Believing in
God
C Wheeler 2009
Key terms
Omnipotent
The belief that God is allpowerful.
Omniscient
The belief that God is allknowing.
OmniBenevolent
The belief that God is all
good.
Theist/Theism
Belief that God
exists
Atheist/Atheism
Belief that God
does not exist
Agnostic
/Agnosticism
Not being sure
whether God exists
or not
We are going to examine arguments for and
against the existence of God
•
•
•
•
•
•
For
Religious upbringing.
Religious Experience.
Argument for Design.
Causation.
Search for meaning
and purpose.
Too many followers to
all be wrong.
Against
• Scientific
explanations.
• No evidence.
• Presence of evil and
suffering.
What are the main features of a Christian
upbringing?
Being
Baptised
Influence of parents
Being taught
prayers
A Christian upbringing
might include…
Having
religious
ceremonies
Sunday school /faith
school education
Attending
Church
How can a religious upbringing lead to a
belief in God?
May seem natural to believe in God if the family
does.
As a child, why would you question what adults
tell you.
Seeing people in church doing certain things
means you would feel that God exists.
Faith schools reinforce the belief in God.
Religious
Experience
Key words
Religious
Experience
An event where people believe
they have had direct contact with
God.
Conversion
When your life is changed by
giving yourself to God.
Miracle
Something which seems to
break a law of science and
makes you think only God could
have done it.
Numinous
Prayer
Feeling of the presence
of something greater
than you.
Attempt to contact God
usually through words.
Numinous
When in a beautiful place or looking at the stars
people might be filled with an awareness of
something greater than them. Some feel that this is
God.
An Example - Numinous
Father Dubois has had such experiences whilst
praying to a statue of Our Lady (Mary)
‘Twice I have experienced the certainty of the
presence of the Mother of God, which was an
awareness of purity, holiness and love unlike
anything I have ever known. Her holiness would
have been frightening, but for the strong feeing of
love and compassion.’
Conversion
Some have an experience of God and are moved
to change their life and commit themselves to God.
This process sometimes gives the feeling of being
‘born again’.
The conversion of St Paul
Paul’s original name was Saul and he was a Jew. He
persecuted Christians because he thought they were
betraying Judaism.
He was on the road to
Damascus to find and
persecute the Christians
there.
Whilst travelling he was
blinded by a flash of light
and heard a voice. Jesus
asked him why he was
persecuting him.
He was blind until a
Christian in Damascus,
Ananias, gave him back
his sight.
This experience led to
Paul changing his
religion from Judaism to
Christianity.
Miracles
Believers think they are examples of God acting
on earth because they can not be explained by
science. Those witnessing the miracle have had
direct contact with God.
Man stabbed
in the head
survives!
Pregnant
woman survives
after parachute
fails!
Jairus’
Daughter
Jairus was a high ranking Jew
who’s daughter had died. He
had gone to see Jesus. Jesus
took Jairus, his wife and the
disciples who were with him
and went to where the child
was.
Jesus took her by the hand
and said, ‘Little girl, I say to
you, get up.’ Immediately the
girl stood up and walked
around. (Mark.5:35-42)
Christians believe that miracles happen today…
A woman driving through the desert in Arizona
saw a bush with beautiful white flowers on it. She
stopped to take a photograph. Her husband
could not see the white flowers.
When the photo was
printed the flowers could
not be seen. They had
been replaced by an
image of the Virgin Mary.
Prayer
Religious believers think they can
contact God through prayer. They can
be formal e.g. in church or informal e.g.
in private.
If they feel God is listening then
some class this as a religious
experience. An example of this is
an answered prayer.
How do religious experiences
lead to a belief in God?
•An atheist seeing a miracle may look for a
natural explanation. If they can’t find one
they may start to believe in God.
•Through a conversion experience they may feel that
God is calling them to do something for him and so
believe in him.
•Through a numinous experience
they might feel that God is real.
•If a prayer is answered whether
they are religious or not may lead
to them believing in God.
•Any religious believer who has a
religious experience will use it as
evidence to support their belief in
God and make it stronger.
Arguments that support the
existence of God.
The
argument
for
Design
List the types of things that are designed.
Cars
Planes
Watches
Clothes
Computers
Design in the
world
Buildings
Furniture
Design
When things are connected and seem
to have a purpose e.g. the eye is
designed for seeing.
Evidence of Design in the world
• DNA
• Evolution
• Beauty of nature
DNA
DNA is the nucleic acid found in all
living things. It forms the material
used to create life.
It is made of two strands called a double helix.
It replicates itself by copying its own design. It
uses itself as a template.
The structure of DNA and its formation of
templates seem to indicate a design or blueprint
for the structure of living things.
Evolution
Complex life forms, over thousands of
years, develop from basic life forms.
Theory by Charles Darwin
Beauty of Nature
Artists see design as appearing in nature. Sunsets
and mountains have a beauty that artists would
have to spend a long time trying to recreate.
How does the appearance of design lead
to a belief in God?
Paley’s watch
argument
Walking through the hills you come
across a watch.
You notice how
complex it is. It
could not have
happened by
chance/accident.
It must have had
a ‘DESIGNER’.
The universe is far
more complicated
than a watch. If a
watch has a
designer then
surely the universe
has.
The only thing powerful
enough to make the
universe is God…SO…
God must exist.
Arguments
for the
existence of
God…
Causation
Key Words
Causation
The idea that
everything has been
caused (started off) by
something else. Only
God is powerful
enough to have started
the universe.
Cause and effect is a basic feature of
the world. Everything we do has an
effect.
Science shows that any effect has a
cause and any cause has an effect.
Sorry Sir, I’ve
forgot my
homework.
DETENTION
!!!
Think of a line of dominoes. How do
you get the last one to move without
touching it?
How does
causation in the
world lead to a
belief in God?
This theory is often
called the First Cause
Argument.
It was made famous
by St Thomas
Aqunias.
Things in the world have a cause
Everything that exists relies on something
having made it able to exist.
Can’t keep going back forever. Must be a
First Cause to start everything off.
Only possible First Cause of the universe
is God, so God must exist.
Carriages on a train are pulled along by
the one in front. However, the first
carriage is pulled by the engine which is
not moved by anything else (the
unmoved mover). God would be the
engine.
Why might some people disagree
with this theory?
• Why should the causes stop at God?
Surely God needs a cause?
• A better explanation is that the matter of
the universe itself is eternal and so the
process of causes goes on for ever.
• Even if the First Cause were t exist it
would not have to be God, it could be any
sort of creator or even the matter of the
universe.
Arguments AGAINST
God’s existence
1) Scientific
explanations
of the world,
agnosticism
and atheism
Science can explain how the world came
about…
Matter exists
forever, it simply
changes shape.
Life on earth
begins simple and
changes. 2.5
billion years ago
humans evolved
15 billion years ago
the matter
compressed and
exploded (Big Bang)
The matter joins
together as stars etc.
Solar system formed
5 billion years ago
Evidence for the
Big Bang
Main evidence
comes from the
Red Shift Effect
where the red shift
in light from other
galaxies is
evidence that the
universe is
expanding.
Evidence for
Evolution
The fossil record
shows life
developed
becoming more
complex.
How does this lead to Agnosticism or
Atheism?
Science can explain how things came about
without referring to God. Puts existence of
God in doubt = Agnostic.
Others become Atheist
because they are convinced
God is not the only explanation
for the world. Science for them
is proof enough.
How Christians respond to
Scientific Explanations of the world
Response 1
Many Christians believe the scientific
explanation proves that God actually exists. E.g.
Big Bang had to happen at exactly the right
microsecond. Too early or late and life would not
have happened.
Response 2
Believe both science
and religion is
correct. Main points
of Bible story match
the science one.
God’s ‘days’ could
be millions of years.
Plants, birds,
animals, humans
made in same order.
Response 3
Science is wrong!
Big Bang and
evolution can be
explained by Noah’s
Flood story.
Apparent Age
Theory – God made
the world look much
older than it is e.g.
planted fossils.
2) Unanswered
Prayers
If people pray and
God does not
answer them then
they might feel
frustrated. Or begin
to doubt if God
exists.
If prayers are
unanswered they
may begin to
question a God who
answers some
prayers and not
others.
They may understand selfish prayers not
being answered e.g. let me win the lottery.
However, if God doesn’t answer good prayers
e.g. end wars, then they may see this as
evidence he doesn’t exist.
Christian responses to unanswered
prayers
Prayers are answered but may appear
unanswered however…
• Selfish prayers = God gives opportunity
for you to work hard to get what you want
• God knows what is best for people and
may not grant certain things.
• Jesus said faith is needed to have prayers
needed.
4) EVIL AND
SUFFERING
Poverty?
Could you spot any similarities and
differences between those images?
Free Will – the idea that human beings are
free to make their own choices.
Moral evil – actions done by humans which
cause suffering.
Natural evil – things which cause suffering
but have nothing to do with humans.
How does the existence of evil lead to
people doubting God’s existence?
 Why would a good God have
designed a world with natural evil?
 If he is all-powerful why does God
let people suffer?
 Why does he help people in the
Bible but not our children and
relatives?
If God is Omnipotent he can remove
evil.
If God is Benevolent he must want to
remove evil.
If God exists there should be no evil.
Evil exists so God is either not
Omnipotent/Benevolent or he does not
exist
Defending God
from the problem
of Evil and
Suffering
Response 1
Christians believe
God wants us to help
those who suffer like
Jesus did e.g healing
miracles.
Christians respond
by praying for
those who suffer.
This is called
intercessionary
prayer.
They also help to reduce suffering by
being doctors or by founding charities.
Christian Aid was started by Christians
to help ease suffering for those in less
economically developed countries.
Response 2
Evil and suffering is not God’s fault. God
gave humans free will and when they
misuse it evil happens.
Response 3
Evil and suffering in this life is part of a
plan. Those who suffer will be rewarded
in heaven when they die.
This life prepares us
for paradise. We
can only improve by
coming into contact
with evil.
Response 4
God has a reason
for not using his
power to remove evil
but humans cant
understand it. He is
too complicated for
us to understand.
Pain is a test of our faith in God.
The story of Job in the Old Testament is an example.
His family is killed. He loses all his money and he
becomes ill. This happens even though Job is a good man
who worships God. He passed God’s test and got
everything back.
If we get through pain and
misfortune we will be
rewarded by God.
2 programmes
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Bruce Almighty
Shindler’s List
Most Hated Family in America
The man Who Sued God
Evan Almighty