Believing in God

Causes a belief in God:

• Baptism - you become part of God's family - this means you automatically believe there must be a God.
• Prayer - feel you are talking to someone - that is God, so he must exist.
• Mass - you see other people worshipping, they cannot all be wrong - God must exist.
• Catholic Schools - in RE lessons you are taught about God - therfore he must exist.

Rejection to a belief in God:

• Unanswered Prayers - they are not answered, there is nothing there - God mustn't exist.
• Catholic Schools - you meet atheists who don't believe - they convince you there is no God.
• Science - you are taught about the Big Bang - this disproves God and the creation.

Cause a belief in God:

• Miracle - break the laws of science, the only explanation is God, therefore he must exist.
• Conversion - only God is omnipotent, so is the only being capable of converting someone's life that much.
• Prayer - you feel like you are talking to someone, that is God, so he must exist.
• Numinous - God is the only omnipotent being so is the only being that is able to inspire such feelings.

Rejection to a belief in God:

• Unanswered prayers - there is nothing there talking and listening to you, so God does not exist.
• Numinous might not be God. 
• God is not always the answer, in the future there might be more answers. In the past people could not explain things and said they were because of God, however we have different answers now.

Causes a belief in God:

• To design something takes intelligence and thought so there must be a designer, this is God as he is the only omniscient being.
• William Paley analogy.
• God is the only being who is omnipotent, able to create their design.
• The world is too beautiful and perfect and suited to our needs to not be designed - God is the only omnibenevolent being that would create a perfect worls for us.

Rejection to a Belief in God:

• Only proves there was a designer, not who the designer was.
• Evolution - provides evidence of a lack of design.
• There might be other answers in the future. 
• Natural Evil exists - problem of evil.

Causes a belief in God:

• Everything has a cause, every cause has an effect - Thomas Aquinas Quote.
• Anything cause to exist must be caused to exist by something else.
• Everything has to have a beginning, this means that the universe must have a first cause.
• The only possible first cause is God (he is omnibenevolent, omniscient, omnipotent and Ex Nihilo), therefore he must exist.

Rejection to a belief in God:

• The Big Bang theory states that matter is eternal cannot be destroyed of create, only changed, this means it was not caused to exist because it was always there, so God did not cause its existence.
• The Big Bang theory states 15 bilion years ago there was a huge explosion that caused the universe's existence, not God.
• If everything has a cause then so does God.

Rejection to a belief in God:

• The Big Bang theory states that matter is eternal cannot be destroyed of create, only changed, this means it was not caused to exist because it was always there, so God did not cause its existence.
• The Big Bang theory states 15 bilion years ago there was a huge explosion that caused the universe's existence, not God.
• Evidence for Evolution is the fossil record which shows life and developing and a lack of design.
• This means man was not created in one day like Genesis says but over time, not the way God supposedly created it. 
• Scientific theories are based on evidence which makes them reliable.

Religous Counter-arguments:

• The Big Bang had to have happened at the exact micro-second so it must have been planned and designed that way, only God could have done that.
• God could have made the scientific laws such as Gravity, he is the only omniscient being.

• The world has everything we need to survive, so must have been designed, only God could have been the designer.
• Some Catholics believe both the Bible and scientific explanations are correct; one of God's days could have been 1 billion years for us. The difference is because God is a necessary being and we are not.

Rejection to a belief in God:

• Feel no one is listening, so no one must be there.
• No reply so no one is there, so God must not exist.
• If God was omnibenevolent he would answer all unselfish prayers.
• God seems to answer some prayers but all, those that seem to be answered are pure chance.

Theist responses:

• God answers all prayers, people just don't get answers they like ('no', 'wait' e.g.)
• God answers in your best interests, things may happen in the future as a consequence to this 'unanswered prayer'.
• God only anwers unselfish prayes, however there is no such thing.
• God may answer prayers in ways we do not know, that we could not know because we are not omniscient like he is.

Rejection to a belief in God:

• If God is omnipotent he must be able to remove evil from the world.
• If God is omnibenevolent he must want to remove suffering from the world.
• If God is omniscient he must know how to remove evil from the world and that there is evil.
• Innocent people still suffer and people pray for suffereing to stop..

Theist Responses:

• You shouldn't question God's plan, instead we should see what we can do to help.
• Evil and suffering are not God's fault, free will is the cause of all evil.
• Evil and suffering are part of the plan and we are not omniscient so we could not possibly understand them.
• It is our job to help by praying or having jobs that help those who suffer, such as a nurse or a doctor.

Shows a belief in God: Bruce Almighty -

• Suggests God is real by showing him as a man who interacts with the world.
• Shows God can do things no one else can (walking on water).
• Explain's why God might allow evil as he cannot mess around with free will.
• Explain's why God cannot answer everyone's parayers.

Rejection of a belief in God: ________ -

• Agnosticism- Not being sure whether God exists.
• Atheism- Believing that God does not exist.
• Causation- The process whereby one thing causes another. It is often known as cause and effect.
• Conversion- When your life has changed by giving yourself to God.
• Design- When something has been made for a purpose.
• Free Will- The idea that human beings are free to make their own choices.
• Miracle- Something which seems to break the laws of science and makes you think only God could have done it.
• Moral Evil- Actions done by humans which cause suffering.
• Natural Evil- Things which cause suffering but have nothing to do with humans.
• Numinous- The feeling of the presence of something greater than you.
• Omni-benevolent- The belief that God is all-loving.
• Omnipotent- The belief that God is all-powerful.
• Omniscient- The belief that God knows everything that has happened and everything that is going to happen.

Reasons for supporting this statement could be:

• Some people think God does not exist so miracles cannot happen today

• Miracles cannot happen today as they can be explained by science

• A miracle is something that breaks the laws of science and this cannot happen

Reasons for not supporting this statement could be:

• God can do anything including miracles

• An example of a modern day miracle

• The Catholic Church recognises that miracles can happen today

The world must have been caused by an all knowing God.

The world must have been caused by God as only God is eternal and Ex Nihilo.

God is the only being powerful enough to cause the world to come into existence.

God is the only logical cause of the universe and so people believe.