The Nature of God
Define omnipotence and omnibenevolence
God is all powerful
God is all loving
Explain the problem of evil
The good and powerful Christian God would have the power to stop evil. He would want to stop evil as well. But evil exists. Therefore, this God does not exist.
In which book do we read the Creation story?
Genesis
Explain two Christian beliefs about the afterlife
.
Define monotheism.
Belief in One God
What is the difference between moral and natural evil?
Give an example of each.
moral - evil caused by human actions
natural - natural evils outside of human control
Explain the difference between a literalist and liberal interpretation of the Creation story
A literalist interpretation views the Genesis creation story as a direct, factual record of events occurring across six 24-hour days, rejecting scientific theories like evolution. A liberal interpretation views the text as symbolic, poetic, or mythic, reading it alongside modern science such as the Big Bang and evolution.
what does resurrection mean?
Resurrection means coming back to life after death. The word comes from a Latin term meaning "to rise".
Define omniscience and give an example of God's omniscience
The unlimited, infinite, or complete knowledge and awareness of God.
e.g. God knows all of your thoughts and hears all of your prayers.
Explain the Augustinian Theodicy
* God is all-good and all-powerful, so everything He originally created was "very good"
* God humans free will because having choice is good. We would not want to be puppets.
* Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden chose to turn away from God's goodness. evil came from this. Likewise, humans generally cause evil because we have free will and choice over our actions.
Name three stages of the Creation story
How does the idea of the lifecycle of the butterfly help us to explain Christian views about the afterlife, body, and soul?
body, and soul. It symbolizes death as a temporary transition rather than an end, and portrays the soul shedding physical limits to gain a glorified, eternal form in heaven.
What is the Nicene Creed? List three things that it tells us about the Christian God
A statement of faith agreed upon by early Church leaders (The council of Nicea) in 325 AD.
Explain the Irenaean Theodicy (also known as the 'soul making' theodicy)
* A popular Christian defense of God's omnibenevolence and omnipotence in a world that contains evil.
* God created evil and suffering because even greater goods are produced from it. For example, poverty in the world means that charity is possible.
* Suffering teaches us valuable lessons and allows us to learn/ develop.
Which factors might encourage a liberal interpretation of the Creation story over a literal one?
- Scientific evidence challenges the creation story, for example the theories of evolution and the Big Bang
Explain the parable of the sheep and the goats - what is the meaning of the story?
God separates all people into two groups—sheep (the righteous on His right) and goats (the wicked on His left)—rewarding the sheep with eternal life and condemning the goats to eternal punishment
What are the three parts of the Trinity? Explain how each of them act in the world.
Father (The creator of the earth and all living things. A judge in the afterlife. Omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent - perfect)
Son (God became came to the earth in the form of Jesus Christ. A teacher and model of a good life. Jesus is both fully God and fully human.)
Holy pirit (Influences, guides, and sustains the earth. The Holy Spirit is the unseen power of God at work in the world. Often depicted as a dove.)
Explain a weakness of the Augustinian Theodicy (the free will theodicy) or the Irenean Theodicy (the soul making theodicy).
free will:
- free will only explains moral evil, but can't explain natural evil
- the pain caused by giving us free will seems to outweigh the goods that come from it
- the world would not be so bad if we were clones/ puppets forced to always do good.
soul making:
- why make animals and children suffer? It seems that they can't learn from the pain they go through
- a just and loving good would make everyone suffer the same, if he cared about developing all of our souls equally. But suffering is unequal
- there are many examples where suffering does not seem to lead to a greater good or lesson or development of the soul
Quotes from the Bible to explain the Creation story
“in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1)
"So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them."
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
any other relevant answers
Explain the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus - what is the meaning of the story?
The parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19–31) is a story told by Jesus about a wealthy man who ignores a starving beggar named Lazarus at his gate. After they die, their fortunes reverse: Lazarus is comforted in the afterlife, while the rich man suffers in torment. Separated by a great chasm, the rich man begs Abraham to send Lazarus to dip his finger in water and cool his tongue. Abraham notes that the rich man had his good things in life while Lazarus suffered, and now things are reversed - a model for the path to either heaven or hell