Theme C: Existence of God and Revelation

Design Argument (Teleological Argument)

An argument suggesting that proof of Gods existence can be seen through the “design” in the world

William Paley Design Argument

• William Paley argued that the complexity and order of the universe suggest it was designed by God.

• He used the watch analogy: if someone found a watch on the ground, they would assume it had a designer because its parts work together for a purpose.

• Paley said the universe is far more complex than a watch, so it must also have a designer — God.

Others form of design argument

• Aesthetic argument → nature contain unnecessary beauty which suggests a loving and artistic creator

• Intelligent Design → modern view that some feature of the universe are too complex to have evolved naturally and must have been intentionally created

  • Creationist views / not part of mainstream science as heavily criticised as not testable

Strength of the Design Argument (Human Body)

• Newtons THUMB

The human body shows complex design and purpose, suggesting it may have been created by a designer.

• For example, unique fingerprints and the complex design of the eye show intricate biological structure.

• Isaac Newton argued this points to God, saying “the thumb alone would convince me of God’s existence.”

Anthropic Principle

• The Anthropic Principle states that the universe is finely tuned for life, and small changes in physical laws would make life impossible.

• This suggests the universe is too precise to exist by chance.

• Therefore some believers argue a rational designer (God) deliberately created the universe to allow life.

Strengths of Design Argument

• Newtons Thumb

• Palyer Analogyt

• Anthropic Principle

• Universe is too complex and intricate to have been brough about by chance

How do religious scriptures support the design argument?

• The Bible teaches “God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1), supporting the idea that the universe was designed by God.

• The Qur’an says “Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth… are signs for people who reflect” (Qur’an 3:190), suggesting nature shows evidence of Allah’s design.

Objection to design argument

• Darwinian Challenge

• Hume’s Analogical Critique

• Atheism

• Evolution

• Problem of Evil and suffering

• Make it hard to believe there is a designer

Darwinian Challenge

• Complexity of life brough about through natural selection

• God delusion argument

• World was not designed for us - instead we adapted via ….

• “Natural selection is the blind watchmaker”

Hume’s analogical critique

• Criticised the idea of God as a designed and stated world is “first rude essay of some infant deity”

• Criticises Paley watch analogy as the universe is not like a machine and is organic so comparing the two is invalid

• He also questioned why a perfectly good god would create a universe with suffering and imperfection if he were the designer

• ANTHROMORPHISM

Problem of Evil and Suffering

• Amount of evil and suffering shows we live in a “designedly imperfect” world

• Designer of this world must lack omnipotence and omnibenevolence otherwise they would have designed a world without so much suffering

First Cause Argument Premises

• P1 - Everything that exists has a cause for its existence

• P2 - The universe exists so the universe must have a cause

• P3 - An infinite “regress” of causes is impossible

• C1 — therefore there must be a first uncaused cause which is known as god

Strength of First Cause Argument

• Logical Intuition → it follow law of causality which makes it a logical argument as we never observer thing popping into existence without a reason (nothing + nothing = nothing)

• Scientific Support → Modern cosmology suggests the universe had a beginning which could be the cause of God

• "God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1)

• “See you not Allah created the heavens and the earth” (Quran 14:19)

Weaknesses of First Cause Argument

• If everything needs a cause → God would also need a cause

• Suggests committee of creators (multiple deities created the universe)

• This creates an infinite regress (endless chain of causes)

• The argument therefore does not explain the ultimate origin of the universe

• Science (Big Bang theory) offers natural explanations for the beginning of the universe

What are miracles?

• An extraordinary event that appears to contradict the laws of nature and is attributed to a supernatural cause

What is the argument from miracles?

• Miracles are events that break natural laws

• If science cannot explain them → cause must be supernatural

• Best explanation for a supernatural cause is God

• Therefore miracles are evidence that God exists

Why do many religious believers believe miracles happen?

• Seen as signs of God’s power and will

• Evidence of divine revelation

• Strengthen believers’ faith

Examples used in the argument from miracles

• Resurrection of Jesus — central Christian miracle showing God’s power over death

• Feeding of the 5,000 — example of Jesus performing a supernatural act

Night of Power

• Modern miracle claims (e.g. healings at Lourdes)

• Personal experiences or eyewitness reports used as evidence for believers

Miracle Defintion

• “A violation of the normal operations or laws of natre owing to actions or intervetion of a deity either directly or indirectly (Via a prohpet)” - Luther (LITERALIST)

• “A violation of our natural expectations of how nature should operate” Aquinas

• “A miracle is neither a violation of the laws of nature or our naturals expectations but it to be understood symbolically or morally” (NON LITERALIST)

Night Journey

• Muhammad is resting at the Kaaba in Mecca

• The angel Jibril (Gabriel) appears

• He brings the winged steed **Buraq

• Travels to **Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem

• Leads prophets (e.g. Adam, Musa, Isa) in prayer

• Ascends through the 7 heavens (Mi’raj)

• Meets earlier prophets including:

  • Ibrahim

  • Musa

  • Isa

• Taken into the presence of Allah

• Command: 50 daily prayers → reduced to 5 after Musa’s advice

• Muhammad returns to Mecca

Give two things that miracles prove (2)

• Miracles offer proof there is a god because they go against the laws of nature (only God has the power)

• They shows Gods benevolence as many miracles are beneficial eg. healing the ill → shows that God has the authority to decide life/death

Interpretations of Night Journey

• Fideists/Salafis → literal event because the Quran describes it.

• Mystics/Sufism → dream or vision because Muhammad was a mystic and his wife said he never left her side all night

• Kalamists/rationalists → story as a revealed message because it is not empirically verifiable and therefore unlikely to be literal event.

Christian belief about miracles

• Miracles show God’s love and immanence

• Jesus Christ performed around 37 miracles (e.g. healing the sick, raising the dead)

• These miracles are always good events, showing God cares for humans

• Quote: “The blind receive sight, the lame walk…” (Matthew 11:5)

• 👉 Shows God is active in the world (immanent) and compassionate

Christian belief: Miracles prove God’s power and are real events

• Miracles go against scientific explanation, showing God’s authority over nature

• Many Christians believe miracles can still happen today through prayer

• The Catholic Church uses verified miracles to declare saints

• Quote: “With God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26)

• 👉 Demonstrates God’s omnipotence and reality of miracles

Islamic belief on miracles

Islamic belief: The Qur'an is the greatest miracle

• Revealed to Prophet Muhammad as a lasting miracle

• More important than physical miracles because it is unchanged and universal

• Quote (Hadith): “I have been given divine revelation…” (Sahih al-Bukhari)

• 👉 Shows Islam focuses on message and revelation, not just physical signs
  

• however people believe that there are not detailed enough to be certain

Signifcance of Miracles

• Miracles show god power and his ability to intervene in the world

• Miracles proof that Jesus is not just a human teacher but the son of God

• Miracles were seen and Jesus divine authority and mission

• Miracles act as evidence that God is immanent and compassionate for humantiy

Imporatnce of Miracles

• demonstrates allahs will and power (revealing omnipotence)

  • signs (ayah) strengthen faith and support belief

• muslims beleive that miracles alone are insuficcient for iman (faith)

  • they should also rely on scripture Quran

Criticisms of Miracles - Hume

• Vested interest (deceive or be deceived)

  • People may gain attention, power, or belief from miracle claims

  • Hume says humans tend to “deceive or be deceived”

  • 👉 Makes testimony unreliable

• Extraordinary claims need extraordinary evidence

  • Miracles are highly unlikely events

  • Quote: “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence”

  • 👉 Evidence for miracles is never strong enough

• Conflicting miracles cancel each other out

  • Different religions claim different miracles

  • These cannot all be true at the same time

  • 👉 Weakens belief in all miracle claims

Evaluation of Hume

• Support

  • Natural laws are based on constant repeated exercise

  • more rationale to trust in science that rare experiences

  • many religious contractions

    • which suggests human misinterpretation

• Against

  • Multiple witnesses of miracles

  • Unreasonable to reject all testimony

  • God created law of nature he has the power to suspend them

  • “With God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26)

William James 4 characteristics of relgious expericnes

• Ineffable (cannot be described)

• Noetic (gives insight/truth)

• Transient (short-lived)

• Passive (happens to you)

Willam James on Miracles

• Belief justified by positive consequences

  • We can believe in miracles if they lead to a better life

  • e.g. more moral behaviour, purpose, happiness

  • 👉 Truth can be judged by its practical effects (pragmatism)

• Religious experiences cannot be proven or disproven

  • We cannot go back in time to verify miracles

  • 👉 So we should not automatically reject them (unlike Hume)

What form of revelation are miracles?

• Special Revelation

Argument for Miracles?

P1 - Miracle is an event that defies law of nature

P2 - Laws of nature are fixed and cannot be broken by natural forces

P3 - There are documented eye witnessed account of miracles occuring

Conc: Therefore there must be a supernatural power outside of nature who intervened and caused these events

Strengths of Argument for Miracles

• Direct evidence → provides powerful personal “knowledge” of God that logic of philospohy cannot match

• Scientific Gap → If a miracle was truly impossible this suggests there is something beyond science

Weaknesses to Argument for Miracles

• David Hume → “violation of laws of nature” argued human testimony is NEVER strong enough to prove them

• Problems of incosistency → If God provided miracles for some but not for others it challenges his omnibenevolence and just nature

• God of gaps → Skeptics argue that miracles are phenomenos that we just dont understnad currently eg. lightning and zeus

Problem of Evil

• Inconsistent triad (argue three attributes of god cannot all be true at the same time

1) God is not all-powerful (He cannot stop evil) 

2) God is not all-loving (He does not love us or care enough to stop evil) 

3) Since evil still exists it implies God lack the power to stop it or he does not exist at all

Problems of evil and suffering

• Logical problem (Mackie) → Claims that existence of God and evil is a strict logical impossibility

• Evidential problem (William Rowe) → Claims that while it is possible God has a reason for some evil sheer amount of suffering make his existence improabable

responses to evil and suffering

• theologians use theodicies to explain why a good and powerful god allows evil

Christian Reponses to evil and suffering

• “God saw all that He had made and it was very good” (Genesis 1:31)

• Free will

  • God gave humans free will and that moral evil is a result of human choices not God’s will

  • Christian believe without free will humans cannot truly love or do good

  • St Augustine said suffering is the price for free will

• Isaiah 45:7 “I bring prosperity and create disaster” (NIV) → God is not only responsible for good but he creates suffering and punishment

Muslim Reponses to evil and suffering

• “We will certainly test you with fear and hunger ... but give good news to the patient” (Qur’an 2:155)

• Test from Allah

• eg. follow prophet Muhammad sunnah suffering but remained faithful with iman

• it is a chance of repentance patience (Sabr) and reward

• Muslims believe Allah is merciful even if justice isn’t seen in this life it will be seen in the next → part of Allah’s plan

Ireanean Theodicy

• Soul Making

• St Irenaeus believed that people were created with faults because they had to develop into children of God so they needed evil and suffering in order to have a concept of what is right

• Cannot develop virtues like courage/patience/compassion without it

Christian beliefs on the nature of the divine

• certain characteristics allow to understand god better

• omnipotent → created the world and resurrection of Jesus

• omnibenevolent → sacrificed his own son for humanity (loves everyone without exception)

• just → fair to all and forgives those who apologise

• omniscient → god knows everyhting future/present/past

• transcendent → eternal (beyond humans)

• immanent → interacted with the world through history eg. miracles

• personal → meaningful relationship with humans eg. listening to prayers and knowing each individual situation

Islamic beliefs on nature of the divine

• certain characteristics allow to understand god better

• Tawhid

  • Oneness of allah

  • “no one is comparable to him” (Surah Al Ikhlas) Verse 4

  • shapes islamic practise eg. salah and shahdah

• omnipotent/omnibenevolent/omniscient/trascendent/immanent

• MERCIFUL → Forgiving

Important in nature of god + influences

• shows how allah related to the world/personally

• Muslims try to live in a way that pleases allah by following Quran and prophet

• Allah is omniscient and just encourages Muslims to act morally and responsibly because Allah will judge their actions

• support Al-Rahman (compassionate) and Al-Hakim (wise)

What is special revelation?

• God reveals his truths through visions, prophets, scripture etc. (source of knowledge of the divine)

• powerful religious experience and important source of belief and guidance

Effect of special revelation/features

• personal and direct experience to specific person

• lead to belief in God and strengthen ones faith (god is active in the world)

• hearing god voice/visions/holy book

• scripture as a basis of religious belief

Example of Special Revelation

• Transfiguration of Jesus

• Event in gospels in which apperance is dramatically transformed revelaing his divine glory

•  “This is my Son, whom I love; listen to him” (Mark 9:7)

• witness by disciples confirming jesus as fufillment of old testament and son of god

What form of revelation are sacred books?

• special revelations

• direct messages from god

• guide believers on how to live

• used to worship prayer etc.

Vision

A form of special revelation in which a person sees or experiences something supernatural

Explain two contrasting beliefs in contemporary British society about religious visions (4)

• Christian mystics relied on visions for the knowledge of God and the way hne desired humans to life eg. Julian of Norwich

• Visions are the result of ill health/poor health → misinterpretation of experiences

Example of christain vision

• St Bernadette was a young girl who saw 18 visions of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes in 1858:

  • The vision told her to dig, and a spring of healing water was found

  • Since then, Lourdes has become a major pilgrimage site for Christians

Importance of Visions

• They may be seen as proof of God’s existence or communication with humans

• They may lead to conversion or strengthen faith

• They can offer guidance and comfort or inspire religious action

• They support the belief in a personal God who cares and interacts with people

Enlightenment

• Enlightenment is described as a state of spiritual awakening and the gaining of a deeper understanding of reality

• Direct and personal awareness of God/ultimate reality beyond ordinary understanding

Example of Enlightenment

• Islam, Sufi mystics seek enlightenment through dhikr (the remembrance of God) and meditation, experiencing closeness and awareness of Allah

Importance of Enlightenment

• It could be through a direct experience, which may feel more certain and personal than other ways of encountering God

• These experiences can be transformative by changing the believer’s life (allows to fully comprehend the divine)

• The experience can strengthen one’s belief in God and the teachings of that religion

• The experience can often be difficult to describe but can be deeply convincing for the person

Revelation

Revelation is when something that was hidden becomes known:

Two types of revelation

• General (or indirect) revelation

• Special (or direct) revelation

What is general revelation?

• audience is universal and accessible through human reason and observation

• reason → humans must think morally/logically → Romans (2:15)

• other people eg. kindness

How does nature act as a way to understand divine?

• Christians believe nature is so beautiful it shows that God must be the creator

• Christians believe that qualities such as harmony and beauty must come from god eg. sunset/moutains

• Laws of science → suggest god made “perfect” world

• “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1)

2nd Nature to understand divine

• nature can create feeling of awe and wonder

• norther lights

• “God’s eternal power and divine nature can be understood from creation” (Romans 1:20)

• signposts gods existence Quran (3:190)

How does nature provide moral awareness?

• stewardship

• “God gave humans stewardship over creation” (Genesis 2:15)

• “Nature is a sign (ayah) of Allah, so it must be respected” (Qur’an 45:3)

Why is general revelation reliable?

• Accessiblity → You do not need bible or priest to see it “plain to everyone” Romans 1:19

• Attributes → reveals some

• Accountability → evidence is clear → humanity is without excuse to ignore creator

How can scripture be used to understand divine?

• quran is the uncorrupted word of god → god speaks directly through them

• ‘The Revelation of the Book which contains no doubt has been made by the Lord of the Universe’ – Surah 32:2

• christains believe they can learn gods laws and how god wants them to live

• Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:1-17)

How does scripture reveal:

• Gods nature

  • Pslam 103 compassionate God

• God Will

  • Moral guidance and correct actions eg. ten commandment / Quran 2:2

• God actions

  • scripture also provided examples of Gods actions

  • miracles/covenants interaction of god with the world

• God authority

  • ultimate source of truth

Omnipotence

• God created universe and everything in it

• “Nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37)

Just

• ulimted power and authority so perfect giver of justice

• all loving against injustice

• Parable of Sheep and goats → Judge people accordingly to their care for others

Omnibenevolent

• “imago dei” → love for creation

• cruxifction of Jesus

• “Love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:43)

Immanent

• presence within creation

• whilst remaining distinct from it

• “One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” (Ephesians 4:6)

Transcendent

• God has control and authority over creation

• outside humanities perception

• “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9)

Importance of these qualities

• Omnipotence

  • determination and resilience when faced with a problem

  • god has a plan for everyone (trust in god)

• Just

  • work for justice

  • will think about conseuqeucen and rewards for their actions (day of judgment)

• Omnibenevolence

  • Golden rule

  • “agape”

• Immanence

  • awareness and compassion for suffering

  • present and provides comfot

• Transcendence

  • heal/resuce/redeem (MIRACLES)

  • beyound the limits of what we understand

• Personal/Impersonal

  • personal → human like charcteristics

  • direct relationships

  • impersonal beyound human understading

• Eternal

  • Always existing

  • timeless

Challenges of Gods nature

• incosistency triad

• big bang theroy/evolution to explain origin and development of universe

• religious pluralism → differnet religions have different ideas eg. trinity and tawhid

  • raise question of credibility

• language → causes tensions eg. christians via positiva anthromorphism whereas islam via negativa

Further Challenges

• Interpretation

• eg. Alternative explanations

• atheist see nature as something normal

• possibiltiy that people who have claimed to have undergone one are lying or mistaken