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Theme C - Existence of The Divine God (could also mean like God or from God) E.g. the nature of the divine is another way of saying the nature of God. ​ ​ ​ ​ in God Agnostic - someone who is unsure of God’s existence ​ Theist - someone who in one God ​ Polytheist - someone who believes in more than one God ​ Atheist - someone who believes there is no God ​ Christian belief in Christians believe in One God expressed in three forms - Father, Son and Holy - known as the God Holy Trinity Muslim belief in Muslims belief in the oneness of God - Tawhid. Allah is the name of the Muslim God. ​ ​ God Design Argument The idea that the world is too complicated to be an accident - so it must have been designed: designer (teleological = God (the evidence to support this theory is vague). argument) William Paley - a Christian clergyman - champions this argument (he may be bias). ​ First Cause The idea that the world was the result of something causing it. - a Catholic priest - ​ ​ Argument said that if the world began with the big bang, God must have caused it (he may be bias and there is no scientific proof to back up this theory). (God - God, indirectly revealing himself. Examples of general revelation are: ​ revealing ● Through nature such as snow flakes himself) ● Through human kindness ● Through holy books/scripture/sacred writings e.g. the or the Qur’an - God directly revealing himself - this is a way for Christians to gain knowledge ​ about the nature of God. ● Most Christians believe in special revelation ● e.g. through a such as Saul who became a peaceful and just man after his vision (this story is in the Bible - Saul became Paul to symbolise the change in his ways to become a faithful, and peaceful follower of ) ● e.g. Fred Ferrari - a dangerous criminal who changed his ways and become a Christian after experiencing a vision. (This is a modern story - Fred Ferrari is not from the bible - but it is a good example of someone who changed his ways for the better following a vision) Muslim beliefs about special revelation Muslims believe that God reveals his messages in a special way to humans but that this is done through angels because God is too special to be seen by humans. Known as Risalah (God sends messages through angels, to the who communicate their message through the holy books) Illusions That something is not real but a trick of the mind. Atheists may claim that all examples of special revelation are illusions. Enlightenment Enlightenment is when someone has a full understanding of God (the divine). For Christians/Muslims, they may aim to achieve enlightenment by reading the holy books (Bible/Qur’an) or by attending Church/Mosque and listening to sermons from Priests/Imams. A belief system which does not include God, but sees as central the morally good behaviour of humans. God’s Immanent - The idea that God is at work in the world e.g. performing . ​ Involvement with Transcendent - That God is beyond space and time and not at work in the world. ​ the world Some atheists say that God is not transcendent at all - he just doesn’t exist. Their argument would be that if God did exist and if he was a loving God, then how could he allow evil and suffering to take ​ ​ place. See atheist quotes, below. Relationships Personal - the idea that people can relate with God - e.g. through ​ with God Impersonal - the idea we can not relate personally with God but may gain understanding about him ​ through holy books or by listening to Priests/Imams. Characteristics of Omniscient - all knowing ​ God (ideas about Omnipotent - all powerful ​ the divine) Benevolent - all loving ​ Miracles Good events which are considered impossible and inexplicable by . Biblical miracles include: ● Changing water into wine (John 2:1-11) ● Feeding the 5000 (John 6:5-14) ● Healing the blind man (John 9:1-7) ● The raising of Lazarus (John 11:1-45) Visions Images seen in the wind or in a dream, especially as part of a religious or experience. Knowledge of the You will need to be able to say why different religious groups have different ideas about God due to divine their different experiences/views/interpretations of: (knowledge ● Special revelation about God) ● General revelation ● Enlightenment Christian (Bible) Quotes ● ‘Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the ’ ● ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ (St. Paul’s special revelation) ​ ● ‘What is impossible with man is possible with God.’ ​ ● ‘He (God) performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.’ Muslim (Qur’an) Quotes ● ‘Say: He is Allah, the One and Only; Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; None is born of Him, nor is He born; And there is ​ none like Him.’ ​ ● ‘The heavens and the earth were a solid mass, then we split them asunder.’ Atheist Quotes ● ‘If God exists, I hope he has a good excuse.’ Woody Allen ​ ● ‘All the biblical miracles will at last disappear with the of science.’ Matthew Arnold ​

Contrasting Most Christians Contrasting Belief beliefs Visions Many Christians claim to have had visions that have In Islam, Allah does not reveal Himself directly to confirmed their and encouraged them to act on humans. It would be impossible for humans to be it. An example is Fred Ferrari: a dangerous able to look upon Allah. Any messages from Allah ​ ​ criminal who had a vision of God and become a have been sent through the medium of an angel. Christian. This influenced him to ‘treat others as E.g. the Angel Gabriel who revealed the Qur’an to ​ you want to be treated’ and to follow the 10 . Quote = ‘Allah made angels ​ ​ commandments e.g. ‘thou shalt not kill’. messengers with 2, 3, 4 pairs of wings’. . ​ ​ ​ Miracles Many Christians believe in miracles, where God has An atheist would dispute the fact that God performs intervened to make something good happen e.g. miracles because they do not believe that God miraculous cures or healing. An example is that exists. They say that an explanation will eventually some Christians prayed to Mother Theresa (a be found through science. ‘All the biblical miracles ​ Christian ). Soon after, their friend’s huge will at last disappear with the progress of science.’ abdominal cancer disappeared. Doctors could not Matthew Arnold find any other explanation. Therefore, it is claimed by some Christians that a took place.

Nature as Many Christians view nature as an example of An atheist would say that nature reveals nothing general revelation because it shows God’s creation. about the . Nature is purely revelation William Paley uses nature and all of the scientific and is not an example of God revealing complexities of the world as evidence that God himself. E.g. a V-shaped valley is caused by water must be the world’s creator. erosion, not by God

Practice questions Give two types of revelation (2 marks) ​ Give two reasons why the first cause theory might not be accepted by some people (2 marks) ​ Explain two contrasting beliefs in contemporary British society about visions (4 marks) ​ Explain two contrasting beliefs in contemporary British society about miracles (4 marks) ​ Explain two contrasting beliefs in contemporary British society about nature as general revelation (4 marks) ​ Explain two contrasting religious beliefs about scripture as a way of understanding the divine. (4 marks) ​ Explain some of the problems with William Paley’s design argument (5 marks) ​ Explain Thomas Aquinas’ first cause argument might be accepted by some Christians (5 marks) ​ Explain two religious beliefs about miracles. (5 marks) ​ ​ Explain two religious beliefs about general revelation as a way of understanding the divine. (5 marks) ​ “Special revelation is a myth - it can never be proven” (12 marks) ​ "Miracles prove that God exists." (12 marks) ​ "God cannot be both transcendent (beyond the world) and imminent (within the world)." (12 marks) ​ ​