God

Question 1

What are three reasons that the trinity is important?

Answer 1

1. Brings together the main historical and doctrinal truths of Christianity concerning sin, atonement and redemption
2. Makes it possible for humans to have a personal relationship with God
3. It is a model of personhood

Question 2

What does it mean to say that the trinity brings together the main historical and doctrinal truths of Christianity concerning sin, atonement and redemption?

Answer 2

• Many Christians believe that the relationship between God and humanity was affected by Original Sin
• The Trinity explains atonement
• God the Father sent the Son as the atonement
• God the Son is fully human as well as fully God and because of this he is able to die on the cross for our salvation
• The Holy Spirit gives new birth in Jesus that humans have the hope of eternal life

Question 3

What does it mean to say that the trinity makes it possible for humans to have a personal relationship with God?

Answer 3

• Problem with referring to God as transcendent: many Christian’s view him to be immanent in the creation
• This immanent God answers prayers and performs miracles
• It seems paradoxical to say that God can be transcendent and immanent, but the doctrine of the trinity allows this to be the case
• The Godhead is transcendent and unknowable
• The father is a personal creator, who can be known and loved through his creation
• The Son became immanent as a human
• The Holy Spirit inspires the human emotion of joy

Question 4

What does it mean to say that the trinity is a model of personhood?

Answer 4

• The relationship between the 3 persons of the trinity is one of love, since God is love
• Since humans are made in the image of God, personal relationships between humans are in a sense modelled on trinitarian love

Question 5

What is John 10:30?

Answer 5

“I and the Father are one”

Question 6

What is 1 Corinthians 8:6?

Answer 6

“Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist”

Question 7

What does God as a Father actually mean?

Answer 7

• Image of God as a father reflects many qualities he is believed to possess: strength, power and authority
• But also refers to his role as the patriarch of the world. This can be seen in his punishment of Adam and Eve
• As well as security and protection, Gods lays down absolute religious and moral laws
• This is male anthropomorphism
• But perhaps the most anthropomorphic aspect of God the Father is his role of actual father to Jesus
• Many times Jesus refers to God as Father: the Father of creation and the Father of Jesus
• This is seen in the Lord’s Prayer: “Our father”
• The emphasis on God’s fatherly nature is both intimate, powerful and all-inclusive

Question 8

What evidence can Christians use for God’s omnibenevolence, despite the problem of evil?

Answer 8

• God’s love is the basis between the covenant between God and Israel
• God’s love is demonstrated through his sacrifice of his son in order to give humanity salvation. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son”
• The Holy Spirit pours love into our hearts in the present day, so all love stems from God
• God is love, and this is our basis for loving others
• Jesus believed in agape, which is selfless love, which comes from the nature of God as omnibenevolent, and the belief that humans are made in God’s image shows that this agape that we are capable of must come from God

Question 9

Why do Process theologians reject God as the Creator?

Answer 9

• Griffin believes that the universe is uncreated and eternal, ie it was always there
• He therefore rejects the Christian idea of creation ex nihilo
• What existed was primitive, unformed matter
• God was also always there as he and the universe exist together- God is panentheistic
• God’s role was to persuade matter away from chaos into a state of great order and complexity, eg the initiation of evolution

Question 10

Why due Process theologians not believe that God is omnipotent?

Answer 10

• If God didn’t create the universe out of nothing, then he can’t be omnipotent, because there is something he can’t do: create the universe from nothing
• The chaotic matter also has some power to resist God, as it has taken him 13.7 billion years since the Big Bang to organise the matter
• Gods power is immense but not unlimited, so he is not omnipotent