Religious Studies: Understanding Christianity Year 7 Term 1

Key quotes Key Terms How is Christianity applied in the world?

A non-religious person, who does not believe in The Natures of God “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Atheist Genesis 1:1 spiritual beings earth.” Omnipotent: All Powerful Omniscient: All knowing Agnostic A person who questions the existence of God As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the Omnibenevolent: All loving water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he Omnipresent: All present / Always there Matthew 3:11 saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and -17 Theist A person who does believe in God One: There is only one God (Monotheism) alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is Why is the Holy Trinity important? my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Monotheism A religion that believes in one God The Holy Trinity plays a central part in Christians' worship of an Key Theorists "unobjectifiable and incomprehensible God". The Father: The creator of life, all mighty & omnipotent

He argued that the complexity of the world suggests Polytheism A religion that believes in more than one God The Son: Refers to Jesus, God incarnated there is a purpose to it. This suggests there must be a The Holy Spirit: The guidance in life, omnipresent designer, which he said is God. (Design Argument) The religion based on the person and teachings The story of Jesus being baptised by John the Baptist shows Christians that William Paley Paley used a watch to illustrate his point. If he came Christianity of Jesus Christ, or its beliefs and practices. all parts of The Trinity were present—showing the importance of Baptism. 1743—1805 across a mechanical watch on the ground, he would assume that its many complex parts fitted together for The Apostles Creed—Evidence of the Trinity The Christian scriptures, consisting of the Old a purpose and that it had not come into existence by The Bible chance. There must be a watchmaker. and New Testaments. “We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally He argued that the apparent order and complexity in born of the father. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.” the world is proof of a designer and that this designer is Holy Trinity God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. God. Aquinas argued that everything in the cosmos has The Design Argument for Gods existence Thomas a cause. If you track things back through a series of This is an argument for the existence of God, The Design Strengths Weaknesses Aquinas causes, there must have been a 'first cause'. He said that based on evidence of deliberate design in the Argument 1225—1274 this 'first cause' is God, whom he described as a natural world The argument fits well with the If it was designed by God, then 'necessary being', existing outside of our space and biblical stories of creation, wheth- the existence of evil and suffering

time but able to act within it, needing no explanation er these are understood literally in the world would suggest that Miracles An extraordinary event that cannot be explained and having no cause. or symbolically. the belief that God is all-good is false.

Moral Evil Evil caused by humans, e.g. Murder The Miracles Argument for Gods existence Strengths Weaknesses Some events in life cannot be ex- If God causes miracles why Natural Evil Evil caused by natural events, e.g. Earthquakes plained in any other way—therefore does he only allow them to surely God has played a part in this. happen to certain people . The argument that God cannot exist because of Inconsistent Triad the existence of Evil Images of the Holy Trinity