EDEXCEL GCSE Religion and Life: Christianity and Islam

Believing in God

Numinous: the feeling of the presence of something greater than you, for example in a church or looking up at the stars.
Conversion: when your life is changed by giving yourself to God.
Miracle: Something which seems to break a law of science and makes
you think only God could have done it.
Prayer: an attempt to contact God, usually through words.
Agnosticism: not being sure whether God exists.
Atheism: believing that God does not exist.
Moral evil: actions done by humans which cause suffering.
Natural evil: things which cause suffering but have nothing to do with
humans, for example earthquakes.
Omnipotent: the belief that God is all-powerful.
Omni-benevolent: the belief that God is all good/kind.
Omniscient: the belief that God knows everything that has happened and everything that is going to happen.
Free will: The idea that human beings are free to make their own choices.

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Design: when things are connected and seem to have a purpose, for example the eye is designed for seeing.
Causation: the principle that everything is caused by something else.
Theist: A person who believes in God.
Baptism: The Christian rite of initiation that welcomes a person into the Christian community.
Bible: The sacred text of Christianity.
Confirmation: Where a young Christian makes the baptismal vows for him/herself (the descision of staying in the religion or not).
Initiation ceremony: A ritual that welcomes a person as a new member of a community or group that holds a certain set of beliefs.
Testimony: A public statement of faith and belief.
Holiness: Having the characteristic of being set apart for God's purpose.
Mystical experience: Experiencing God's voice or a religious vision.
Near-death experience: An experience after clinical death and before resuscitation.

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Confession of sins: Admitting wrongdoing against God.
Intercession: Praying for others.
Meditation: Thinking deeply about spiritual things.
Petitions: Requests made of God.
Thanksgiving: Giving thanks to God for what God has done.
Worship: Praising God.
Analogy: A way of comparing two similar things to highlight their similarities.
'Big bang' theory: The theory that an enormous explosion started the universe around 15 million years ago.
Creationists:Religious believers who believe that the world was created by God in six days, exactly as described in Genesis.
Evolution: The gradual development of species over millions of years.
Natural selection: The way in which species naturally select the best characteristics for survival.

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Resurrection: the belief that, after death, the body stays in the grave until the end of the world when it is raised.
Reincarnation: the belief that souls are reborn in another body after death.
Immortality of the soul: the idea that the soul lives on after the death of the body.
Paranormal: unexplained things which are thought to have spiritual causes for example ghosts and mediums.
Abortion: the removal of a foetus from the womb before it can survive.
Sanctity of life: the belief that life is holy and belongs to God.
Euthanasia: an easy and gentle death.
Assisted suicide: providing a seriously ill person with the means to commit suicide.
Voluntary euthanasia: the situation where someone dying in pain asks a doctor to end her/his life painlessly.
Non-voluntary euthanasia: ending someone’s life painlessly when they are unable to ask, but you have good reason for thinking they would want you to do so eg switching off a life-support machine.
Quality of life: the idea that life must have some benefits for it to be worth living.

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