Key Teachings/Scriptures- Christianity Beliefs

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  • Created by: Chinni008
  • Created on: 12-11-18 18:14

OMNIBENEVOLENT

  • God is All Loving- Links to Agape Love 
  • Links to forgiveness- Salvation/ Atonement
  • The Parable of the Prodigial Son: A spoilt son leaves home and spends all his inheritence. His father welcomes him home and forgives him even though he did not deserve it. 
  • John 3:16- "God so loved the world that he gave his only son"

Influence 

  • Leads to a belief in miracles 
  • Prayer for the sick and dying 
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OMNIPOTENT

  • God is All Powerful
  • He only acts according to his nature (even if he can do something he may choose not to) 
  • The Creation Story- God created the world in 6 days
  • 10 Plagues of Israel- God punishes the eqyptians 
  • Noah's Arc - Powerful Flood
  • Miracles e.g. St Bernadette in Lourdes 

Influence 

  • Show Agape Love towards all
  • Show forgiveness 
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TRINITY

  • The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit
  • At the baptism of Jesus, a heavenly voice said:
  • "You are my beloved son"
  • Before ascension Jesus said to his followers:
  • "Baptise in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit"
  • In modern day Baptism this is said
  • Key part of Christian Prayer
  • Key part in Apostles Creed and Nicene Creed 

Influence

  • Show/Value Unity
  • Makes it a Unique faith - may take it more seriously
  • Influences worship 
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JUST

  • God is Fair (Justice), He does not discriminate- expects his followers to treat people fairly too
  • Links to 10 commandments- Rules to lead a good life
  • Links to Parable of the Sheep and Goat- teaches all good people will be rewarded, the bad will be punished. 
  • 'God's righteous judgement will be revealed' Romans 2
  • Arguments against God being Just: People suffer when they don't deserve it e.g. e.g. insects that burrow from the eyes of children and make them blind

Influence 

  • Change behaviour and challenge discrimination
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The Problem Of Evil

  • Inconsistent triad - suffering cannot exist if God is loving and powerful
  • Moral evil - caused by humans due to free will/ devil tempting them
  • e.g. Adam and Eve
  • Natural evil- caused by natural world (God) 
  • E.g. Noah's Ark 

Influence on christians

  • Opportunity to grow spiritually 
  • Human responsibility to fix problems not God
  • Test of faith

Atheists 

  • An Omniscient God wouldn't need to test people to know if they would remain good
  • Why do innocent people suffer as punishment such as children who haven't had a chance to sin
  • If it's apart of God's plan then he is not all loving
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Nature of God

  • One God/ Monothestic
  • (Nicene Creed) 'We beleive in one God' 
  • Creator of everything
  • Transcendant/ Inspires humanity 
  • Works throughout time
  • Possible to have relationship with God
  • 'God is spirit' (John 4:24)
  • He is Holy 
  • Jesus is the son of God 'The son is...God's glory and the exact representation of his being' (Hebrews 1:3)
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Creation

  • God created the world in 6 days, 7th day rest , contradicted by science
  • Genesis 1 'In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth'
  • Literalist view - True historic account (Bible is the word of God + Omnipotent)
  • Allegorical View - Each day is symbolic of a time period
  • Intelligent design - The universe is ordered, not random so it must have been designed by an intelligent being, which is God
  • God is the sole creator/sustainer of the universe
  • Everything has a purpose and all humans were created by God
  • John 1 'In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God' 
  • Word = Jesus so he existed long before incarnation
  • Christians may respect all human life as equal and valuable, causing them to fight against moral issues like capital punishment, war and abortion as well as environmental issues
  • Know there is a reason behind suffering and difficult moments in their life
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Afterlife/judgement

  • Christians will be resurrected in heaven or hell 
  • It will be in a new spiritual body that lasts forever 
  • May be Physical - Burial or Spiritual- Cremation
  • if Christ had not been raised, your faith is futile’.
  • John 10:28 'No one will snatc h them from my hands' - God will protect them
  • 'Faith unaccompanied by action is dead' - reward for faith and action is heaven
  • Fair judgement as God is loving and Just 
  • Purgatory is an intermediate state of purification and cleansing before a soul destined for heaven can go to it. 
  • Two Judgement beliefs: Right after death or On judgement day all souls will be judged
  • 'Jesus will come in glory to judge the living and the dead'
  • The Parable of the Sheep and Goats
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Heaven and Hell

  • Heaven is a state of being, a place of eternal bliss and peace
  • Hell is a place of fire and torment 
  • It is a seperation from God 
  • Humans may reject God therefore it is human choice and not God's will that results in some humans going to hell
  • Some christians may believe there cannot be Hell as God is loving - wouldn't eternally punish someone for a temporary sin 
  • He may even forgive someone in Hell
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Incarnation

  • Jesus is both fully human and fully divine
  • 'The world became flesh and dwelt among us' John 1:14 
  • Mary was a virgin: God is omnipotent so this is possible
  • 'She was found to be pregnant through the holy spirit' Matthew 1
  • Some believe it has religious truth 
  • Shows christians how much God cares by incarnating as human
  • Christmas celebrates his miraculous birth
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Crucifixion

  • ‘Father, I give you my spirit; it is finished’
  • Learning how God suffered and died for humans might influence Christians to put the needs of others before their own.
  • brutality of the crucifixion might strengthen their belief that God cares for them
  • Salvation - May lead good lives
  • Roman officer remarks ‘truly, this man was the Son of God’.
  • Shows how it is a religion for all people - encourages evangelism
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Resurrection/Ascension

  • 'I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall live'
  • 'And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power' 
  • In John’s Gospel, it is the risen Jesus who tells Mary Magdalene about his resurrectionand tells her to tell the disciples what she has seen.
  • symbolises the finality and end of Jesus’ mission/his divinity and his kingship

FOR: 

  • He was in the tomb when he was left, badly injured
  • Disciples were mostly executed so no one would want to die for a made up story
  • Peter's behaviour changed after resurrection

AGAINST

  • Women went to wrong tomb/story made up/Miracles-Hume/Not dead in the first place
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Sin

  • Disobedience to God's Laws
  • E.g. Adam and Eve 
  • Destroyed human relationship with God - 'you came from dust and shall return to dust' Genesis 3
  • Sin is passed down generations
  • Cannot be stopped without help from God
  • 'the only way to the father is through me' - Jesus is saviour 
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Salvation/Atonement

  • Atonement = jesus redeeemed mankind from sin by sacrificing himself
  • Reconciled God with Humans
  • Salvation can be achieved through Grace or Works 
  • Works = Obeying God's laws e.g. 10 commandments/ Jesus' teachings 
  • Having a pure heart/mind- Doing actions with Good intentions, not for moral dessert 
  • 'Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord,Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but one who does the will of my father' Matthew 7 
  • Grace= Some argue salvation can only come through God's grace (sent through holy spirit/sacraments/practises) 
  • Shown through Jesus' sacrifice
  • The parable of the Prodigal son - forgiven through love and grace, not works
  • 'Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved' 
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