Origins and meanings

• Omnipotence 


  The belief that God is all powerful
• stewardship


  The duty to care for creation responsibly, as stewards rather than consumers, and to protect it for future generations.
• Imago dei


  In the image of God. The belief that human beings are uniquely a reflection of God’s personhood. Unlike the other animals, human beings are rational, free and moral.
• Creation ex nihilo 


  Creation out of nothing. Before God created the universe, nothing existed. Only God can create out of nothing.
• Transcendent 


  Existing outside of space and time; God exists in a way that makes him nothing like anything else that exists, above and beyond creation.
• Revelation 


  The word used to describe all of the ways in which God makes himself known to human beings. Christians believe that God does this finally and fully in the person of Jesus Christ.
• Gaudium et spes 


  The right to freedom, education, work as well as food, clothing and shelter

  Every person has the right to live in circumstances where they can lead a fully human life
• Catholics use a combination of the Bible and science to discover where the universe came from
• Pope John Paul II announced there is no conflict between religion and science
• Genesis


  The Bible's first book, which talks about the universe being formless and empty at the beginning
• God

  The only being capable of creating the universe from nothing, as he is omnipotent, eternal, and transcendent
• God created the universe


  Through the scientific process of the Big Bang
• Pope Francis said God did not just click his fingers and create the universe, but carefully and intricately planned it through the Big Bang
• Creatio ex nihilo


  Creation from nothing
• According to Augustine, the Bible makes it clear that there was nothing before God created everything
• According to Augustine, the Bible makes it clear that God didn't use anything to create everything, He only used His words
• Saint Augustine: 'Out of nothing you created heaven and earth'
• Creatio ex nihilo


  • It teaches that God creates all the universe from nothing
  • It shows that God did not use any pre-existent material to create the universe because nothing existed before God made it
  • It reveals that God is omnipotent, all-powerful, since He created the whole universe using only His words
  • It reveals that God is eternal, He's forever, He existed before the universe was created and He'll be there long after it
  • It reveals that God is transcendent, above and beyond time and space, God was there before the universe so He must be beyond it and that enabled Him to create everything out of nothing
• Charles Darwin


  • Naturalist who wrote "On the Origins of Species by Means of Natural Selection"
  • Observed animals, especially finches, on the Galapagos Islands
• Natural selection

  The process of evolution where species with characteristics that help them survive in changes to their environment are more likely to live and reproduce, passing on those characteristics
• Survival of the fittest


  Organisms produce more offspring than can survive, and those with beneficial mutations or changes are more likely to live and reproduce
• Evidence for evolution


  • Fossils showing earlier forms of animals
  • Similarities in genetic code between related species
• Key terms related to evolution


  • Empiricism
  • Natural selection
  • Survival of the fittest
• Omniscient

  God knows everything
• God is omniscient

  Evolution may be part of his plan
• Evolution


  A complex system that requires a designer
• Only God is omnipotent enough to design and implement such a system as evolution
• God creating evolution


  Gives life meaning and purpose
• Genesis is not a history book and should not be treated as fact
• Evolution provides a reasonable and evidence-based idea for the origin of life
• The beauty and complexity seen in evolution and throughout life is evidence of God's benevolence and loving nature
• Pope Francis: 'Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation because evolution requires the creation of beings that evolve'
• Pope Francis: 'God created human beings and let them develop according to the internal laws that he gave each one'
• Evolution has been carefully and intricately designed and guided by the hand of God through his omnipotence, benevolence and omniscience
• Evolution requires a designer, and God is the creator of all life on Earth and has a special relationship with humans as shown in Genesis
• Faith is open to the findings and hypotheses of the sciences
• Religion and science can work together
• Abortion

  The removal of the fetus from the womb before it can survive
• You can have an abortion up to 24 weeks of pregnancy
• Criteria for having an abortion

  • Mother's life at risk
  • Mother's physical or mental health at risk
  • Baby likely to be born severely handicapped
  • Birth would have a seriously bad effect on other children in the family