1_Belief In God

1_Belief In God

1. 1.1

   • Religious upbringing
     • Initiation- Baptism
     • Worship- communion
     • Faith school/Church
     • Prayer
     • Authority figures- parents, teachers and peers
     • Makes a child more likely to believe in God also gives them a sense of belonging and security

2. 1.2

   • Religious experience- makes a person have a firmer belief in God
     • Conversion- to change ones beliefs, ideas and lifestyles.
     • Miracle- appears to break the laws of nature and must be an act of God
     • Numinous experience- A feeling of something bigger than them self
     • Answers to Prayer- confirmation of God
     • Near death experience- out of body experience, bright lights, meeting loved ones who have died

3. 1.3

   • Argument from Design- William Paley
     • Idea of watchneeds a watch maker The Universe requires a Universe maker that must be God
     • Complexity & purpose requires intelligence
     • Fingerprints and snowflakes show there must be a designer as they're all different

4. 1.4

   • Argument from Causation
     • Idea that everything has a cause
     • The Universe began to exist therefore the Universe has cause and the cause must be God

5. 1.5

   • Science- Ability that science can explain the origins of the world without the need for God.
     • Causation counter argument
       • The Big Bang theory could be the first cause of the Universe and humankind
       • First cause could be something else
       • Infinity does not need a beginning
       • God must need a cause them
     • Design counter argument
       • Can explain the complexity of nature without the need for an intelligent maker (God).
       • Designer could be someone else
       • World and watch are not the same
       • Watch only works when everything is working properly, unlike the world

6. 1.6

   • Response to Science- Idea there is no conflict between science and religion.
     • Big bang theory supports the causation argument god must have caused the Big Bang theory
     • Argument from design supported by evidence from Physics that the Universe is finely tuned

7. 1.8

   • Response to Unanswered Prayer
     • God cannot answer all prayers as they may conflict each other Idea that he may interfere with free will if he answers Idea
     • Selfish prayers "when you as you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives2 (James 4:3)
     • God knows what is best for us and gives us want we need not what we want
     • that God answers all prayer but may just say no

8. 1.7

   • Unanswered Prayer
     • Communication with God may think God is not listening
     • People who are suffering may pray and If nothing happens they may question faith
     • May not feel the presence of God

9. 1.9

   • Evil and Suffering
     • Types
       • Moral- result of the action and inaction of humans
       • Natural- Caused by nature as a result of God
     • If God exists he would be omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent but because evil still exists God must not, also known as the inconsistent triad as they cannot all be true at the same time.

10. 2

    • Response to Evil and suffering
      • Good can come from suffering
      • Suffering helps develop moral virtues
      • Suffering is a result of free will
      • Can’t know good without evil
      • No inconsistency if we assume that God has his reasons for allowing evil and suffering
      • Suffering allows us to be more like the people God wants us to be
      • Satan leads us astray
      • If the world was perfect then the afterlife would not be reward

11. 2.1

    • Media
      • Positive
        • Raises awareness
        • Show religion postively
      • Negative
        • Misinterpretation
        • Ridicule