existence of god and revelation

what are miracles and what do they demonstrate?

• acts that defy natural law and are acts of divine intervention

• they are signs of God’s intervention, demonstrating God’s love and power

key examples of Jesus + miracles

turning water into wine, healing the blind (confirms divinity)

what was feeding the 5000, quote

Jesus fed 5,000 people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish

‘jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted’

resurrection quote

‘he is not here; he has risen!’

what did Hume think about miracles

• highly imporbable, can be explained through science (more probable)

• questioned reliability of miracle reports

what did C.S Lewis say about miracles

• interventions by god and make sense within a theistic worldview

Richard Dawkins - miracles

• can often be explained by scientific phenomena or conincidence, not divine intervention

what was the miracle of Fatima in 1917

thousands witnessed what they though was the sun dancing in the sky in Portgual, follwoing visions of the virgin Mary. believers thought it was a miracle, skeptics say mass hallucination/natural phenomena

quote on nature as revelation ‘the heavens declare

the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands …night after night they reveal knowledge’

what does aquinas think about natural theology?

agreed with it, existence of God can be deduced through observation of the natural world and reason

who critiqued idea nature as revelation - existence of evil and suffering in nature contradicts idea of benevolent designer

HUME

stephen hawking Vs nature as revelation

the universe can be explained without God, natural laws provide sufficient explanation for the existence of the universe

isaac newton - nature as revelation

newton = christian

he said his discoveries in physics were evidence of a rational creator. science and religion are complementary ways of understanding god’s work

what is the design argument?

many christians believe that the complexity of life and the laws of nature point to god as the intelligent designer

1 quote for the design argument

‘lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing’

william paley watchmaker analogy (+quote)

just like a watch (intricate design + purpose) has a watchmaker, so too does the world, god

• ‘every manifestation of design, which existed in the watch, exists in the works of nature’

Aquinas - design argument

5th way - non intelligent objects work toward a purpose = guiding intelligence

F.R. Tennant - design argument

Anthropic principle - the universe is finely tuned to support human life, indicating deliberate design

hume vs design argument

intricacy of the universe does not necessarily point to a single designer, and could be explained by natural processes or chance

dawkins vs design argument

complexity of life can be explained through evolution by natural selection

John Polkinghorne - Fine - Tuning argument

(physicist) precise conditions necessary for life in the universe suggest a fine tuner (God)

Anthropic principle

the idea that the universe’s laws are fine tuned to allow for the existence of life, particularly human life

teleological argument

the argument that the order and purpose in the universe point to the existence of an intelligent designer

What is the first cause argument?

argument that everything has a cause, if you trace the chain of causes back, there must be an uncaused cause (God)

Quote to suggest that God is uncaused casue

‘in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth

Thomas Aquinas + first casue argument

first cause argument was his 2nd way

William Lane Craig + first cause

kalam cosmological arguement suggests that the universe came into existence, and since everything that comes into existence has a cause, the universe must as well

Bertrund Russsel vs first cause argument

universe is a ‘brute fact’

David Hume vs first cause

hume questioned need for first cause, it’s possisble for the universe to exist without a beginning

is the big bang a way of proving cosmological argument ?

Polkinghorne - BB evidence of universe having first cause

OTHER Scientists - BB can be explained scientifically without God

How can miracles help prove the existence of God?

Jesus’ miracles are demonstrations of his divine nature, and therefore the existence of God

‘what Jesus did here

in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory’ (turning water into wine)

C.S Lewis + miracles

miracles are essential to christian belief and serve as a means through which God communicates with humanity,

David Hume vs miracles

they are highly improbable, and it is more likely that the laws of nature remain constant than that they are broken

Richard Dawkins vs Miracles

The God delusion

• miracles are highly unlikely

• either misinterpretations of natural events or false claims

How is evil/suffering against existence of God?

many struggle to see how a loving, omnipotent God can allow suffering to happen

what would christians say about suffering

• test of faith, result of human free will

• suffering has rememptive quality, like Jesus on the cross

Job - ‘the Lord gave

and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised’

St Augustine + suffering

evil not an entity but a privation (lack) of good. suffering exists because of free will + original sin

Irenaeus + suffering

suffering is part of soul making

Epicurean Paradox

how can god be omnipotenet + benevolent if evil exists

Epicurus ‘if God can prevent evil

but does not, then He is not good; if God is willing but unable, then He is not all-powerful’

J.L Mackie vs suffering

Inconsistent triad, existence of evil is incompatible with omnipotent, omnibenevolent God

2 scientific arguments agains God

• big bang theory

• evolution by natural selection

What does Dawkins think about God?

science can explain natural world without God. ‘God hypothesis’ is unnecessary and highly improbable

Stephen Hawkings + origins of universe

laws of physics explain it ‘because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing’

Alister Mcgrath + origins of universe

science + god not mutually exclusive

what is revelation

how divine truths are revealed to humanity, general or special

how do christians experience revelation? what qualities of god does this show?

• Bible, nature, scripture + personal experiences

• omnipotence, omniscience, immanent, transcendent

omniscience ‘you have

searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar’

Karl Barth + special revelation

God is known primarily though special revelation, particularly Jesus. our understanding of god is limited without it

Dawkins vs revelation

claims cannot be tested or verified, there is a lack of empirical evidence

immanent

God is present and involved in the world

transcendent

god exists outside of and is not bound by the universe

St Augustine + revelation

god’s omniscience + omnipotence was revealed through revelation. God’s immanence guided him to convert

special revelation

direct communication from God, through prophets, visions or sacred texts

‘in the past

God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but these last days he has spoken to us by his Son

Who believes nature offers general revelation, but special revelation provides proper understanding of God’s plan for salvation

calvin

who believes special revelation is necessary for understanding truths about God and human condition

Pascal

Freud vs revelation

special revelations are psychological projections or delusions. experiences are wish fulfilment from unconcious desires

Martin vs special revelation

not reliable evidence, as experiences are subjective

conversion of Saul

• saw blinding light + hear the voice of Jesus

• became apostle paul

• ‘something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized’

general revelation

belief that knowledge of god can be found through nature, human reason and conscience

general revelation ‘since the creation

of the world God’s invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature- have been seen, being understood from what has been made’

‘do you not know?

have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom’

immanence ‘who can hide

in secret places so that I cannot see them? declares the Lord. Do not I fill the heaven and earth’

transcendence ‘as the heavens are

higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts’

Barth nature of god

Wholly other nature, ultimate authority. God chose to reveal himself through christ, showing immanence

who believes transcendent god is projection of human ideals and aspirations

Feuerbach

‘all scripture

is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteosness’

what does McGrath think about revelation?

• general + special compliment each other.

• general = god’s power + creativity

• special = specific truths about moral living

Hume vs revelation

unreliable, cannot be proved, influenced by emotion, culture + imagination

4 value of revelation

• prove God’s existence

• help start religion

• relationship with God

• help people to know what they must do to follow God’s wishes

who believes visions are subjective but have psychological + spiritual meaning

William James

‘Saul

saul why do you persecute me’

quote about visions

‘I, the LORD reveal myself to them in visions’

which scholar thinks god is evil if he intervenes and performs miracles, when he didn’t intervene to stop the holocuast

Maurice Wiles

Realist view on miracles

breaks laws of nature - divine intervention

anti-realist views on miracles

within laws of nature, coincidence but reveals something about God/life