Believing in God

Believing in God

1. Religious Upbringings

   • Attend Church/Catholic School
   • Take Children to church on sundays
   • Listen to parents talk about faith and religion.

2. Religious Experiences

   • Numinous
     • Giving birth
   • Miracles
     • Jesus walking on water
   • Conversion
     • God is telling you what to beieve in - communicating with God
   • Prayers
     • God answered many of moses prayers

3. Design and Causation

   • Design
     • Argument to prove that God exists, relies on idea that all things with purpose have a desginer
     • If God is the designer of the world then he must exist
       • If there is a God, then who designed God?
       • Natural things which don't benefit humans at all
       • Could be designed by many Gods
     • Plenty of evidence that world has been designed- laws of science, DNA
   • Causation
     • Everything in the universe has a cause
       • Mathematical ideas of infinity mean there doesnt have to be a beginning
       • Surely God would need a cause?
       • Something might not need to have a cause
     • First cause of universe must be omnipotent
     • First cause of universe must be God

4. Scientific Explanations of the World

   • Big Bang, Oscillating Universe, Steady State
   • Christian Responses
     • God started the Big Bang
     • Only God could have made sure that world was made as beautiful as it is
     • Scientific theories are only ideas, they have not been proven
     • Scientific explanations are wrong, biblical one is correct

5. Unanswered Prayers

   • How it can lead to agnosticism
     • God can't be all-good and ignore prayers
     • God can't be all-powerful and not be able to answer everyones prayers
     • God would respond to prayers of people that believed in him
   • Christian Responses
     • Answer prayers just not in the way expected
     • Life would be chaos if God gave everyone everything they asked for
     • Prayer has to agree with what God wants for humanity, can't go against will of God

6. Evil and Suffering

   • If God is all knowing, he will know natural evil causes suffering
   • If God is all powerful, he is able to stop natural evil
   • If God was all good he would want to stop natural evil, but natural evil still happens
   • God does know that evil occurs, doesn't have power or doesn't want to stop, meaning God doesn't exist.
   • Christian Responses
     • God gave people free will, they choose to do wrong
     • Evil and suffering gives people a chance to do good deeds so that people can become better
     • People never know what Gods reasons are for allowing evil. Humans aren't as all-knowing and perfect as God

7. Programmes affecting belief in God

   • Use notes in book