God, Trinity, Creation, Humans, Genesis, Evil and Jesus

• Monotheistic religion


  Teaches that there is only one God
• God

  • Eternal - outside of time, without beginning or end
  • Omniscient - knows everything, sees past, present and future
  • Transcendent - above all created things
  • Immanent - acts in human history throughout all ages
  • Personal - in relationship with people through prayer, visions, Holy Spirit
  • Omnipotent - all powerful, can do anything logically possible within his nature
  • Fair and righteous judge of humans
• God sees all that humans do, say and think, and has set rules and provided a perfect example of godly living when he came into the world as Jesus
• Different Christian groups emphasise some characteristics of God more than others
• Trinity


  One God with three distinct persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
• Each person of the Trinity is distinct but equal, with different roles
• Some denominations believe the Trinity goes against the monotheism of Christianity
• Unitarians such as the Christadelphians do not believe in the Trinity
• God's role in creation

  1. Brings order to chaos

  2. Speaks to bring things into existence

  3. Creates over six days

  4. Declares creation 'good' and 'very good'

  5. Names parts of nature to show authority
• Humans


  • Made in the image of God, unlike other parts of creation
• Role of the Spirit in creation


  1. Hovers over the waters, preparing to bring life

  2. Breathes life into Adam
• The Word


  Title given to the Son of God in John 1
• The Word is present with God before the world is created
• The Word is God
• Through the Word life is given to all things
• Without the Word there would be no life
• The Word becomes flesh when he is incarnated as Jesus and lives on Earth
• Humans are made in the image of God


  Humans have authority over the earth, to rule over God's creation
• Humans are told to 'be fruitful'


  Meaning they should have children and populate the earth
• Adam and Eve


  • Placed in the Garden of Eden to take care of it
  • Eve is created as Adam's helper
  • They have a perfect relationship with God
  • They possess free will
• Tree of 'the knowledge of good and evil'


  God places one rule on Adam and Eve not to eat from this tree
• The Fall


  1. God gives the first law to humanity

  2. Adam and Eve use their free will

  3. The serpent questions God's command

  4. Eve is tempted and eats the fruit

  5. Adam and Eve disobey God, this is called original sin

  6. The perfect relationship between God and humanity is destroyed

  7. God punishes Adam and Eve and sends them out of the Garden of Eden
• The Fall is the term used to describe the move of humans out of a perfect relationship with God and into disobedience and a broken relationship
• Many Christians believe that the Fall has affected the entire human race
• The Word is incarnated as Jesus
• Many Christians believe that original sin means that all humans are born out of a relationship with God and in need of his salvation to bring them back into the relationship
• Original sin means that unless the price of the sin is paid, a person has no hope of eternal life in heaven with God
• Christian interpretations of the Genesis creation story

  • Literal interpretations
  • Genesis as myth
• Creationist approach


  Rejecting any science that suggests the world was not made in six days
• Mythological interpretation


  The details of ancient myths do not need to be taken literally but they are believed to tell us important truths about the uniqueness of humans and the possibility of humans having a relationship with God
• Creationists would argue that the world is approximately 5,700 years old
• Jesus' life


  Important for Christians as it gives them an example for their own lives
• Theistic Evolution


  Life developed through the process of evolution, but evolution was a process started by God
• Jesus


  Important as Son of God, his death is the sacrifice that provides the means by which humans can be brought back into the relationship with God
• Many Christians do not think the days in Genesis 1 need to be taken literally because God's time is not the same as our time
• Jesus


  • God incarnated, which means God in human form
  • His conception was not natural but he was conceived by the Holy Spirit
  • The Holy Spirit caused Mary to become pregnant without the need for a human father
• Original sin caused humans to lose their immortality


  All humans will one day die
• The Old Testament contains prophecies about God coming to Earth - Jesus' miraculous conception and his birth fulfil these prophecies
• When humans disobey God

  Their sin creates further suffering in the world
• Messiah


  Means 'annointed one', referring to Jesus as King or Lord, sent by God to be the saviour of humanity