Believing in God (need Christian knowledge only in this unit) Revise key aspects of the unit Create set of revision notes

Reasons to believe in God Theist Agnostic

Religious Upbringing Baptised Taught to pray Taken to Church Go to Sunday school Church School If brought up like this = natural to believe in God, no reason not to, surrounded by people you look up to who believe in God, completely normal.

Religious Experience Ways in which people come into direct contact with God Numinous – feeling of presence of God, awe and wonder – looking up at stars, beauty of nature Conversion – definite feeling of God’s presence, leads to change in life. Eg vision, dream, miracle Miracle – event which seems to break the laws of science and only explanation is God eg Jesus’, surviving incurable disease Answered prayers – pray to God for something and it happens – believe God made it happen eg pray for relative to recover and they do. Can lead people to believe in God or support their belief (make it stronger)

Design Argument Paleys watch Evidence that universe is designed eg laws of science, DNA, complexity of eye, beauty of nature Anything designed needs a designer Only designer of something as complex as Universe is God So God exists

Causation Argument Science says everything must have a cause Universe itself must have a cause Big Bang? What caused that? Can’t keep going back – must be a first cause, something which started it all off and wasn’t caused itself = God

Search for Meaning and Purpose People not here by chance Life must have a meaning and purpose God and life after death give life meaning So believe in God Existence of religion Religions share similar beliefs about God Share common features – moral rules, worship – so must be force behind them all leading to these similarities Billions of people belong to religion and believe in God – can’t all be wrong

Reasons to NOT believe in God Atheist Agnostic

Non-religious explanations of the world Science can explain the Universe without God Big Bang Evolution

Problems with miracles Depend on eye witnesses – could be lying/fake Recorded in holy books – why should they be believed? Scientific explanations for them all Why miracles for some people and not others?

Unanswered prayers

Evil and suffering Moral evil – suffering caused by humans eg war, rape, murder, theft Natural evil – suffering not been caused by humans eg hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanoes Some can be both – cancer, floods

Problem of evil and suffering If God is benevolent – all loving, good – then God ought to want to stop evil and suffering in the world. If God is omnipotent – all powerful – he should be able to stop evil and suffering However, evil and suffering still exist, so either God is not good or God is not all powerful or God doesn’t exist.

Christian responses to the problem of evil and suffering Practical – prayer, charity, work – Jesus set example to help those who are suffering. Free will – God gave humans free will. Evil and suffering is down to humans misusing their free will – humans fault not God’s. Life is a test to prepare you for heaven. Need to show you are a good person by helping those that suffer/dealing with suffering – then get to heaven