Christian Beliefs

• God the Father


  creator, omnipotent, just, omniscient and omnipresent. If he is all these things he is also a father to everything he has created.
• God the son


  Jesus Christ. Jesus became incarnate as a human being and lived on earth as fully God and fully human at the same time.

  Christians use Jesus as a role model for how they should live their lives. Also the personal side of Jesus knows what it is like to live as a human.
• God the Holy Spirit


  The inspiring, guiding presence of god in the world. The Holy Spirit lives within all Christians helping them to live as a Christian in their daily life, giving gifts/skills e.g prophecy, teaching and helping them develop the 'fruits' of being a good Christian e.g love, joy, peace, patience, kindness.Also acts as a person's conscience.
• "W b i o G t F a m o t h a t e o a t v a i"

  We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of the heaven and the earth, of all things visible and invisible.
• "F u a f o s h c d f h"

  For us and for our salvation, He came down from heaven
• Why do Christians believe in God as a Trinity?

  - An attempt to explain the ineffable

  - An example of how to live in a community/perfect relationship

  - Helps humans understand the character of God as it is too complicated to understand as 1

  - Shows that God is not like humans

  - helps humans to worship God
• Influences of god's omnipotence

  "W m t I i b w G a t a p"

  With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible

  - This means God created the world, which influences a Christian to treat the environment with care and respect.

  - This means God created human beings in his own image so Christians should treat humans with respect and not show prejudice and discrimination.

  - This means God is capable of doing miracles e.g Jesus healing the paralysed man. This influences a Xian to have faith and confidence in God because nothing can happen that is stronger than God. God can ultimately sort anything out.
• Influences of God being benevolent

  'F G s l t w t h g H o a o S t w b i h w n p b h e l'


  For God so loved the world that he gave his One and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life

  - Jesus understands what it was like to live as a human because he lived as one. This gives an xian comfort knowing that God understands the stresses, grief and joys of human life and that they can be honest when praying to God and that he is there with them in every situation.

  - this means god wants a personal relationship with the humans as they are allowed to call him 'father' which is unique amongst all religions.
• Influences of god being just

  'H w c a t j t l a t d'

  He will come again to judge the living and the dead

  - he gave everyone free will and a choice about whether they want to be a xian, believe in god and whether they want to live by his teachings. Christians will want to evangelise about how amazing god is so people will want to choose to become Xians

  - god will judge everyone on the day of judgement which can motivate Xians to always think and behave in a way that god would approve of.
• Christians solutions to the problem of suffering


  Augustine, irenaeus and the book of job.
• Augustine


  God is not responsible for evil and suffering - humans are. God gave humans free will and when we make bad choices it causes suffering
• Augustine strengths

  - makes god not responsible

  - explains why moral evil happens

  - explains global warming and the damage and suffering that is doing with changing weather patterns and rising sea levels.
• Augustine weaknesses

  - It is unfair if you are the victim rather than the perpetrator of the evil as it isn't your fault

  - doesn't explain natural evil e.g earthquakes
• Irenaeus


  God allows evil and suffering because He wants humans to grow into moral maturity so we can go to heavenHumans need to learn from their actions for this to happen.
• Irenaeus strengths

  - fits human nature as we learn from our experiences

  - works for both moral and natural evil as it is how we respond to the suffering that matters.
• Irenaeus weaknesses


  - some people could have gone through bad times and either got killed by it or come out as a worse person.

  - someone may not learn from their mistakes.
• Book of Job


  Suffering is a test of a Xian's faith in god. Only god will know why this happens so a Christian must just trust and have faith in god.
• Book of job strengths

  - some xians grow stronger through this and have a very strong faith.

  - it fits with other parts of the bible e.g abraham being tested to sacrifice his son.
• Book of job weaknesses.

  - some people lose their faith as a result of evil and suffering

  - god is still responsible for creating/allowing evil and some may argue he should think of a better way to test faith.
• Different beliefs about creation

  - genesis says 'in the beginning god created the heavens and the earth.

  - John says in the beginning was the word and the word was with god.
• Beliefs about Jesus Christ

  - jesus Is god. He is part of the trinity

  - one of his titles is the son of god.

  - jesus has always existed as part of the trinity and was present at creation
• T W b f a l a u f a w'

  The Word became flesh and lived among us for a while
• How does Jesus' life prove he was divine as well as human?

  - he was born to a virgin, Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit.

  - he was able to perform miracles e.g healing blind people, paralysed man and feeding 5000 people with 2 loaves and 5 fish.
• How does Jesus' life show he was human as well as divine?

  - the bible records jesus being tired, needing to eat

  - jesus suffered a horrendous death by crucifixion and died.
• Influences of incarnation


  - the incarnation means god understands what it's like to be a human which gives Xians comfort knowing that God understands the grief, stresses and joys of human life and they can be honest to him when praying as He is there with them in every situation.

  - jesus is a Christian's role model for how they should live their lives as jesus is god, so his actions and teachings have complete authority to be followed.
• Influences of crucifixion

  - the main reason was to repair the relationship between God and humans by being crucified and dying as the atonement of people's sins. Christians celebrate Jesus' crucifixion on Good Friday and the Eucharist to remind them of Jesus' atonement for their sins.

  - as a Christian's role model Jesus' behaviour whilst being crucified shows how they should respond to suffering. It inspired Christian's to copy Jesus' example and sacrifice their own lives for the love of other people.
• Evidence that Jesus didn't rise from the tomb

  - he wasn't really dead when placed into the tomb and in the cool of the tomb he revived

  - the women went to the wrong tomb in their distress. Easily done as all of the tombs looked the same.

  - the disciples stole the body to make it look like Jesus had risen from the dead.
• Evidence that Jesus did rise from the dead

  - The romans checked someone was dead by putting a spear up through the criminal's side through their lungs and into his heart, which they did to jesus.

  - they had gone to the tomb to see Jesus' body get buried on Friday so they knew the way
• Influences of the resurrection


  - as jesus is a Christian's role model it shows Christian's not to be scared of death or dying as they will be like jesus and be resurrected and given a new life in heaven. It also encourages Christian's to have faith that good will triumph over evil so not to be scared of being persecuted over being a good Christian.

  - it also shows that jesus is fully god and fully human. As this proves jesus is god it makes Christian's try extra hard to obey the teachings as they have greater authority.
• Influences of ascension

  - it shows god's omnipotence which shows that if god can do this then Christina's would pray for Gods help and trust that gods has the power to help.

  - as jesus is a Christian's role model it shows Xians not be scared of death or dying as they will be given a new life in heaven.
• Original sin


  In built tendency to sin eg Adam and Eve gen3
• Sin


  Action or thought that goes against gods laws and morality
• How does Jesus death atone and save us humans from sin?

  Jesus death atones and saves us from sin because as god is holy and just, he can't allow us to get away with such behaviour and go to hell.

  As god is loving he takes the punishment that should be given to humans through his death.

  This acts as atonement and saves (salvation) humans from eternal death.

  Then there is reconciliation between gods and humans so they can go to heaven.
• Beliefs on heaven

  Some xians believe it is a physical place some believe it is a state of mind

  Roman Catholics believe in purgatory which is a temporary place where ppl are cleansed before entering heaven
• How to get to heaven?

  Protestants: by having a personal faith in Jesus (salvation through faith and gods grace)

  RC: by living your life in a way god approves of (salvation through faith and works) parable of sheep and goats - on judgement day all ppl will appear in front of Jesus and will be separated by Jesus like sheep and goats.
• Afterlife influences

  -Christian's will want to go to heaven not hell. Protestants believe heaven is a place for people who want to have a personal faith in Jesus. RCs will want to live out their faith through sacraments and good works

  - Christian's will want to evangelise about Christianity so they have an opportunity to go to heaven. (Alpha courses and messy church)

  - comforting if a relative/ friend died
• Beliefs about hell


  Some Christian's think it is a real place of fire, pain and torment where the devil lives.

  Other xians believe it is a spiritual state of mind of where a person has no connection in god full of mental and emotional anguish.