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EXISTENCE OF GOD You need to be able to… List/give/describe the arguments for & against - KU

EXISTENCE OF GOD You need to be able to… List/give/describe the arguments for & against - KU Explain/ evaluate/analyse the arguments for & against and whether they are strong/ effective/ useful - AE Say to which extent you agree with the arguments and why - AE.

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EXISTENCE OF GOD You need to be able to… List/give/describe the arguments for & against - KU

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  1. EXISTENCE OF GOD • You need to be able to… • List/give/describe the arguments for & against - KU • Explain/ evaluate/analyse the arguments for & against and whether they are strong/ effective/ useful - AE • Say to which extent you agree with the arguments and why - AE

  2. Cosmological Argument or First Cause Argument • Brute Fact is the Universe exists. • AQUINAS: • Uncaused cause • Unmoved Mover • Possibility & Necessity • Leibniz added: There must be a reason things exist and are the way they are. That reason is God.

  3. Arguments Against • HUME: The Schoolboy Objection • RUSSELL: Why does it need a cause? • The Big Bang • Science • BOHR: Quantum Physics • Hubble Telescope images • Red Shift Principle • Doppler Effect

  4. Responses to arguments against • The Schoolboy Objection is irrelevant as God • in NOT contingent and NECESSARY • God could have created the Big Bang • Belief is SPIRITUAL not PHYSICAL and science cannot overcome that. • COPLESTON accuses Hume & Russell of not facing up to the question and • Answering a question with more questions: • Ockham’s Razor…

  5. Teleological Argument or Design Argument • Telos means ‘purpose’ • The Universe is undeniably complex. • Examples • Design • Or Chance?

  6. PALEY’S Analogy • So… • AQUINAS’ Argument from Harmony : Can’t be chance species have ADAPTED e.g. • Fish need fins & tails • Dogs need sharp teeth

  7. Anthropic Argument: • Natural Laws such as • The Laws of Gravity • and the conditions in The Goldilocks Zone • can’t have come about by CHANCE. • Reason & Faith • Reason says there is TOO much blind chance involved • Faith says proof is NOT needed now; God will reveal it one day

  8. Arguments Against • Analogies can only give likelihood of something being true; they are not fact. • Criticism 1:Hume says Paley’s Analogy is weak; • compares mechanistic with organic. • Criticism 2:Hume asks why does designer have to be ‘God’. Why not • a team of designers • a junior designer • or an evil force? • ESPECIALLY SINCE>>>

  9. Flaws in design • 99% of species extinct • And • Lottery Fallacy argues that given enough time or tries, conditions would eventually be perfect for existence.

  10. Darwin’s Theory of Evolution • Supported by Richard Dawkins shows • Blind process of adaptation • Natural selection and • Survival of the fittest

  11. Responses to criticisms • St Augustinesaid Genesis needn’t be • taken literally. • 7 days could be 7 ages and slow evolution could have been God’s creation process • Tennant said evolution can’t explain man’s appreciation of…

  12. The Problem of Suffering & Evil • God the creator… • He alone made the universe • All life relies on Him for existence (all life is contingent) • He relies on no other being for existence (God is not contingent) • God is… • Spiritual not physical • Omniscient (all knowing) • Omnipresent (present everywhere) • Omnipotent (all powerful) • Eternal (not created; always has and always will exist) • Benevolent (good, loving)

  13. Evil exists • Natural • Moral

  14. Arguments against • If God is • Present everywhere…does He not know about suffering? • All Knowing… why did He created a world with suffering? • All powerful… can’t He stop the suffering? • Loving… why does He let people suffer? • Dostoyevsky’s character Ivan Karamazov didn’t want anything to do with a God that let innocent children suffer. • Others decided He couldn’t exist.

  15. Responses to arguments against • Free will defence theodicy • Adam & Eve root of all evil; the original sin • Not necessarily literal • Adam & Eve made wrong choice. • All suffering is from wrong human choices • If there wasn’t free will we would be…

  16. God gives hope that one day suffering will end… • Without God and faith in Him, and what he has planned for us, what would be the purpose in life?

  17. You need to be able to… • List/give/describe the arguments for & against - KU • Explain/ evaluate/ analyse the arguments for & against and whether they are strong/ effective/ useful - AE • Say to which extent you agree with the arguments and why

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