The Existence of God

The First Cause Argument (Cosmological):

• Everything that exists was caused to exist
• The universe exists so it too must have a cause
• It had to be caused by something eternal
• The eternal cause was God
• Therefore God exists

• Beleived universe had a beginning
• Things can't cause themselves to come into existence
• Had to be caused to exist by something outside of time
• That something outside of the universe was God
• Because we can see it exists, it shows God created it

• The universe is too ordered to have happened by chance
• Must have been designed
• A design needs a designer
• The designer of the universe is God

• If we found a watch we would know that it has been designed as parts worked together for a purpose
• If we looked in the natural world we would see evidence of design e.g. wings for flight, gills for breathing underwater
• Things that are designed need a designer

• The fact that we have opposable thumbs shows we have been designed
• Means humans can grasp things (only humans and primates)
• The fact that we have individual fingerprints shows we have been designed individually

• God developped the world so it was perfect for human life to develop
• The gravitational force was just right for the universe to come into existence
• Once it had formed, it had all the conditions for intelligent life to develop
• Too perfect to happen by chance

• Universe exists due to a random, spontaneous event
• Theists say God caused it to exist

First Cause Argument:

• If things exist because they are caused to exist then what was the cause of God?
• If God is eternal then why can't the universe be eternal?

The Design Argument:

• It depends on the belief that everything in the world is designed
• Not everyone believs humans are a result of design e.g evolution
• The existence of cruelty and suffering, not a perfect design

Evolution

• Through evolution that features such as the opposable thumb developped
• Evolution that has given the appearance of design, not God

Miracle: a seemingly impossible occurence, usually good

Types of miracle:

• Events that break the laws of nature and cannot be explained by science - turning water into wine
• Events which no laws of nature are broken but a huge coincidence occurs at just the right time to cause a good outcome - todler trapped on a railway line, train approaching, train driver collapses stopping the train

Because science can't explain them, they prove the existence of God

• No more than coincidences
• What appears to be a miracle is something that science can't explain yet
• Theists want miracles to happen so they give miraculous claims to ordinary events
• Cure of an illness may be mind over matter
• Doctors wrongly diagnosed patients
• God is picking and choosing who he helps, not fair

An experience that is outside normal experience, usually involving the supernatural

• Communicating with God through prayer and worship
• Feeling God's presence in worship
• Feeling God's presence in nature
• Experiencing a conversion
• Involvement in a miraculous event

• Difficult to prove as genuine
• Only the individual can prove the experience
• People might have imagined the experience or want it to happen so 'it does'
• Might have mistaken an ordinary event for a miraculous one]
• Under the influence of drugs or alcohol or ill

Morality: a system of ethics which distinguishes between right and wrong, helps guides people's behaviour

• People have an inbuilt sense of morality
• This sense comes from a source outside of them
• This source is God
• Therfore God exists

Conscience: the inner feeling you are doing right or wrong. Theists believe it is the voice of God

• Difficult to prove it exists, that it is no more than the rules that have been developped to control people
• Claim that morality is part of human developpment through evolution
• Part of survival process

Guilt feelings are not from God becuase:

• People feel guilty because they have gone against the moral rules of society
• If people have been bought up thinking drinking alcohol is wrong, they will feel guilty when they drink it