volcanos, earthquakes, drought, hurricanes, cancer and are not a result of human action but can lead to massive amounts of suffering. But things that look like natural evil could actually be a result of human evil, for example, climate change is caused by humans polluting the atmosphere and results in more extreme weather and natural disasters.

How evil and suffering may lead to people rejecting beliefs in God:

Some people cannot believe a good God would have designed a world that contained natural evil. They find it easier to believe that natural disasters are a result of the earth being formed by accident from the Big Bang. They find it hard to believe that a God who allows humans to caused so much evil and suffering when he could just stop it if he wanted to. If God exists he must have known what Adolf Hilter was going to do, so why not stop and intervene. The existence of this suffering may mean that God does not exist.

Why this raises problems for Christians beliefs about the nature of God:

God is omnipotent (all-powerful), he must be able to remove evil and suffering from the world.

God is omnibenevolent (all-good), he must want to remove evil and suffering so the world can be much happier.

God is omniscient (knows everything), must know all the evil and suffering that is going to happen why not prevent it. He also knew the evil and suffering that would come from creating the universe so why not create it in another way.

If God exists there should be no suffering

As there is suffering God cannot be one or more of the things above. However Christians believe all the things above so evil and suffering challenge their belief in God, and as these beliefs come from the holy book and creeds it challenges their whole religion. For many religious believers evil and suffering only becomes a problem when they come into to contact with it, for example, if they experience an earthquake or a child dies of a disease this sometimes leads to them rejecting religion and becoming agnostic and atheists.

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Solutions to the problem of evil and suffering:

Biblic Responses:

Many Christians believe there is no reason to worry about the problem of evil as humans cannot understand God's reasons for doing things. This is view is based on the book of Job: Job was a sinless man who worshipped God faithfully, Satan argued with God that Job only worshipped Him because he has had a good life, so Satan was allowed to remove Job's good life. Job asked God why this was happening and demanded him to show himself directly to him. However when Job became face to face with God he realised his greatness and holiness and how humans have no right to question him. God must have a reason for Suffering and Evil, but humans cannot understand the reason. 'you ask how I dare question your wisdom when I am so ignorant. I talked about things I did not understand.' The story of Job suggests that if you turn to God you are better protected once you are suffering. If you have suffered you are close to God as you understand how he feels, as God is a suffering God and he suffers from the whole of humanity. Humans should not resent God because of suffering because God always has a reason for what he does. He must have realised the positives of free will are much more important and are valuable then evil and suffering.

Psalms 119 shows that suffering is intended to be a part of life and many of the Psalms tell of good religious people suffering. Psalms also show suffering can bring believers to a deeper knowledge of God as shown in Psalms 119:

'teach me knowledge, and good judgement, for I trust your commands'

'through aggregate have smeared me with lies, I keep your precepts with all my heart'

Theoretical Responses:

This is how many Christians claim that God is not responsible for evil and suffering. God created humans in his image which means with free will, Christians believe that God wanted people to decide to believe in him or not and that's why he gave them free will. But because humans have been given free will this means they now have the ability to decide to be good or evil. Creating free people has brought evil and suffering into the world, but the evil and suffering are problems caused by humans misusing their free will, and so are not God's fault. Suffering has a purpose and just before Jesus' crucifixion, he said 'it is accomplished' (John 19:30) this shows that his life has accomplished something and so did his death. His death paid for all of humanities sins and repaired the relationship with God for humans.

In addition to the free will argument, Christian believe that evil and suffering are not a problem in this life as they are part of the plan that those who suffer will be rewarded by eternal paradise after they die. Most Christians claim that life is a preparation for paradise and it is to improve our souls. Humans need to face evil and suffering in order to become good, kind, loving and compassionate. God cannot remove evil and suffering no matter how much he wants to, Christians believe he will show his omnibenevolence and omnipotence by rewarding them in heaven. God created the world as a place to develop our souls 'vale of soul-making' Christians often connect this to the belief that good can come from evil. For example, Franciscan friar Maximilian Kolbe was arrested and sent to Auschwitz. He here continued his priestly ministry discreetly, hearing many confessions. A married man with kids was to be executed but Maximilian offered to take his place. He was canonised (made a saint) in 1982 when the man whose life he saved was able to attend the ceremony in Rome.

Practical Responses:

Christians believe that they should respond to evil and suffering in a practical way. The life of Jesus as told in the Gospels showed that even God's own son had to suffer and that Jesus commanded his followers to respond to suffering by helping those who suffer. And this is also what all Christians believe. The new testament teaches Christians that Jesus regarded evil and suffering as something to be fought. Jesus healed the sick, fed the hungry, challenged those who were evil and even raised from the dead. The teaching of Jesus 'The Law of Love': 'love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. Love your neighbour as you love yourself.'

Jesus taught that people should help each other on many occasions one was in the parable of 'the sheep and the goat' when Jesus was separating people he was doing it based on if they had helped others when they were hungry, thirsty, alone (invited strangers in), needed clothes, looked after people who were sick, visited those in prison. He also taught this in the parable of 'the good samaritan' The Samaritan was the only good man who helped the injured man and looked after him, he did this because this is how he would have wanted to be treated. This was what Jesus taught when asked what does 'love your neighbour as yourself' mean'.

A prayer is a conversation with God which has meaning and the words that are said are meant. The words have an impact on bo0th people and Christians will respond to a prayer in the way he sees best. Christians believe prayer is powerful and that God listens to prayers and that prayers can change things. Christians can use a Supplication prayer to ask God for help. A person may pray for one's own needs or it could be that they pray for the needs of others. It could also be a prayer against the world. They may also pray for things that are necessary but Christians believe that there is no use in praying for things selfishly as this will not work.

Another way Jesus fought evil and suffering were to preach, heal the sick, brought sight to the blind and fed the hungry. Christians believe they should follow Jesus' example and respond to evil in a practical way. Ways they overcome suffering is by choice of job they become: doctors, nurses, social workers. They also help charities to ease suffering less developed countries. They could also help their local church to organise food banks, campaigns for child poverty, charities to help refugees. Charities can help the poor, Water aid helps supply water and sanitation to many less developed countries, but they do not only do this they educate people on the health side of drinking bad water. They could also try to be an ethical consumer by not buying products they know exploit and harm workers.