Theme C Knowledge

Question 1

Theist

Answer 1

A person who believes in the existence of God or gods

Question 2

Atheist

Answer 2

A person who does not believe in the existence of God or gods

Question 3

Agnostic

Answer 3

A person who believes that there is not enough evidence either way to decide whether God does or doesn’t exist

Question 4

Teleological argument

Answer 4

The world is very complex, orderly and awe inspiring so it’s unlikely this happened by chance or accident and there must be an all powerful and intelligent designer which must be God

Question 5

Qua regularity

Answer 5

• Thomas Aquinas
• the way that everything around us works in regular patterns must have an intelligent being behind it that keeps it all moving in place

Question 6

Qua purpose

Answer 6

• William paley
• complex things don’t appear by chance, they have to be designed
• the world is a very complex thing
• the world can’t have happened by chance
• the world must have been designed by an intelligent being
• this is proof there is a God
• uses the human eye as comparison

Question 7

Analogy of the watch

Answer 7

• William paley
• if you came across a watch, and you’d never seen one before, you would immediately assume that someone had created it and the things couldn’t have come about naturally
• so the watchmaker = universe-maker

Question 8

Cosmos

Answer 8

The universe

Question 9

Cosmology

Answer 9

The study of the universe

Question 10

Cosmological argument

Answer 10

• everything that exists must have a cause
• the universe exists so it must have a cause
• whatever is the cause of the universe must be something outside of the universe something eternal + powerful
• this eternal and powerful first cause must be God
• therefore God must exist

Question 11

Who wrote cosmological argument

Answer 11

Thomas Aquinas

Question 12

Other name for cosmological argument

Answer 12

• first case argument
• first cause of our chain of events

Question 13

Miracle

Answer 13

A seemingly impossible event, that breaks the normal laws of nature and cannot be explained, and so people believe the event comes from God

Question 14

Lourdes

Answer 14

A small town in France where Catholics believe many miracles have taken place

Question 15

Who came up with the principles of testimony and credulity

Answer 15

Richard Swinburne

Question 16

The principle of testimony

Answer 16

Unless we have a specific reason not to believe someone we should believe the things people tell us because people do normally tell the truth

Question 17

The principle of credulity

Answer 17

We don’t usually imagine things that aren’t happening, so if something happens to me which seems unbelievable, I should believe my senses unless I know of a reason why i might be wrong

Question 18

Natural evil

Answer 18

Evil and suffering that is not directly caused by humans

Question 19

Moral evil

Answer 19

Evil and suffering which is directly caused by human actions

Question 20

Augustines theodicy

Answer 20

• suffering is human’s fault
• caused by the original sin of Adam and Eve when they disobeyed God
• humanity deserves the suffering it’s experiencing

Question 21

Iranaeus theodicy

Answer 21

• God purposefully created suffering so that we can grow and develop as humans beings
• ‘soul-making’
• suffering is good for us, teaches us empathy, compassion etc

Question 22

Argument from science

Answer 22

There is no need to believe in God any longer as science can explain the universe

Question 23

Special revelation

Answer 23

God revealing himself directly to a person in a specific event eg. A vision

Question 24

General revelation

Answer 24

God revealing himself to people indirectly through ordinary everyday experiences

Question 25

Revelation through nature

Answer 25

Some Christians believe that they can feel or see god in the natural world around them - they feel that God reveals himself to them when the look closely at the natural world

Question 26

Revelation through conscience

Answer 26

Some Christians believe that the can feel or hear God through their conscience - the little voice inside them telling them about right and wrong. They believe God is revel in himself to them in this way

Question 27

Revelation through bible

Answer 27

Some Christian’s feel that they ‘experience God’ through words of the bible - reading the bible might make them feel that God is reveals himself to the through the stories and messages

Question 28

Enlightenment

Answer 28

To be awakened. A term used to describe a person who has come to understand truths about god

Question 29

Personal nature of God

Answer 29

The idea that God is a individual or person with whom people are able to have a relationship or feel close

Question 30

Imminent

Answer 30

The idea that God is present in and involved with life on earth and in the universe

Question 31

Transcendent

Answer 31

The de that God is beyond and outside life on earth and the universe