TP - Christian beliefs and teachings

explain 2 beliefs about god omnipotence

• this is sometimes misunderstood as god can do anything when it really means god can do anything that is logically possible

• it is believed nothing can defeat gods power

give 2 quotes that show gods omnipotence

• Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth“

• “Nothing is impossible with God“

2 ways God’s omnipotence may influence christians

• to pray for miracles as they believe god can intervene, performed miracles through Jesus e.g. healing the blind and deaf

• Behave morally because they believe he has the power to reward or punish

Explain 2 problems with God’s omnibenevolence

• How can God be omnibenevolent yet evil and suffering still exist in our world, problem of evil

• the inconsistencies in suffering/ unequal, if God loved us all equally he we would all experience and equal amount of suffering

2 quotes showing Gods omnibenevolence

• ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but shall have eternal life.’ (John 3:16)

• God’s love is shown by his actions in the world e.g. miracles

2 ways belief about God’s omnibenevolence may influence Christians

• to follow Gods model, he shows love to everyone so Christians will want to show love to everyone

• believing God is loving and forgiving may influence Christians to do the same and forgive rather than holding grudges

explain 2 belief about Gods omniscience

• God possesses timeless knowledge ( past, present, future ) meaning that he knows what will happen to each individual, comfort to Christians knowing God has a plan for them

• the fact he knows what has, is and will happen shows him as the truly perfect and true source for knowledge, meaning the bible is a true source as it is God’s words

2 quotes that show Gods omniscience

• “God is greater than our heart and he knows everything“ 1 John 3:20

• “And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account" Hebrew 4:13

• Matthew 10 - hair on head

2 beliefs about Gods omniscience that may influence Christians

• May influence Christians not to sin and behave morally because if God sees all then he will know and it could cause them to be punished by him later

• Influence Christians to read the bible because if God knows all then his words are surely true and the bible is essentially God’s word

• May influence Christians to worship/ believe in God if he knows all then he has a plan for them in life, placing their total trust in his guidance and may shrink their worries about the future

2 problems with God’s omnipotence

• Problem of evil, If God is all powerful why does evil and suffering still exist

• the stone paradox - he cant lift he isn’t omnipotent, he can’t create a stone heavy enough he isn’t omnipotent

• if God is all powerful why did it take him 6 days to create the world

• “It was impossible for God to lie“ Hebrew 6:18

2 beliefs about Gods omnibenevolence

• God’s love is AGAPE - unconditional love - for mankind as he wants what is best for them and created them to love them

• Gods love is limitless in time and he will forgive all wrongs

2 problems with Gods omniscience

• How can humans have free will if God knows with certainty what will happen, then the action is necessary not free

• if God knew evil would happen and had the power and love to stop it why didn’t he

2 beliefs that about God as just

• God is fair but in an absolute sense, not under any influence or bias, he can be this because he is transcendent and omniscient so can judge with clarity and hates injustice

• unlimited power and total love means perfect giver of justice

2 ways God as Just may influence Christians

• Influence them to work towards social justice e.g. giving to charities like Christian aid or supporting fairtrade

• God is fair and treats all equally so Christians mat aim to do the same

• even with injustices it influences Christians to have faith that they will be rewarded in the after life

2 quotes that can be used for a question on God’s justice

• “Let justice roll on like a river“ Amos 5 - emphasises that God delights in Justice and righteousness

• “He rules the world in righteousness and judges the people with equity” Psalm 9:8

2 problems with the idea of God as just

• problem of evil

• the idea of eternal punishment is considered disproportionate and unjust in human moral standards

Natural evil

evil that occurs by natural processes e.g. earthquakes, tsunamis, disease

moral evil

the acts of humans which are considered to be morally wrong e.g. murder, slavery, severe dishonesty

2 problems with augustine’s argument

MISUSE OF FREE WILL

• The idea of perfection - how can something so perfect go wrong and why would God if so omni… choose to create something flawed, this means he is the root of evil as he created a flawed universe and limits his omnibenevolence

• Requires pre-existing faith - To agree with this idea you need to believe in the fall, and recent developments in science e.g. evolution can make it hard to accept and evidence suggests natural before moral evil so how can it be a punishment for corruption of free will if it came before the fall

Augustines theodicy - response to problem of evil

Augustine argues that evil was a consequence of the misuse of free will by adam and eve. By choosing to rebel against God and give in to temptation they caused free will which is good in itself to be corrupted. This argument shifts the blame from God and protects his attributes

He also argues that natural evil is caused by the moral revolt and it set nature awry destroying Gods perfect harmony, natural disasters are a punishment/ penalties for moral evil

quote for augustine

“all evil is either sin or the punishment for sin“

Irenaen Theodicy + Hick

argues the existence of evil is justified as it leads to greater moral goodness for example after a natural disaster there are more acts of sympathy and compassion

It is central to this theory that humans were created in Gods image “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness“ Genesis 1:26

The idea God purposefully made humans imperfect, but also gave us the capacity and potential to become morally perfect but to achieve this we need suffering

if humans were perfect it would take away their free will and our flaws are what give us the chance to develop and grow through a soul-making process into children of God

epistemic distance

Hick thinks that we have to learn goodness and perfection throughout life, and god brought evil for our benefit

Irenean Theodicy - natural evil

Its argued 2 ways, evil effects can be a source of knowledge for us e.g. if you never felt the pain of hunger you wouldn’t know you need food for survival, Swinburne argues we couldn’t learn the art of goodness, we need evil to distinguish between good and bad, in order to choose the good, and improve as moral beings

secondly it can be seen as a form of soul-making, character building and creates opportunities for humans to grow morally. In this theodicy there is no eternal hell but there is the idea that we might need multiple lives to reach perfection, God wants all humans to eventually reach perfection.

2 problem with Irenaean theodicy

Not in line with traditional christian teaching - rejects the fall and idea of hell and Jesus loses his crucial role as the savior, if he isnt our redeemer and disbelief in christ wont result in eternal punishment does Christ have a role at all.

Not all evil is soul-making - Evil doesn’t always benefit humanity for example natural disasters can show our selfishness by wanting to save ourselves over others

Amount of suffering - Is the amount of suffering necessary, Hume argues the amount of observable human suffering is a powerful argument against the existence of God and his omnibenevolence - counter argument by swinburne is that we have limits to our suffering e.g. passing out once pain reaches a certain intensity

what is the problem of evil

It is one of the most significant objections to Gods existence, Hume argues in his ‘Inconsistent Triad‘ that you either alter Gods attributes but then he wouldn’t be the God of classical Theism or deny the existence of evil in the world which is impossible. Meaning God can’t exist.

Mackies inconsistent Triad

all 3 points of triangle can’t exist at once.