Christianity Beliefs and teachings (Content) - RE GCSE - Eduqas Route A

What is:
Omnibenevolent
Omnipotent
Trinity
Incarnation

Omnibenevolent - The state of being all-loving and infinitely good, a characteristic often attributed to God.
Omnipotent - The all powerful, almighty and unlimited nature of God
Trinity - 3 persons of God: God the father, the holy spirit and the son
Incarnation - God becoming human in the form of Jesus

What is?
Atonement
Resurrection
Sacraments
Evangelism

Atonement - The belief that Jesus' death on the cross healed the rift between humans and God
Resurrection - The belief that Jesus rose from the dead on easter Sunday, conquering death.
Sacraments - An outward sign of an invisible and inward blessing by God, e.g. baptism and Eucharist.
Evangelism - Preaching of the gospel to others with the intention of converting others to the Christian faith.

What is Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnibenevolent, Transcendent and Eternal?

Omnipresent is God being everywhere, Omnipotent is God being all powerful, Omniscient is God being all-knowing. Omnibenevolent is God being all loving. Transcendent is outside of this world, and Eternal is existing forever without end.

What are beliefs on creation and Genesis?

Christians believe God created everything and is still involved with the world, he is the creator of the universe. Humans are created in the image of God to be a representative. Liberal Christians believe that Genesis is a symbol and it is not actually 7, it represents millions of years. Literallest christians believe gods spirit moved acroos waters. In 6 days god created the world. Adam was formed out of the dust of the earth and Eve was made from one of his ribs.

Why is the holy spirit important in worship?

In sacraments, the holy spirits come down on them as they are being performed. In Evangelical worship, it is important as worshippers are moved by the spirit, they believe it is present and influences them in their prayer. The holy spirit can also faith heal, by the holy spirit healing people during services.

Who is the Son Jesus Christ, and what is the holy spirit?

The son Jesus Christ is God in human form, the way God reveals themselves to the world. The Holy Spirit was sent when Jesus ascended to heaven, and he helped and was an advocate. It is present during creation. It guides, comforts and helps Christians follow Jesus, bringing them closer to God, it is present during worship such as baptism and other special occasions.

Why was Jesus sent as God's incarnate and what miracles did he perform?

Jesus was sent to forgive the original sin of Adam and Eve as they ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge. Because of this humans inherited the original sin and caused a rift between humanity and God, which is a broken relationship. They also believe that they saved them from the rift caused by the fall.

Jesus performed miracles such as the virgin birth, feeding of 5000, healing the blind, Jesus' resurrection.

What was Jesus's atonement like and what is a Messiah?

Jesus teachings brought him into conflict with Jewish authorities, they accused him of speaking disrespectfully about God, he was arrested and crucified. To ensure for a painful death, he was said to have a crown of thorns on his head. Christians believed he was truly God and truly human so suffered like any human, it also shows God understands human suffering.

A Messiah is the anointed one, believed to be the saviour of the people foretold in the old testament.

What was the purpose of the atonement?

God sent himself in the form of Jesus to earth, to repair the broken relationship, caused by the fall of Adam and Eve, this resulted in the original sin, through Jesus's death he payed the price for human sin and gave humankind salvation so they can go to heaven. Jesus became the sacrifice to atone the sins of humanity, his death meant that there was no need to sacrifice a lamb anymore.

What was the last supper and why was it significant?

The Last supper is when the last time Jesus ate with his disciples, this is represented now with holy communion, where Christians eat bread to represent Jesus' body and drink wine to represent his blood, they will perform eucharist by doing this. The Last supper is significant as it is the last time he ate with his disciples, Jesus is omniscient as he knows how to die, and he knows that judice will betray him.

Christian beleif in ressurection

The spiritual part of a person (soul) goes to heaven with God when believers die.
• At the end of time there will be a physical resurrection, that is brought back to life with physical bodies.
• All will be judged as to their faith and their deeds, before their final destiny is decreed.
• 'The trumpet of the Lord will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will all be changed?' (1 Corinthians 15:52.)
• There will be a new order: eternal life or immortality (1 Corinthians
15:54-55 - 'the perishable has been clothed with imperishable, and the mortal with immortality; ... death has been swallowed up in victory.)

What is the ascension and why is it important?

The Ascension is Jesus' arrival into Heaven, it is important as it is seen as a blessing, he appeared to the disciples and after a short period of time he rose up to heaven. Some Christians believe that he physically ascended to heaven in a literal sense, others may believe that it is symbolic in showing Jesus's time in human form was over. It marks the end of Jesus' on earth in a physical way but shows Jesus spirit and how Christians accept it.

Why is the Bible important and what are the different interpretations of it?

The Bible is important to all Christian lives as they can know more about God, in addition it is a source of authority and can turn to it for advice on how to live. It also inspires Christians to live a good life and it is read often to remind them of he importance and influence it brings them, it is how God wants us to live

Some different interpretations of the bible is that it is the word of God and it is a divine revelation, some may say that it is a book that needs interpretation, the teaching needs to be adopted into modern societies. In addition some say it is more liberal and the belief that the events that occurred in the bible are symbolic stories.

Other sources of authority

Religious scripture (Qur'an, Bible),UK Law,British Values,Parents,Scholars, imams or Shari'ah Law (Islam)
Priests, vicars, pastors (Christianity), Founders of Faith and prophets
the church means to christians:
Body Of Christ
God speaks through the church
Makes sure people have the same beliefs
Gives guidence
Community of beliers

What is the triangle of inconsistent triad?

There are 3 moral laws/beliefs about the world, they can't all be true. God is either omnipotent, omnibenevolent and evil does not exist, God is omnipotent but not omnibenevolent and evil exists by God will. Or God is omnibenevolent but not omnipotent and evil exists but it is not within God's power to stop it.

What reasons do Christians give for presence of evil and suffering?

God has given everyone free will, and most make own choices some of which result in evil. God shares in our suffering, Suffering is a test(Relate to jobs story ), suffering is a result of sin (e.g. Noah's ark) There is force of evil in the world sometimes characterised as Satan, devil was seen as fallen angel and thrown out of heaven.

What is soul-shaping and soul-deciding?

Soul-shaping - Theologian Irenaeus suggested how we deal with suffering gives us the opportunity to become a better person and evil has to exist.

Soul-deciding - Theologian Augustine, stated all humans were created perfectly and were given free will. Humans use that free will to turn from God and choose to sin, which brings evil and suffering to the world.

What is the story of Job?

God wanted to test his faith as Satan thinks he only worships him because of his privilege. God takes everything from him to see if he still worships God, and he does which shows that suffering is a test of God to test peoples faiths and humans will never understand why God does things, after his test he gets stuff back.

How to protestants and Catholics believe you achieve salvation?

Protestants believe they must have faith in Jesus and follow his teachings to achieve salvation. Catholics believe you achieve salvation by taking part in sacraments. They believe baptism washes them clean of their sin and by confessing sins, they are freed from them.

In the Christian doctrine of salvation, God has rescued us through Jesus. Specifically, it was Jesus' death on the cross and resurrection that achieved our salvation. Scripture is clear that salvation is the gracious, undeserved gift of God and is only available through faith in Jesus Christ.

What are beliefs about the afterlife?

Life is a preparation for an afterlife to be in Heaven with God and shows life doesn't end, in addition if Jesus wasn't raised there would be no afterlife which is the purpose of their religion. In addition you must believe in Jesus to go to heaven, you can't be in heaven if you don't follow the path of Jesus as he will bring you to heaven with him.
heaven and hell.
O Christian belief in the afterlife
• There is eternal life after death, received through faith. (Matthew
25:46:
... the righteous [those who respond to Jesus and those in need in the world] go to eternal life?)
• Entry to heaven depends on a person's response to Jesus, and to those in need on earth.
• Resurrection is expected, because of the resurrection of Jesus. (John
11:25: 'I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believe in me will live, even though they die?')
• There is a hell — the opposite of heaven — a place of separation from God. (Matthew 25:46: '
... then they [who have not responded to Jesus
or those in need in the world] will go away to eternal punishment ...?
• Catholics believe there is a purgatory, a place of cleansing that is between earth and heaven; prayers can be said for those in purgatory, to shorten their stay there.

What can be learnt from the parable of the rich man and Lazarus and the parable of the sheep and the goats?

Parable of rich man and Lazarus - That God will judge you if you do not help others, people who suffer go to heaven, people who don't suffer and don't help go to hell. This may cause Christians to help people.

Parable of sheep and goats - Humans will be divided into heaven and hell, people in hell will be punished and people in heaven will be rewarded. This will influence Christians to do good so they don't perish in hell and be separated from God.

What is Purgatory? (Catholicsm)

The Belief that many people who die cannot gain immediate entry into heaven because they are stained by their sins, they go to the waiting room. They get cleansed and purified before going to heaven, people in purgatory on the day of judgement will go to heaven. they be judged by god for their quality of life on judegment day

What are different types of Christian beliefs on the afterlife?

Evangelical Christians believe heaven and hell are more physical places that hell is a place of torment and heaven is paradise, your physical body is taken there.

Liberal Christians believe that heaven is with God for eternity and hell is separation from God for eternity and is more spiritual, your soul is taken.

Hell

the place of eternal suffering or the state of being without God.

What is the resurrection and why is it important?

The Resurrection is the belief that Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Sunday, conquering death. It is important as it is when Jesus rose to death after his crucifixion and atoning for our sin. It is the greatest miracle every recorded in the new testament and is evidence that Jesus is god and shows that there is an afterlife. Some of Jesus' followers went to his tomb, hey found the stone covering the mouth of tomb, when they rolled the stone away the tomb was empty.Resurrection is important. Without the Resurrection there is no salvation.