Believing in God

This unit is based on Christianity only

What you need to know:

Key words — agnosticism, atheism, conversion, free will, miracle, moral evil, natural evil, numinous, omni-benevolent, omnipotent, omniscient, prayer

• The main features of a religious upbringing in Christianity and how it may lead to belief in God.

• How religious experiences, as seen in the numinous, conversion, miracles and prayer, may lead to belief in God.

• The argument from design and causation and how it may, or may not, lead to belief in God.

• Why scientific explanations of the origins of the world may lead some people not to believe in God and how Christians responds to scientific explanations of the origins of the world.

• Why unanswered prayers may lead some people not to believe in God and how Christians respond to the problem of unanswered prayers.

• Why evil and suffering may lead some people not to believe in God and how one religion responds to the problem of evil and suffering.

• How two television and/or radio programmes and/or films about religion may affect a person’s attitude to belief in God.

Match up the keywords

1. Omniscient

2. Benevolent

3. Omnipotent

4. Agnostic

5. Atheist

6. Theist

a. God is all loving

b. The belief that God exists

c. God is all knowing

d. The belief the God does not exist

e. God is all powerful

f. A person who is not sure if God exists or not

Religious upbringing and how it can lead to belief in God• Just after birth many Christians choose to baptise their children in

to the faith. This is where parents promise to raise the child in the Christian faith.

• Children will be taught how to pray and will be brought up hearing stories from the Bible and so will hear from a young age that God exists, and that He is good.

• Children may go to youth organisations such as girl guides and scouts which teach children how to live a good Christian life by helping others.

• Children may go to faith schools which teaches children about God along side the usual school things.

• When becoming a teenager a Christian may be confirmed as a Christian which is when they confirm that they take seriously the promises made on their behalf at their baptism.

1. Miracles – when something happens which goes against nature and is thought to be impossible e.g Jesus walked on water. It must be God who does these things because he is omnipotent and can do the impossible.

2. Conversion – when a person changes religion from another or no faith. In the Bible St Paul was converted from being a Christian hater to a person who spread the faith. A person gets an overwhelming feeling that God exists and must be followed.

3. Numinous – a feeling that there must be something greater than us e.g when someone looks at a great building or landscape. This something is God.

How experiences can lead to belief in God

4. Prayer – this is a personal way of communicating with God. It can vary from praising God to asking for help. It may lead to belief, especially if they seem to get a response to their prayer.

More on answered and unanswered prayers later on!

Reasons people doNot believe in God

Suffering from natural disasters! How could God allow it to happen?

Scientific theories such as the Big Bang have ‘proven’ that God did not make the world

God is supposed to care but he does not seem to answer prayers

If miracles happen why doesn’t everyone get one? Surely God loves us all?

Unanswered prayers

Not everyone’s prayers get answered but if God was omnipotent he should have the power to help no matter how big the request is.

If God was omni-benevolent he should show his love by answering prayers. Many prayers are from those wanting to stop suffering yet most seem to go unanswered.

• People may come to believe that God CAN’T exist if their prayers are not answered because:

What Christians may say in response to unanswered prayers:

Not all prayers need answering – some are prayers praising God

Some prayers contradict others e.g. if a football supporter asked for their team

to win, what is God to do if a supporter from

the opposite side prays for the same

thing?

Some prayers ask for bad

things so God can’t answer

them e.g. wanting God to

hurt or kill someone

God may have actually answered a prayer, but in a way

that was unexpected.

God has a plan and so won’t answer

prayers that don’t fit with this plan, no matter how it may

seem to us

Creation arguments

Many people argue that creation theories either do or don’t prove the existence of

God. There are 4 main ideas:

1. The scientific Big Bang Theory

2. The Cosmological Argument

3. The Design Argument

4. The Christian Creation story

The Big Bang TheoryMany scientists believe this although they can not actually

prove it is true. They only think that it is likely, some don’t actually agree.

• Billions of years ago a singularity (smaller than an atom) exploded creating matter the size of a grapefruit

• Over time this expanded and cooled down• Gases clumped together• Over millions of years the gases formed planets• Millions of years ago Earth was formed and eventually

life evolved

Not all scientists agree on this, it is only a suggestion!

The Design ArgumentIf a C question asks you to explain why God may exist based on the

argument by Design, these are the 4 points you need to make:

1. Complex things aren’t a random chance, they have a designer. William Paley said this about a pocket watch – if you had never seen one you would not assume it came together by chance

2. The world is complex too and so can’t be random chance, it must have had a designer. Complex things such as they eye, the human body, the eco-system seem too perfect to be random

3. Only a thing know that is big enough and powerful enough to have made a world is God

4. Therefore there must be an assumption that God exists

The Cosmological ArgumentThis can sometimes be called the causation argument or the argument

for God based on cause and it goes like this:

1. Everything has a cause, including Earth

2. Either the cause of Earth goes back forever to infinity OR there must have been a first cause which itself did not have one

3. Logic says that there must have been a first cause at some point (called the uncausable cause)

4. Religious people says that this must be God as he is the only thing capable of being this powerful (omnipotent) and so God must exist

Many Christians argue that God is the cause of the Big Bang, based on this argument

The Creation story

This is the Christian version of how the world was made and is recorded in the first book in the Bible – Genesis. Many Christians believe that it did not literally happen, it just represents what God did. However, others believe this is exactly how it happened and that God put fossils in the earth to fool people

This story says that God created the world in 7 days. • He formed the earth and made day and night• He created the plants and trees• He created the animals, and lastly he created humans to

look after everything• On the 7th day he rested

Test yourself!

1. What does ‘numinous’ mean?2. How can experiences lead to belief in God?3. What is conversion?4. List 3 things that Christian families do to raise their

children as Christians which can make them believe in God

5. Give 2 reasons why people may not believe that God exists

6. What is another name for the cosmological argument?7. What did William Paley say about design?8. Give examples of things in nature that some people

say are too complex to be random chance9. What do Christians think about the Big Bang theory?

The problem of evil and suffering

Many people question the existence of God based on the problem of evil and suffering. They may ask:

• If God was omnipotent (all powerful) couldn’t he get rid of it? He would surely stop natural disasters from happening???

• If God was omniscient (all Knowing) wouldn’t he know what was going to happen and stop it? Surely he would warn people of natural disasters or moral evil??

• If God was benevolent (all loving) wouldn’t he want to stop people suffering? Surely he wouldn’t let children die of diseases etc???

• This is a problem as all of this makes people question if God exists and lead to some no longer believing.

Natural Evil: suffering caused by natural disasters

• Volcanoes, floods and drought etc cause thousands of people to suffer each year.

• They are usually in the poorest regions and people have no control over them

• Over 200 million people a year die of malnutrition, they have no control over where they are born or the circumstances they are in

• Many people all over the world die of incurable diseases such as cancer

Moral evil: suffering caused by people

• Murder

• Rape

• Assault

• Theft

The Christian response to suffering• Suffering is a consequence of human sin in some cases e.g. getting lung

cancer through smoking. Sin was only introduced when Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the book of Genesis in the Bible – it was not part of God’s plan. Suffering was part of God’s punishment.

• Suffering comes from an evil power opposite to God. Christians call this power Satan. (In argument to this some ask where this opposite power came from?)

• Only God knows the meaning of suffering. Some Bible passages show us this e.g. in the book of Job, in the Old Testament, Job was tested by God, and Job still showed complete faith to God even in the worst of times.

• Suffering is the beginning not the end. God did not leave humans on their own to suffer, he sent down his son Jesus. God shared in suffering in this way.

• Jesus suffered on the cross, but this was only so that humans could then find an end to suffering once they die and reach heaven. Death itself means that people can be united with God.

Test yourself

1. What is natural and moral evil?

2. Why is evil and suffering a problem to some people when considering if God exists?

3. Explain 4 Christian responses to evil and suffering (why do they say God can exist even though suffering exists?)

How two television and/or radio programmes and/or films about religion may affect a person’s attitude to belief in God.

Songs of Praise

This programme is weekly and shows hymns, sermons and discusses how to be a good Christian. It is a Christian programme aimed at Christians

It may affect a person’s belief in God because:• It features people saying how God has helped them, or made their

lives better• It shows many people worshipping so may inspire people to believe

that he exists• It shows people singing hymns which say how good and loving God

is which may lead people to want to know more• It teaches about Christianity and what it means to be a follower

Root of all Evil

This is a documentary presented by atheist Richard Dawkins. It may affect a person’s belief/attitude

towards God because it is very biased that God does not exist:

• It uses emotive language which pokes fun religious people and hints that they are or have the potential to do evil. It calls followers ‘sheep’ and ‘deluded’.

• It gives examples of bad things religious people have done in the past but does not mention any good things that religion does.

• It tries to show that religion is not based on anything which can be proven e.g. says that official teachings were made up by popes, that the Creation story is wrong based on scientific evidence of evolution

• The tone of the presenter’s voice implies that it would be wrong and silly to be religious

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Who Wants to be a R.S -

Believing in God Millionaire

Instructions: click once to get to the next

slide and wait for the Q and possible answers. Click again to find out the correct answer

50:50

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A: A Christian

C: Someone who believes in God

B: Someone who does not believe in God

D: Someone who is not sure if there is a God or not

50:50

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What is an atheist?

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C: Someone who does

not believe in God

B: Someone who believes in God

D: Someone unsure if they believe in God or not

50:50

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What is an agnostic?

A: A Christian

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A: The Cosmological Argument

C: Big Bang Theory

B: The Design Argument

D: The Creation story

50:50

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What is this theory called?:

Nothing happens by itself, everything needs a cause. Therefore the universe

must have a cause. As the universe is so big only God can be the cause, therefore

God exists

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A: A scientist

C: All religious people

B: A Christian

D: No one

50:50

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Who believes in

the Big Bang

Theory?

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A: Religious upbringing

C: Education

B: Conversion

D: Miracles

50:50

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Which is the odd one out?

This is because the others often lead people to believe in God, yet education only (or should) teach people about what religious people think and do.

Congratulations!

You’ve ReachedYou’ve Reached

the £1,000the £1,000

Milestone!Milestone!

Congratulations!Congratulations!

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A: RS lessons at school

C: Being prayed for

B: Baptism and Sunday School

D: Praying at meal times

50:50

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Which event/s will most likely help someone having a religious

upbringing believe?

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A: Awe

C: Miracle

B: Conversion

D: Numinous

50:50

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What means an experience

which arouses a deep spiritual

feeling?

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A: A pocket watch

C: A radio

B: A clock

D: A tv

50:50

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In the Design argument, what did William Paley compare the design of

the world to?

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A: The Bible

C: Suffering and evil

B: People

D: Not going to church

50:50

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What can lead some people to question if

God exists?

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A: suffering from car crashes

C: Mental illness

B: when people hurt each other

D: suffering from natural disasters e.g

floods

50:50

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What is natural evil?

Congratulations!

You’ve ReachedYou’ve Reached

the £32,000the £32,000

Milestone!Milestone!

Congratulations!Congratulations!

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A: Benevolent

C: Omniscient

B: Omnipotent

D: Strong

50:50

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Which word means that God is all powerful and

nothing is beyond his power?

One way to remember this might be to remember the P’s

OmniPotent = Powerful

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A: God alone knows the meaning of suffering

C: God can’t stop suffering

B: Suffering comes from an opposite power - Satan

D: Suffering is a result of sin brought in to the world

by humans

50:50

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Which is NOT a Christian response to

suffering?

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A: Deal with it – it’s life

C: Suffering is all part of the Bible and it’s what God

wants

B: You have to have downs to feel the ups in

life

D: God joined in suffering by sending

Jesus

50:50

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What is 1 Christian approach to suffering?

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A: Songs of Praise

C: Bruce Almighty

B: East is East

D: Coronation Street

50:50

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Which is a programme we

studied which may affect someone’s attitude towards

God?

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A: Bangladesh cyclone

C: 20 million dying of malnutrition

B: Rhys Jones shot

D: Children born with incurable diseases

50:50

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Which is the odd one out?

This is because the others are forms of natural evil, yet Reece Jones being

murdered is an act of moral evil

YOU WIN £1 MILLION!