...Religion has this ideology of a God who is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good. But, the biggest issue with this is whether or not he really exist due to the problem that there is evil in the world. A philosopher who argued this was Simon Blackburn. I argue Blackburn is right to claim that the existence of evil strongly suggests that a God who is all-good, all-knowing and all-powerful doesn't exist. Blackburn claimed that the existence of evil strongly suggests that there does not exist a God who is all-good, all-knowing and all-powerful. He wrote the book entitled “God” and in chapter five under on the section entitled “Problem of Evil”, he spoke about how in religion that God created everything meaning the good and the bad. He supported...
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...The definition of “God” is the supernatural that is conceived as the perfect, omnipotent and omniscient originator and ruler of the universe. God is the object of worship in monotheistic religions. After having studied this subject frequently back in the past and this chapter, there are many arguments for the existence of God such as the cosmological, the teleological, the ontological, and the moral arguments, etc. Although they are very powerful arguments, each one of them also has their own weakness. There are not only arguments towards the existence of God; however, there are also arguments against God as well. These are called the Empirical, Deductive, Inductive, and Subjective arguments. But, again, these arguments each also have their own strengths and weaknesses just like the arguments for the existence of God. One popular form of the Cosmological argument states that things exist and it is possible for those things to not exist; there is an uncaused caused for everything that has been brought into existence. So, according to this argument, the cause and what created the universe must have been God’s doing. However, this argument is thought by some to be completely illogical, as God would have to be caused as well. So, if God had a cause, what created God? Then there must be a higher power even above God. But yet, God is supposed to be all-powerful. Maybe it created itself? How is that possible? Perhaps the universe was always there, perhaps God was always there. I am...
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...The existence of God has been a popular topic throughout the world, and those who deny his existence typically use the argument known as the Problem of Evil. The argument focuses on the theory that if there is a God that exists that is omnipotent, meaning all powerful, omniscient, meaning all knowing, perfectly good, and capable of everything, then the concept of evil should not exist. The problem is, our world is plagued with forces that do us harm, whether it be due to human fault, intentional or accidental, or nature, these events cause humans to suffer. If these things exist, then that would mean that there couldn’t be a God, because someone that is all powerful and perfectly good would not allow evil to exist. The Problem of Evil has been discussed by many philosophers for a while, and there are some that argue that there is more to the Problem of Evil. A theodicy is a philosopher’s attempt to answer the question of why God, who is supposedly all powerful and perfectly good, allows the manifestation of evil. Philosophers typically try to solve this problem by reconciling the traits that are associated with God, with the occurrence of evil in the world. The first theodicy, which is known as the Augustinian theodicy, is based on the writings of Augustine of Hippo, who was a Christian philosopher. He argues that the problem isn’t with God, but lies within the people that inhabit the planet. He claims that in the beginning, God created a perfect world where no evil or suffering...
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...Report on Religious Field Research Joe Carter Bob Andrews Religion 212 June 4, 2012 Report on Religious Field Research Religion is defined by Brodd (2003) as a collection of beliefs concerning the existence of nature, the purpose of the universe, the existence of human beings, and deities. Religion is usually related to the cultural beliefs systems, which are connected to humankind, spirituality, and the moral values. There are different types of religions in the world that have different signs, beliefs, descriptions, ethnicity, and, sanctified accounts that explain the meaning and origin of life and the universe. Through the accounts ideas, principals, morals, sacred laws, and the way of life are generated in addition to the existence of the universe and the human nature. Examples of religions include Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, and atheism. Among all the religions, atheism tends to be different from the others as it is not similar from any of the others. I watched a program on atheist and this encouraged me to conduct a research on atheism through interviewing an atheist and through books to gain a complete understanding of atheism. According Neilson (1985), atheism is said to have a great connection in the lack of beliefs of God’s existence. This situation occurs due to a purposeful choice of not believing or from a natural failure to believe the religious teachings of a certain religion, which literally seems unbelievable...
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...SECTION II: State Your Belief: ( 2.5/2.5) I believe that: (God and the afterlife exist ) SECTION III: Clarify Your Belief and Position: (10 /10) A Supreme Being: (Maximum 200 words) I am a theist and I believe that God exists. One key reason why is because my mom has raised me to believe that there is a God since I was a baby, I have been to church multitudes of times and also have read the bible many times so naturally I am going to believe that he is real. Yes my mom “raised me in the church” but that’s not the only reason I believe in God though, I believe because after observing and living life on this planet for the past 20 years I have came to my own conclusion God exists. I feel life it self is too far too complex and diverse for there not to be one (The Teleological Argument). Just like how we know a car or a skyscraper was created by people because of the complexity of the creation so is the same logic I use when I defend the existence of God, after taking biology this year it only made my belief in a God stronger by learning how life on earth works, from my point of view It really amazes me how people think that there is no God. The Afterlife: (Maximum 200 words) I am a theist and I believe that there is an after life. I am a firm Believer in God so naturally that would make me a firm believer in the after life as well. Proving that the after life is real is a very difficult thing to do but, I believe one of the biggest pieces of evidence that there...
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...“Eschatology: The Destiny of the Unsaved” Reconciling a good, loving God with the idea of eternal punishment is one of the most difficult things I have had to do in my Christian life. How can a God who loves us enough to shed His own blood for us then, at the end of our lives, send some of us away from Him to be punished forever? There are some different theories about what happens to us after we die. Eternal punishment is the idea that sin must be punished and those who have not received the gift of salvation will be punished forever for their sins. Annihilationism is the idea that, rather than eternal punishment, some souls will simply cease to exist. There are three main forms of this. The first says that all human beings simply cease to exist at death. The second says that God imparts immorality to the redeemed human beings and allows the rest of humankind to cease to exist at death. The third says that humankind is immortal and fulfills its destiny in salvation. In this third form of annihilationism, reprobates cease to exist, either by a direct act of God or by the corrosive effect of evil. Universalism claims that all will be saved. The Bible uses some different words when referring to a place of torment. Sheol is the word used in the Hebrew texts to describe a place where all souls go after death. Hades is the Greek equivalent. Sheol is a much broader word referring simply to the place where souls go upon death. Hades narrows the concept somewhat and separates...
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...and that this is one of the reasons why theology, which is a discussion of God, is possible. But, what does constant mean? The dictionary defines constant as something continuing without pause or let up, something that does not or cannot vary. For example: a table. A table is constant, because it exists without pause and does not vary. Hence, faith is not constant. According to Haight beliefs are the expression of faith. But beliefs are neither continuing nor invariable. Everyone changes their beliefs, it is human nature to evolve and rethink them. At the same time they are not constant because I am not persistently believing in something. Beliefs are not a table, they are not tangible, and only exist in our minds as thoughts that live and die within us at the moment we start and finish thinking about them. I am not constantly experiencing faith; faith exists only when I give it some thought. Although my belief might not change from one time to the next it will inevitably change through time. And when do we think about our faith? It is also human nature to only think about God when things are not going well. If we are having a streak of luck we do not pause to think about God for a minute and thank him. On the other hand, it is very common to blame or doubt that there is a God when things go wrong. If my faith only exists when I am giving it thought, and the only time a give it thought is to blame God for everything that is going wrong in my life, what does that say about my...
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...God does not create everything to be perfect. If we would be perfect without sins, flaws, and problems then there would be no God, then we would be totally equal as God, and there would be no one higher and lower than us. There would be sinners, atheist, offenders in His own creation because simply He gave us free will. God allows evil to exist because of the free will. Humans is given their God-given freedom which is the free will, it is the power to make a decision of one individual instead of taking or having God to decide what to do. The Bible describes God as holy, righteous, just, and sovereign tell us that these attributes about God meant that God is capable of preventing evil, and God desires to rid the universe of evil. So, why does God allow evil? If God has the power to prevent evil and desires to prevent evil, why does He still allow evil? God could change everyone’s personality so that they cannot...
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...There is a never gone topic in the past 2000 years. What is it? The topic is about Christians and atheists debate whether God exists. With the continuous advancement of science, a lot of young people believe that the world of all things evolved naturally, no longer believe in God's creation, but rather believe that the Big Bang theory. Therefore, there are a lot of young people begin to lose their faith, lost faith in God. And I firmly believe that God is real, and I will show three-point, to help people know God is real existence. First, spirit world really exists. Perhaps when I say this, you will pores erect, I hope you do not be afraid. Have you ever heard Near Death Experience? This has been studied for a long time in the scientific community, they specialize in restore the health of people who are going to die, the report shows that in this case, a lot of people have experienced, OBE, to see their bodies, or their loved ones, also have some special story like somebody see the doctor to remove his body something in surgery ,when he wake up he could know every detail really clearly, some people experienced a near-death state in heaven, saw their loved ones, some people go to hell, they all think that is real experience at that time, and then their life has changed a lot, because they are beginning to believe that the person really has a soul. Others in real life, but also that some people have the experience of familiar spirits (spirit), when they have some difficult...
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...Berkeley: to exist is to perceive or to be perceived 'To exist is either to perceive or to be perceived.' - How would you explain Bishop Berkeley's idealism to someone who knew nothing about philosophy? This is a good essay. Many students are very puzzled by Berkeley's claim that his theory is intended as a 'defence against scepticism'. I don't know what a 'real' tree is, because I have never met one, and never will. All I know is my perception of this tree and other trees like it. - This seems an open invitation to the most extreme scepticism which denies that the objects of our perception exist. Berkeley's answer is that there is no 'real' tree, in the sense of some object or entity that exists apart from perception. All there is, is the possibility of my perceiving the tree, of enjoying my tree-perception, vouchsafed by God's unwavering attention to all the objects of his creation, which exist as nothing more than perceptions in God's mind. This response differs from another possible anti-sceptical response which avoids the God-hypothesis altogether. Why not say that the 'possibility of my perceiving the tree' is just that and no more? There is a hypothetical statement - or list of hypothetical statements - whose truth is equivalent to the 'existence of the tree'. You know what a 'statement' is, and what 'truth' means. You know what it is for a statement to be hypothetical ('if A then B'). Why not stick with that? The clear advantage of this theory - also...
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...Introduction God is the source of much doubt and controversy, of peace and of war. At this point in our human existence what was once certain and unquestionable has become the most questioned topic. The faithful, believing people have become unsure. I guess the question is either God exists or He doesn't. There really is no middle territory, and any attempt to remain neutral in relation to God's existence is automatically putting you in the category of unbelief. The age old question is far from being an irrelevant one, because if God does exist, then nothing else really matters; if He does not exist, then what does really matter at all. Until now I've never been put in a position where my faith was questioned. I found this title somewhere, I cannot remember where I saw it, but it describes me the best it can; as a recovering Catholic, I really am in no man’s land. Do I believe or not believe, that is the stand I have to take in this paper one way or another, yes or no, black or white. At that point this became more than a final paper. Can I, comfortably write a paper stating that God does not exist? After thorough personal inflection, I had my answer, and with much of my upbringing weighing down on me. I will try making my case for the existence of God. ("God." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2009. Merriam-Webster Online. 29 April 2009) What better place to start, than Simon Blackburn On Blackburn's projectivist view; after he sketched the outlines of his projectivist...
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...Craig Examines both the logical and probabilistic arguments against God from suffering and evil. The problem of evil is certainly the greatest obstacle to belief in the existence of God. When I ponder both the extent and depth of suffering in the world, whether due to man’s inhumanity to man or to natural disasters, then I must confess that I find it hard to believe that God exists. No doubt many of you have felt the same way. Perhaps we should all become atheists. But that’s a pretty big step to take. How can we be sure that God does not exist? Perhaps there’s a reason why God permits all the evil in the world. Perhaps it somehow all fits into the grand scheme of things, which we can only dimly discern, if at all. How do we know? As a Christian theist, I’m persuaded that the problem of evil, terrible as it is, does not in the end constitute a disproof of the existence of God. On the contrary, in fact, I think that Christian theism is man’s last best hope of solving the problem of evil. In order to explain why I feel this way, it will be helpful to draw some distinctions to keep our thinking clear. First, we must distinguish between the intellectual problem of evil and the emotional problem of evil. The intellectual problem of evil concerns how to give a rational explanation of how God and evil can co-exist. The emotional problem of evil concerns how to dissolve people’s emotional dislike of a God who would permit suffering. Now let’s look first at the intellectual...
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...faith, especially those with very strong beliefs. We as Christians believe that God is almighty and there is really no need to believe in any other being or even question that he exists. In this article from McCloskey, he talks about God’s existence and if there truly is a God, then why is there evil in world? This essay will have my findings on the questions we were asked as class about McCloskey’s thoughts and the thoughts from the book, Philosophy of Religion. When believing in anything, people like to have proof as to why something exists. Christians might show proof in God’s existence or Atheists might show proof in that there is no God. We all have reasons as to why we believe in certain things and sometimes its can be hard to prove. McCloskey talks about proofs in his article, saying that there are proofs to the non-existence of God. In a presentation titled “Approaching the Question of God’s Existence”, the author is quite the opposite of McCloskey. He doesn’t believe that we should try proving anything; it is a word to steer away from. We shouldn’t try to find proof that God exists, but find a best explanation to why he exists. McCloskey says that proofs cannot actually make a case that there is a God. In the presentation, though, it is explained that we can make our best case for why he exists. The author says, “There are certain things we see within the universe, the best explanation is God.” (Approaching the Questions of God’s Existence) So in conclusion to the idea...
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...Does the existence of evil shows God does not exist? Most folks in the world are disheartened by the bitter fact that evil happens. People are astonishment as to why God can exist and at the same time allow the evil we see and experience each and every day in our environs to prevail (Braine 1-10). They fail to fathom the reason why the capable God would by genuine reasons agree to the notion that the power of choice should be bestowed in humans. They claim that if God is really a loving God he ought to allow his creations to decide if he really hopes to see a world where utmost love can subsists at all and they think man may misuse the ability bestowed in him to select acts in a very fierce way that does not concur with the morality principles. The byproduct of a universe where the power to inculcate love in our humanly actions is an option is the widespread ethical evil that is witnessed. Evils of various kinds exit in the world. Most of these evils are referred to as natural evil. Innocent souls die day by day because of natural calamities and tragedies. The effects of maladies, epidemics and pandemics can also not be overlooked. These widespread of natural evil seemingly has no bearing to the actions of the human beings and the types of resolutions that they make in their life time. How then can all these evils that happen be accounted for? Why would God allow such misfortunes to befall His innocent and blameless creation on earth? These burning questions that touch on the...
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...offered by theists for the existence of God simply do not provide evidence that there is one omnipotent, omniscient being. His arguments about “proofs” question why people are theists, and why theists should abandon their arguments or “proofs”. He claims that most people do not believe in God because of their lack of knowledge about evolution, but in fact most theist believe in God and consider themselves theists, because there is documented evidence that supersedes any “hypothesis” or “theory” that scientists have on the life forms on earth, and even earth itself. “In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) Although an atheist may make a convincing argument about there not being a God, and we are all products of evolution, there is no documented, definitive evidence that is fact. Darwin himself even labeled evolution as such, “the theory of evolution.” However, I do believe McCloskey makes a very valid point about the arguments he, as an atheist, is challenging, and he defends his ideas very well. While I can appreciate the theory that it is possible that the universe was a cluster of stars and then one day something exploded and miraculously the galaxies and solar systems were formed and, luckily for us there was one planet that was capable of sustaining life and microscopic organisms and bacteria evolved into all living things that we know today, there are still valid arguments to be made for God. McCloskey argues that the mere existence...
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