Christianity Beliefs

Give two Christian beliefs about God’s creation of the world

God made the world good, God created the world from nothing, all things were made by God, created mankind in his own image

Explain two ways in which belief in hell influences Christians today

Many Christians are influenced by the belief that they will be judged when they die

Belief in hell as a place of suffering influences Christians to follow Christian beliefs and teaching so that they will not be sent there

Hell has been pictured as a place of punishment and torment with the absence of God’s divine presence

Explain two Christian beliefs about the role of Jesus Christ in salvation (5 marker)

Salvation means to be saved from sin and the consequences of it

Jesus’s sacrifice was an atonement for human sin so salvation came available for all humans because of Jesus’ suffering and death which restored the right relationship between God and humans ‘the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom’ in Matthew

This tearing of the temple curtain is described in the Bible as happening at the moment of Jesus’ death. The curtain was a symbol of the separation between God and humanity due to sin

Secondly, ‘God so loved the world that he gave up his only son’ in the Bible which shows that Jesus was the one and only son of God so influences Christians to do good deeds to shows their appreciation for Jesus’; sacrifice

‘The resurrection of the dead is the most important Christian beliefs’. Evaluate this statement (12 marker)

Arguments in support

• For most Christians suffering and death are the worst things to have to deal with so if they believe that the dead are resurrected, then they no longer have to fear suffering or death

• Christians believe that after their resurrection they will forever be in God’s kingdom in a state of perfect happiness

• St Paul clearly states that God raised Jesus from the dead and if he had not done so then the (human) dead are not raised either. So Paul shows that the resurrection of Jesus and of Christian’s is the most important Christian beliefs

• There is so much evidence for the resurrection of Jesus that it must be true as the four Gospels all have an account of the resurrection of Jesus so the resurrection of Christians must also be true and must be the most important belief

Arguments in support of other views

• Some people may argue that God as the Creator is the most important Christian belief since for resurrection to be important to believers, people have to be created first

• In the same way some might argue that the most important belief is that God is good (this is not obvious from all the evil in the world) but if God is not good then there will probably be no resurrection

• Equally some may argue that the most important Christian belief is not just the resurrection of the dead but in the resurrection to judgement. This can be seen in the parable of Sheep and Goiats (Matthew 25) which teaches that the dead will be resurrected to God’s kingdom or else to eternal fire so the most important belief must be to follow God’s teachings in God/Jesus to avoid being sent to hell