1. This unit is based on Christianity only
Believing in God
This unit is based on Christianity only

2. What you need to know:
Key words — agnosticism, atheism, conversion, free will, miracle, moral evil, natural evil, numinous, omni-benevolent, omnipotent, omniscient, prayer
The main features of a religious upbringing in Christianity and how it may lead to belief in God.
How religious experiences, as seen in the numinous, conversion, miracles and prayer, may lead to belief in God.
The argument from design and causation and how it may, or may not, lead to belief in God.
Why scientific explanations of the origins of the world may lead some people not to believe in God and how Christians responds to scientific explanations of the origins of the world.
Why unanswered prayers may lead some people not to believe in God and how Christians respond to the problem of unanswered prayers.
Why evil and suffering may lead some people not to believe in God and how one religion responds to the problem of evil and suffering.
How two television and/or radio programmes and/or films about religion may affect a person’s attitude to belief in God.

3. Match up the keywords Omniscient Benevolent Omnipotent Agnostic
Atheist
Theist
God is all loving
The belief that God exists
God is all knowing
The belief the God does not exist
God is all powerful
A person who is not sure if God exists or not

4. Religious upbringing and how it can lead to belief in God
Just after birth many Christians choose to baptise their children in to the faith. This is where parents promise to raise the child in the Christian faith.
Children will be taught how to pray and will be brought up hearing stories from the Bible and so will hear from a young age that God exists, and that He is good.
Children may go to youth organisations such as girl guides and scouts which teach children how to live a good Christian life by helping others.
Children may go to faith schools which teaches children about God along side the usual school things.
When becoming a teenager a Christian may be confirmed as a Christian which is when they confirm that they take seriously the promises made on their behalf at their baptism.

5. How experiences can lead to belief in God
1. Miracles – when something happens which goes against nature and is thought to be impossible e.g Jesus walked on water. It must be God who does these things because he is omnipotent and can do the impossible.
2. Conversion – when a person changes religion from another or no faith. In the Bible St Paul was converted from being a Christian hater to a person who spread the faith. A person gets an overwhelming feeling that God exists and must be followed.
3. Numinous – a feeling that there must be something greater than us e.g when someone looks at a great building or landscape. This something is God.
4. Prayer – this is a personal way of communicating with God. It can vary from praising God to asking for help. It may lead to belief, especially if they seem to get a response to their prayer.
More on answered and unanswered prayers later on!

6. Suffering from natural disasters! How could God allow it to happen?
Scientific theories such as the Big Bang have ‘proven’ that God did not make the world
Reasons people do
Not believe in God
God is supposed to care but he does not seem to answer prayers
If miracles happen why doesn’t everyone get one? Surely God loves us all?

7. Unanswered prayers
People may come to believe that God CAN’T exist if their prayers are not answered because:
If God was omni-benevolent he should show his love by answering prayers. Many prayers are from those wanting to stop suffering yet most seem to go unanswered.
Not everyone’s prayers get answered but if God was omnipotent he should have the power to help no matter how big the request is.

8. What Christians may say in response to unanswered prayers:
God has a plan and so won’t answer prayers that don’t fit with this plan, no matter how it may seem to us
Some prayers ask for bad things so God can’t answer them e.g. wanting God to hurt or kill someone
Not all prayers need answering – some are prayers praising God
Some prayers contradict others e.g. if a football supporter asked for their team to win, what is God to do if a supporter from the opposite side prays for the same thing?
God may have actually answered a prayer, but in a way that was unexpected.

9. 1. The scientific Big Bang Theory
Creation arguments
Many people argue that creation theories either do or don’t prove the existence of God. There are 4 main ideas:
2. The Cosmological Argument
4. The Christian Creation story
1. The scientific Big Bang Theory
3. The Design Argument

10. Not all scientists agree on this, it is only a suggestion!
The Big Bang Theory
Many scientists believe this although they can not actually prove it is true. They only think that it is likely, some don’t actually agree.
Billions of years ago a singularity (smaller than an atom) exploded creating matter the size of a grapefruit
Over time this expanded and cooled down
Gases clumped together
Over millions of years the gases formed planets
Millions of years ago Earth was formed and eventually life evolved
Not all scientists agree on this, it is only a suggestion!

11. The Design Argument
If a C question asks you to explain why God may exist based on the argument by Design, these are the 4 points you need to make:
Complex things aren’t a random chance, they have a designer. William Paley said this about a pocket watch – if you had never seen one you would not assume it came together by chance
The world is complex too and so can’t be random chance, it must have had a designer. Complex things such as they eye, the human body, the eco-system seem too perfect to be random
Only a thing know that is big enough and powerful enough to have made a world is God
Therefore there must be an assumption that God exists

12. The Cosmological Argument
This can sometimes be called the causation argument or the argument for God based on cause and it goes like this:
Everything has a cause, including Earth
Either the cause of Earth goes back forever to infinity OR there must have been a first cause which itself did not have one
Logic says that there must have been a first cause at some point (called the uncausable cause)
Religious people says that this must be God as he is the only thing capable of being this powerful (omnipotent) and so God must exist
Many Christians argue that God is the cause of the Big Bang, based on this argument

13. The Creation story
This is the Christian version of how the world was made and is recorded in the first book in the Bible – Genesis. Many Christians believe that it did not literally happen, it just represents what God did. However, others believe this is exactly how it happened and that God put fossils in the earth to fool people
This story says that God created the world in 7 days.
He formed the earth and made day and night
He created the plants and trees
He created the animals, and lastly he created humans to look after everything
On the 7th day he rested

14. Test yourself! What does ‘numinous’ mean?
How can experiences lead to belief in God?
What is conversion?
List 3 things that Christian families do to raise their children as Christians which can make them believe in God
Give 2 reasons why people may not believe that God exists
What is another name for the cosmological argument?
What did William Paley say about design?
Give examples of things in nature that some people say are too complex to be random chance
What do Christians think about the Big Bang theory?

15. The problem of evil and suffering
Many people question the existence of God based on the problem of evil and suffering. They may ask:
If God was omnipotent (all powerful) couldn’t he get rid of it? He would surely stop natural disasters from happening???
If God was omniscient (all Knowing) wouldn’t he know what was going to happen and stop it? Surely he would warn people of natural disasters or moral evil??
If God was benevolent (all loving) wouldn’t he want to stop people suffering? Surely he wouldn’t let children die of diseases etc???
This is a problem as all of this makes people question if God exists and lead to some no longer believing.

16. Natural Evil: suffering caused by natural disasters
Volcanoes, floods and drought etc cause thousands of people to suffer each year.
They are usually in the poorest regions and people have no control over them
Over 200 million people a year die of malnutrition, they have no control over where they are born or the circumstances they are in
Many people all over the world die of incurable diseases such as cancer

17. Moral evil: suffering caused by people
Murder
Rape
Assault
Theft

18. The Christian response to suffering
Suffering is a consequence of human sin in some cases e.g. getting lung cancer through smoking. Sin was only introduced when Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the book of Genesis in the Bible – it was not part of God’s plan. Suffering was part of God’s punishment.
Suffering comes from an evil power opposite to God. Christians call this power Satan. (In argument to this some ask where this opposite power came from?)
Only God knows the meaning of suffering. Some Bible passages show us this e.g. in the book of Job, in the Old Testament, Job was tested by God, and Job still showed complete faith to God even in the worst of times.
Suffering is the beginning not the end. God did not leave humans on their own to suffer, he sent down his son Jesus. God shared in suffering in this way.
Jesus suffered on the cross, but this was only so that humans could then find an end to suffering once they die and reach heaven. Death itself means that people can be united with God.

19. Test yourself What is natural and moral evil?
Why is evil and suffering a problem to some people when considering if God exists?
Explain 4 Christian responses to evil and suffering (why do they say God can exist even though suffering exists?)

20. How two television and/or radio programmes and/or films about religion may affect a person’s attitude to belief in God.
Songs of Praise
This programme is weekly and shows
hymns, sermons and discusses how to
be a good Christian. It is a Christian programme
aimed at Christians
It may affect a person’s belief in God because:
It features people saying how God has helped them, or made their lives better
It shows many people worshipping so may inspire people to believe that he exists
It shows people singing hymns which say how good and loving God is which may lead people to want to know more
It teaches about Christianity and what it means to be a follower

21. Root of all Evil
This is a documentary presented by atheist Richard Dawkins. It may affect a person’s belief/attitude
towards God because it is very biased that God
does not exist:
It uses emotive language which pokes fun religious people and hints that they are or have the potential to do evil. It calls followers ‘sheep’ and ‘deluded’.
It gives examples of bad things religious people have done in the past but does not mention any good things that religion does.
It tries to show that religion is not based on anything which can be proven e.g. says that official teachings were made up by popes, that the Creation story is wrong based on scientific evidence of evolution
The tone of the presenter’s voice implies that it would be wrong and silly to be religious

22. Who Wants to be a R.S -Believing in God Millionaire
Instructions: click once to get to the next slide and wait for the Q and possible answers. Click again to find out the correct answer
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B: Someone who does not believe in God
A: A Christian
C: Someone who believes in God
D: Someone who is not sure if there is a God or not

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B: Someone who believes in God
A: A Christian
C: Someone who does not believe in God
D: Someone unsure if they believe in God or not

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28. A: The Cosmological Argument15
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Nothing happens by itself, everything needs a cause. Therefore the universe must have a cause. As the universe is so big only God can be the cause, therefore God exists
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A: The Cosmological Argument
B: The Design Argument
C: Big Bang Theory
D: The Creation story

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A: A scientist
B: A Christian
C: All religious people
D: No one

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A: Religious upbringing
B: Conversion
C: Education
D: Miracles

33. This is because the others often lead people to believe in God, yet education only (or should) teach people about what religious people think and do.

34. You’ve Reached the £1,000 Milestone! Congratulations! Congratulations!

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36. D: Praying at meal times15
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B: Baptism and Sunday School
A: RS lessons at school
C: Being prayed for
D: Praying at meal times

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38. What means an experience which arouses a deep spiritual feeling?15
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A: Awe
B: Conversion
C: Miracle
D: Numinous

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A: A pocket watch
B: A clock
C: A radio
D: A tv

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42. What can lead some people to question if God exists?15
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A: The Bible
B: People
C: Suffering and evil
D: Not going to church

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A: suffering from car crashes
B: when people hurt each other
D: suffering from natural disasters e.g floods
C: Mental illness

45. You’ve Reached the £32,000 Milestone! Congratulations!

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A: Benevolent
B: Omnipotent
C: Omniscient
D: Strong

48. One way to remember this might be to remember the P’s
OmniPotent = Powerful

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A: God alone knows the meaning of suffering
B: Suffering comes from an opposite power - Satan
C: God can’t stop suffering
D: Suffering is a result of sin brought in to the world by humans

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B: You have to have downs to feel the ups in life
A: Deal with it – it’s life
C: Suffering is all part of the Bible and it’s what God wants
D: God joined in suffering by sending Jesus

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54. Which is a programme we studied which may affect someone’s attitude towards God?15
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A: Songs of Praise
B: East is East
C: Bruce Almighty
D: Coronation Street

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56. Which is the odd one out? 15 £1 Million 14 £500,000 13 £250,000 12
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A: Bangladesh cyclone
B: Rhys Jones shot
D: Children born with incurable diseases
C: 20 million dying of malnutrition

57. This is because the others are forms of natural evil, yet Reece Jones being murdered is an act of moral evil

58. YOU WIN £1 MILLION!