Nature of God

• Bible: 'For God loved the world so much he gave his one and only son'
• Monotheism


  Belief in one God
• Christian beliefs about God

  • Omnipotent
  • Omnibenevolent
  • Just
• Christian beliefs about God


  1. Encourages them to worship God as they want to thank him for creation

  2. Hope for forgiveness as God is omnibenevolent

  3. Follow God's commandments and teachings in preparation for judgement day as God is just so they shall receive a reward after death/not be held accountable

  4. Just in conduct- impacts how they treat other people
• The problem of Evil and Suffering


  Raises questions about the nature of God- how can God be all these things when Evil and Suffering exist
• The problem of Evil and Suffering

  Challenges God's omnibenevolence as God himself has created evil and suffering and this suggests that God does not love his creation
• The problem of Evil and Suffering

  Challenges God's omnipotence as the existence of evil and suffering suggests that he is not powerful enough to remove
• Theodicy


  A defense/reconcile of belief of God
• Suffering


  Produces perseverance (bible)
• Suffering


  Is the result of original sin (Catechism of the Catholic Church)
• Free will


  Moral evil is not caused by God but by humans as God has lovingly given us free will and it is now our responsibility to make the right choices - it is then our fault if we misuse that and cause moral evil
• This does not account for natural suffering
• St. Augustine


  Evil and Suffering are caused by Original Sin
• Genesis 3


  1. Tells the story of the fall where Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge in the garden of eden which disobeyed God and by doing so, brought evil and sin into the world and humanity

  2. This means that there is a disharmony between heaven and earth and therefore we are born sinful and suffering exists in the world

  3. This is why there is a need for salvation- to be saved by God through the crucifixion and resurrection
• Hick


  • Evil and suffering are a part of God's plan and we need them in order to learn good - we could not be able to perform good deeds if there was no evil and suffering
  • We develop compassion in response to suffering