The Existence of God and Revelation

What is the Design/Teleogical Argument?

The idea that everything in the Universe was designed and created by God.

What is the watch analogy?

Posed by William Paley, he said if you came across a watch you would know it hadn't been put there by chance. The complex mechanism of the watch would make you know it has a designer.

If you look at the world it's even more complex than that.

So if the watch needed a designer and so does the world.

That designer is god

What are the strenghts of the Design Argument? (4)

1) So much natural order in the world (e.g., ecosystems and food webs) that it must've been created with purpose and lots of thought

2) Genesis and Psalms (and many other books in the Bible) have the same idea of the Creation despite being written years apart by different authors

3) The only argument for the existence of God that doesn't require blind faith

4) Evidence of design in the universe e.g., gravity's exact strength, complexity of eyes and ears and their purpose

What are the weaknesses of the Design Argument? (4)

1) Prior knowledge on how watches came to be as example, but the Universe isn't comparable so you can't just resort to claiming there is a god

2) Biased comparison

3) The world isn't perfect implying a god isn't perfect

4) Big Bang Theory

What did Isaac Newton say about the Design Argument?

He agrees, saying that "In the absence of any other proof, the thumb alone would convince me of God's existence"

What did Thomas Aquinas say about the Design Argument?

Everything works together to achieve order, despite the fact that inanimate objects have no mind or rational powers to achieve this.

What is a verse in the Bible that is for the Design Argument?

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" Genesis 1:1

Who are the 4 people against the Design Argument?

David Hume

John Stuart Mill

Charles Darwin

Richard Dawkins

What were Hume's criticisms? (3)

1) Argument implies a superhuman, anthropomorphic concept of God going against the notion of perfection + the world is flawed so God is either cruel or incompetent

2) Could be a team of lesser gods (paganism)

3) Theory of evolution makes it seem like there is an intelligent designer

What was John Stuart Mill's critique?

"Nearly all the things which men are hanged or imprisoned for doing to one another are nature's everyday performances" thus God is not an intelligent designer but instead a cruel and incompetent one

What was Charles Darwin's critique?

Theory of Natural Selection inherently goes agaisnt the Design Argument and the complexity of today's organisms are just a "series of successful mistakes" - geneticist, Steve Jones

What is the First Cause/Cosmological Argument?

Posed by Thomas Aquinas, he said that everything in the universe has a cause.

The chain of cause and effect cannot go on forever.

Therefore there must be a first cause which is uncaused.

This must be God.

What are the strenghts of the First Cause Argument? (4)

1) Prima facie - at first glance it seems logical

2) Supports John 1:1 and Genesis 1:1 which is reassurance for those with the belief

3) It's an 'a posteriori' argument

4) God is a simple explainiation and to think of a more complex explaiantion e.g., the Big Bang, that would further complicate things consequently making it less likely

What are the weakenesses of the First Cause Argument? (4)

1) Assumptions (e.g., who is to say a god did it)

2) Contradictions/inconsistent notions

3) The (upcoming) debates against

4) Fallacy of composition - mistake of moving from the individual to the group (e.g., just because one person has a mother does not mean everybody has a mother)

Who are the three people against the First Cause Argument

1) Bertrand Russell

2) David Hume

3) Immanuel Kant

What was Bertrand Russell's critique?

Reduced the universe to a mere brute fact and said its existence doesn't demand a cause/explanation; it's "just there".

What was David Hume's critique?

The argument involves a big leap in logic (fallacy of composition). It also begins with familar concepts of the universe (unlikelihood of infinite regress/cause and effect) and concludes with an unfamiliar concept (God) and to Hume you cannot prove the existence of an unfamiliar being

What was Immanuel Kant's critique?

The chain of cause and effect exists in a spacio-temporal world but God exists outside of the universe and time so the argument doesn't make sense

What are miracles?

Seemingly impossible events, usually good, that cannot be explained by scientific/natural and thought to be an act of God

What are the strenghts of the concept of miracles? (3)

1) Seems logical

2) Biblical evidence

3) Swinburne's theories

What are the weaknesses of the concept of miracles? (6)

1) Lucky coincidences

2) Scientific explaantions not yet discovered

3) Mind over matter

4) Liars in our midst?

5) Implies that God has favourites

6) No testimony can be adequate to establish the occurrence of a miracle as they always go against natural law - Hume

What is the argument for miracles from theists?

Argued that if there is no event explained by scientific/natural law (for now) then it must be caused by something outside nature. Since only God exists outside of nature (bias) it must be Him (jumping to conclusion)

What are some religious/world views on miracles? (3)

Atheist - can't be God as God doesn't exist

Humanist - would go looking for medical answers/scientific

Buddhist - Buddha says not to go looking for a supernatural answer but rather their path was their own so miracles aren't credited

What is Swinburne

Principle of rationality/we should trust our own perception

What is Swinburne's Principle of Testimony?

In the absence of special considerations, the experiences of others are probably as they report them

Summarise the miracles of Lourdes

In 1838, St Bernadette sees visions of the Virgin Mary who tells her who the new cardinal will be and she is correct although there was no way Bernadette could've known. Since then, many miracles of healing have been said to happen here (even though a relative few have been accepted)

Summarise the miracle of John Traynor

War injuries such as epilepsy, paralysis, a hole in the temple and losing use of his right arm were healed after visiting Lourdes in 1923

Summarise the miracle of Jean-Pierre Biely

Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1972 (wasting disease) and in 1987 he visited Lourdes and was healed (12 years later, the Church classified it as a miracle)

Summarise the miracle of Juan Diego/ Our Lady of Guadalupe

Juan Diego unfolded his tilma before the Bishop, roses fell out, and the Virgin Mary was painted on the cloth. Bishop Zumarraga acknowledged the miracle and within two weeks, ordered a Shrine to built where the Virgin Mary had appeared as per request of Mary via Juan.

What is the Inconsistent Triad?

Argument that God cannot be both omnipotent and omnibenevolent whilst evil exists in the world

How do Christians explain the problem of evil? (5)

1) Suffering is a punishment for wrong-doing/Original Sin/Augustinian Theodicy

2) Suffering is a test of faith which will be rewarded if passed

3) Suffering is needed for balance as we won't be able to appreciate good without it

4) Suffering must be accepted as something we can't understand

5) Suffering is a form of education for our souls, allowing for spiritual growth

What are some arguments that the problem of evil disproves the existence of God? (4)

1) Suffering can't exist with a loving God

2) Why do good people die painful deaths?

3) If God does really exist, it's not the existing notion that He is omnipotent and omnibenevolent

4) To say God exists just guilt trips the victims, not the perpetrators

What are John Hick's developments (4)

1) God's intervention of suffering would undermine human freedom

2) God deliberately made his existence uncertain as if otherwise, people would act morally out of fear

3) Suffering is allowed in order to lead to the higher goal of moral development

4) In order for suffering to be morally justified, everyone must attain perfection

Who are the scholars who talked about problem of evil? (3)

Ninian Smart

J.L Mackie

Richard Swinburne

What did Ninian Smart say about the problem of evil?

Everyone could be innocent but to have moral goodness, you must have options to choose between which is why evil exists and God doesn't intervene.

What did J.L Mackie say about the problem of evil?

God cannot be omnibenevolent since this world is not all-good

What did Richard Swinburne say about the problem of evil?

If God intervened, it would compromise our freewill

What evidence is there of the Big Bang?

The 'Red Shift'; the universe is still expanding - Edward Hubble. If this is the case then at one point it was much smaller and had a starting point

What do literal creationists believe about the Creation?

God created everything exactly as it says in the Bible

What do liberal creationists believe about the Creation?

God creating everything but the account in Genesis is symbolic and the Big Bang Theory/evolutionary theory are also true. "The Big Bang... does not contradict the divine act of creation, rather it requires it." - Pope Francis

What is revelation?

God's communication with mankind. Can either be personal (e.g., religous experience) or general (e.g., conscience)

What is a Bible verse confirming revelation

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness" - 2 Timothy 3:16

What are some ways God has made Himself known to us? (3)

1) Scripture (most reliable)

2) Jesus - the Living Word of God (John 1: 14)

3) Nature - "the skies proclaim the work of His hands" - Psalms 19:1

What is the 'Literalist' View of the Authority of the Bible?

Many Evangelicals and Protestants believe there is no error in the Bible

What is the Liberal View of the Authority of the Bible?

The view that the Bible is inspired by God but able to be interpreted for people today

Summarise the revelation of St Ignatius of Loyola

While he was recovering, he read many religious texts which motivated him to make a pilgrimage to 'Holy Land'. He thought that his plan was confirmed by a vision of the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus he experienced one night, which resulted in much consolation to him.

He is also said to have many visions during the night of him being visited by angels and demons

What are some arguments to prove the revelation truly happened? (2)

1) He prayed for 7 hours a day, so the visions

could have been God's way of answering

and to talking to him

2) It would be unlikely that he lied as during

Medieval Europe, demons were sent down

to torment you and for him to lie he would

have purposely admitted to having done

something sinful

What are some arguments to prove the revelation didn't happen? (2)

1) He had just finished serving in a war so his visions could have been on account of his trauma, and his way of coping

2) He had been in love with his sister-in-law, so psychologists argue that is visions of angels were a manifestation of his erotic dreams and his 'demons' were his guilt for it.

What is a verse in the Bible that confirms special (personal) revelation?

"When there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions" - Numbers 12:6