RE TOPIC 1- BELIEF IN GOD

ATHIESTS-Someone who does not believe in the excistance of god.

AGNOSTIC-Someone who is unsure

THIEST- Someone who believes in god.

Athiests are people who DO NOT believe in the exsistance of god. They could be a scientist or have other reasons to not believe in god. Possibly their parents are not religious so neither are they. 

Agnostics are people who are unsure about the exsistance of god. One reason for this view is having no reason to believe in god, but no reason not to believe either. 

Thiests are people who are certain that god exsists. Some reasons for this view is having witnessed a miracle, or having had a religious upbringing, eg being baptised and going to church every sunday. 

NUMINOUS- A feeling of awe (eg in church, you know to be respectful- a feeling).

MIRACLE- An act of god eg someone surviving an accident when they should have died.

MYSTICAL- To 'see' or hear god (eg a ghost of Mary ect) eg the miracle at knock.

CONVERSION- to change your religion, eg becominf religious after a near death experience ect. 

ANSWERED PRAYERS- Prayers that are answered eg someone praying for someone to reccover from illness and then they do. 

William Paley's design argument was that if you found a watch laying in the grass and you asked someone how it got there and they just said it was just there you wouldn't believe them because its too elaborate to just be there, when you consider the materials perfectly shaped and in the right place for the watch to function. So if you ask someone who everyone got on the earth and they just said were just here you could argue that we are too elaborate to just be here, someone would have had to design the world to make an environment we could live in and the advanced structure of our DNA. For example take a sixteen piece puzzle, if you threw all the pieces up in the air, it is almost impossible for the pieces in the right order. So if you were to throw all of the worlds components up into the air it is extremely unlikely that all the components would land in the correct place, this is also true for DNA structure.   

How it all start?

A very famous early Christian writer called Thomas Aquinos said that the life cycle is one way to prove the existence of god because it clearly shows a cause and effect taking place. whatever we do, if it has an effect even if we can not see it happening he called this theory: the first cause. Thomas Aquinas said you have to ask how did the universe get there to get everything started.Thomas Aquinas said the big bang couldn't be the start of the universe because there must have been something to cause the big bang. Thomas Aquinas said that only god could have triggered the big bang because he is the only thing that didn't have to be created.  Although scientists argue that the big bang theory and is the most logical explanation, this is the theory that the universe began in an explosion of matter and energy, it is said that this explosion created planets, stars and everything else. 

Whereas religion argues that we have always been in human form from Adam and Eve, scientists back Charles Darwin's theory that we evolved from monkeys.  

Sometimes if a family member of friend went into hospital for example you may pray for them, this means asking god to help them. sometimes these prayers are answered for example the person you prayed for might recover from illness and return to being healthy. But sometimes these prayers aren't answered, sometimes the person you prayed for in hopsital may die. In these situations people question gods exsistance. Because if god exsisted why would he let people die of illness and natural disaster, people also say if god exsisted he would answer all paryers.   

Evil and suffering is a big factor when people consider whether god exists or not, some people argue if god was real he wouldn't let innocent people suffer. Christians say god has a reason for allowing pain and suffering that no one could ever understand. 

There are two types of evil, moral evil, man made evil. And also there is natural evil, evil that people cant prevent, such as earthquakes and tsunamis. 

Some people say that god cant do anything about human suffering but this contradicts the belief that god is all powerful.

Some people say god doesn't care about human suffering but this contradicts the belief that god is all loving.

Some people say that god doesn't know about human suffering but this contradicts the belied that god is all knowing.