Believing in God

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  • Believing in God
    • Design and Belief in God
      • The universe must have been designed
        • Anything that is designed must have a designer
          • God must exist, only God could have designed the universe
        • Some scientists see evidence of design
          • In Evolution where complex life-forms develop from simple ones
        • Plenty of evidence: laws of science (gravity, magnetism, DNA)
    • Causation and Belief in God
      • Causation one thing causing another
        • Everything sees to have a cause makes people think the universe must have a cause
        • God is the only logical cause of the Universe, therefore God must exist
    • Scientific explanations of the world leads people to being agnostic
      • Matter is eternal
        • the Universe began when the matter exploded (Big Bang)
          • The Solar System came out of the explosion
            • The nature of the Earth allowed life to develop through evolution
      • Big Bang Theory
      • Red shift
        • Universe is still expanding
    • Christian response to scientific explanations of the world
      • Only God could have made the big bang
        • Only God could have made the laws (gravity etc)
          • Only God could have made the gases on Earth react to form life
      • All evidence for the Big Bang and Evolution can be explained by the Bible
        • Noah's flood and the Apparent Age theory
          • This response is known as creationism
    • Unanswered prayers
      • The feeling that no one is listening to their prayers leads them to be agnostic, or even atheist
      • Christians believe selfish prayers are answered, but not in the way the person praying may want
      • Christians believe prayers may not be answered in the way you expect because God has different plans
        • might not look like a direct answer
        • God will answer their prayers in the best possible way
    • Evil and Suffering
      • Christians follow the example of Jesus and fight against evil and suffering.
        • Jesus fought evil and suffering by healing the sick, feeding the hungry etc
          • Christians do this by praying for and helping those who suffer
      • If God is omniscient (all knowing) he must have known the evil and suffering that would come from the universe
      • If God is omnipotent (all powerful) and omni-benevolent (all good) he must be able to remove evil and suffering from the world
        • For many religious believers, evil and suffering becomes a problem if they experience it, this can change them into an atheist or agnostic
      • Natural evil is suffering that has not been caused by humans (earthquakes, floods, cancers)
      • Moral evil caused by humans misusing their free will (murder, ****)
      • Some Christians believe Evil and suffering will only come to those who misuse their free will
        • Evil and suffering is caused by humans, not God
      • Other Christians believe evil and suffering is preparation for paradise
        • They need to face it to become good, kind and loving
  • Evil and Suffering
    • Christians follow the example of Jesus and fight against evil and suffering.
      • Jesus fought evil and suffering by healing the sick, feeding the hungry etc
        • Christians do this by praying for and helping those who suffer
    • If God is omniscient (all knowing) he must have known the evil and suffering that would come from the universe
    • If God is omnipotent (all powerful) and omni-benevolent (all good) he must be able to remove evil and suffering from the world
      • For many religious believers, evil and suffering becomes a problem if they experience it, this can change them into an atheist or agnostic
    • Natural evil is suffering that has not been caused by humans (earthquakes, floods, cancers)
    • Moral evil caused by humans misusing their free will (murder, ****)
    • Some Christians believe Evil and suffering will only come to those who misuse their free will
      • Evil and suffering is caused by humans, not God
    • Other Christians believe evil and suffering is preparation for paradise
      • They need to face it to become good, kind and loving

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