The Knowledge of God

The Knowledge of God

1. God's Characteristics

   • Omnipotent
     • "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" Gen. 1:1
   • Omnibenevolent
     • ‘God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.’ John 3:16
     • ‘God is love.’ 1 John 4:8 and 16
   • Omniscient
     • ‘Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.’ Psalm 139:4
   • Omnipresent
     • ‘The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.’ Proverbs 15:3
   • Transcendent
     • "The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands," Acts 17:24
   • Eternal
     • 'He [God] is mindful of his covenant forever, of the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,' Psalm 105:8
   • Immanent
     • “God…is not far from any one of us.” Acts 17: 27
   • Personal
     • 'Cast all your anxiety on him [God], because he cares for you.' 1Peter 5:7

2. The Problem of Evil

   • If God is omnipotent he is able to stop evil. If God is omnibenevolent he must wan to sop evil. Evil exists. My conclusion, God does not exist.
   • David Hume
     • David Hume
   • The Inconsistent Triad
     • Inconsistent Triad
     • Mackie
   • Theodicies
     • Augustinian
       • Evil results from free will - St Augustjne's theodicy
       • Free Will
         • Original Sin
           • Original Sin and the Fall
           • Adam and Eve eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
     • Iranaenen
       • Evil is Necessary for the Development of Moral Character
       • John Hick

3. Arguments for God's exsitence

   • Argument from Design
     • Order, purpose, beauty, complexity points implicitly (and explicitly to there being a Creator (God?). The odds against life existing. That all the universal constants independently align to allow for life.
     • The design argument
     • William Paley
       • William Paley and the Design Argument
     • Creation story - Genesis chapter 1
       • Genesis 1
     • Ethics
       • What is Christian Ethics?
       • Natural Law
         • Natural Law
   • The First Cause Argument
     • The First Cause Argument
     • Thomas Aquinas
   • The Argument from Miracles
     • The Argument from Miracles
     • Miracle
       • An event that contradicts the laws of nature, so should be impossible; usually attributed to God.
   • The Argument from Morality
     • The Argument from Morality
     • C. S. Lewis
     • Cicero
       • Cicero's arguments for the existence of G(g)od(s)

4. Revelation

   • General
     • General Revelation
     • Scripture
       • 'All scripture is inspired by God and is[a] useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,' 2Timothy 3:16
     • Nature
       • ‘since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse’ Romans 1:19-20
     • Conscience
       • The Argument from Conscience
   • Special
     • Special revelation: Christian perspectives
     • Saints
       • Oscar Romero
         • Who was Oscar Romero?
     • Visions
       • Conversion of Paul Acts 9:1-19
         • Acts 9:1-19
     • Worship
       • Isaiah in the Temple Isaiah 6:1-8
         • Isaiah 6:1-8

5. Science

   • The Big Bang Theory
     • The Big Bang Theory
     • Georges Lemaître
   • The Theory of Evolution
     • The Theory of Evolution
     • Charles Darwin