What you need to know!
Make sure you know-
• the meaning of the terms theist, atheist and agnostic;
• arguments for the existence of God, including the strengths and weaknesses of each and evidence to support or reject each argument:
- the First Cause argument and Thomas Aquinas;
- the argument from design and William Paley;
- the argument from religious experience;
and
- the moral argument;
• the debate between creationism and science about the origin of the universe:
- creation stories from two different world religions;
- the views of two different world religions on how people relate to the universe and the place of humanity in the created order; and
- scientific ideas about the origins of the universe and people, including a basic understanding of the Big Bang and evolutionary theories;
ways of understanding and describing God, using the following terms:
- immanence and transcendence;
- omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and omnibenevolent;
- knowable and unknowable;
and
- monotheism and polytheism;
and contrasting beliefs about the nature of God.
ifference between natural suffering and moral evil;
• theories about the origin, nature and purpose of evil and/or suffering;
• how the existence of evil and/or suffering challenges the existence of God and religious truth, and the issues presented by innocent suffering and God’s providence;
• two different ways in which world religions explain the existence of evil and/or suffering in the world;
• different ways in which believers experience God in two world religions, including how God is revealed through:
- sacred texts;
- religious leaders and religious example; and
- worship;
• the nature and importance of revelation, including the difference between general and special revelation, and a consideration of whether revelation can lead to religious faith;
• examples of revelation from sacred texts, history and the modern world, including:
- answered and unanswered prayer;
- miracles; and
- visions;
• challenges to religious experience, including hallucinations, wish-fulfilment or lack of evidence;
• two different ways in which world religions understand the afterlife, including belief in resurrection, reincarnation and final judgement; and
• non-religious views of the soul and the afterlife;
possible ‘proofs’ of life after death, including near death experiences and claims to have remembered past lives, and opinions about the extent to which these experiences are real or illusory; and
• how different beliefs in the afterlife affect the way believers live in this life.
• the meaning of the terms theist, atheist and agnostic;
• arguments for the existence of God, including the strengths and weaknesses of each and evidence to support or reject each argument:
- the First Cause argument and Thomas Aquinas;
- the argument from design and William Paley;
- the argument from religious experience;
and
- the moral argument;
• the debate between creationism and science about the origin of the universe:
- creation stories from two different world religions;
- the views of two different world religions on how people relate to the universe and the place of humanity in the created order; and
- scientific ideas about the origins of the universe and people, including a basic understanding of the Big Bang and evolutionary theories;
ways of understanding and describing God, using the following terms:
- immanence and transcendence;
- omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and omnibenevolent;
- knowable and unknowable;
and
- monotheism and polytheism;
and contrasting beliefs about the nature of God.
ifference between natural suffering and moral evil;
• theories about the origin, nature and purpose of evil and/or suffering;
• how the existence of evil and/or suffering challenges the existence of God and religious truth, and the issues presented by innocent suffering and God’s providence;
• two different ways in which world religions explain the existence of evil and/or suffering in the world;
• different ways in which believers experience God in two world religions, including how God is revealed through:
- sacred texts;
- religious leaders and religious example; and
- worship;
• the nature and importance of revelation, including the difference between general and special revelation, and a consideration of whether revelation can lead to religious faith;
• examples of revelation from sacred texts, history and the modern world, including:
- answered and unanswered prayer;
- miracles; and
- visions;
• challenges to religious experience, including hallucinations, wish-fulfilment or lack of evidence;
• two different ways in which world religions understand the afterlife, including belief in resurrection, reincarnation and final judgement; and
• non-religious views of the soul and the afterlife;
possible ‘proofs’ of life after death, including near death experiences and claims to have remembered past lives, and opinions about the extent to which these experiences are real or illusory; and
• how different beliefs in the afterlife affect the way believers live in this life.
Creation and Science
Remember that the Hindu creation story should not be taken literally- it is strange, but it is very poetic. The second video looks at the Big Bang theory, a cosmological argument for God's existence, the Bible's creation story and evolution. MAKE SURE YOU KNOW THIS VIDEO VERY WELL!
A Hindu creation story follows - but you will find the Buddhist creation story much easier to remember!
A Hindu creation story follows - but you will find the Buddhist creation story much easier to remember!
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Evil and Suffering
If you are asked why someone would find it difficult to believe in God, or why they might find it difficult to accept that one of the arguments for God's existence is true, you can talk about the "Problem of Evil". There is also a whole section on this topic - so know it well.
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Buddhism takes a very different view - it sees suffering as an inevitable part of human life. Desire causes suffering; we need to seek enlightenment (nirvana) to escape desire, and thereby suffering. This may take many lifetimes and a LOT of meditation
The Existence of God
The first two videos give a neat overview of the cosmological argument and the design argument. The third looks at the argument from religious experiences.
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. The next two videos are a little more detailed. The MORAL argument is reasonably easy to follow; the FINE TUNING argument is a version of the DESIGN ARGUMENT. You only need to watch the first three minutes of this video to get the gist.
You can listen to downloadable notes on the Moral Argument here and the Design Argument here
You can listen to downloadable notes on the Moral Argument here and the Design Argument here
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A former detective gives a good explanation of the design argument here and a very detailed explanation of the First Cause argument here.
You need to know how Christians experience God and what they mean by "worship": after all, many Christians say they experience God in worship.
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Miracles and Life After Death.
IT IS REALLY IMPORTANT THAT YOU REVISE THIS SECTION!!!! MAKE SURE YOU KNOW THE BIBLE STORIES!!!!!
We begin with a look at the eyewitness accounts of Jesus’s resurrection (I’d encourage you to read them in the Gospels, but the “Sunday School” versions here are easy to remember).
MAKE SURE THAT YOU KNOW the story of the resurrection well, because it provides evidence for life after death, miracles and God's existence. You can use it as a miracle story that teaches us about God’s power and love. It is also an example of a special revelation, because Jesus actually speaks to people.
MAKE SURE THAT YOU KNOW the story of the resurrection well, because it provides evidence for life after death, miracles and God's existence. You can use it as a miracle story that teaches us about God’s power and love. It is also an example of a special revelation, because Jesus actually speaks to people.
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The first next two videos give the case for the resurrection of Jesus.
You also need to know what difference a belief in life after death makes to our lives. So the next two videos look at how Christians and Hindus might reply.
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Revelation
A "revelation" reveals something. In this case, revelation means revealing something about God. There are lots of big words to learn here, so pay very careful attention to the first video! We then look at the life of a Martin Luther. What lessons can we learn from his life?
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