Beliefs and Teachings

• Monotheism


  The belief that there is only one God
• Attributes of God's nature

  • Omnipotent (all-powerful)
  • Omnibenevolent (all-good and all-loving)
  • Omniscient (all-knowing)
  • Transcendent (outside time and space, beyond human understanding)
  • Omnipresent (everywhere at the same time)
• Omni


  Means 'all'
• Other beliefs about God

  • Eternal (never began nor will end)
  • Spirit Being without a body
  • Creator of everything that exists (ex nihilo or from nothing)
  • Creator of humanity in His own divine image
• Trinity


  Three Persons in One God: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), God the Holy Spirit
• Demonstration of God's omnipotence in Exodus

  • Plagues on Egypt
  • Parting of the Red Sea
• Demonstration of God's omnipotence in Genesis


  • Creating the world 'ex nihilo' or from nothing
• Psalm 86 verse 15: 'but you, Lord are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness'
• John 3 verse 16: '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'
• Incarnation


  God came down to earth in the Person of Jesus
• Evil and suffering in the world raises questions about God's goodness and power
• Moral evil


  The result of people making mistakes or choosing to do something morally wrong
• Natural evil


  The result of the way the world works, like viruses, earthquakes, hurricanes
• Epicurus: 'Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then where did evil come from? If he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?'
• Saint Augustine: 'Either God cannot abolish evil or He will not; if He cannot then He is not all-powerful; if He will not then He is not all-good'
• Inconsistent Triad


  The idea that God cannot be all-powerful, all-good, and allow evil to exist at the same time
• Theodicy


  An explanation for how an all-powerful and all-loving God can allow evil and suffering to exist
• Saint Augustine's theodicy


  Evil is a 'non-entity', just a lack of goodness. Adam and Eve's original sin brought evil into the world.
• Saint Irenaeus' theodicy


  God created humanity in His image but not His likeness, so people need challenges and suffering to develop spiritually
• John Hick's theodicy


  God created a perfect world but gave humans genuine free will, including the ability to choose evil. God keeps an 'epistemic distance' to allow human development.
• The Book of Job offers a possible solution to the problem of innocent suffering
• God to Job: 'I am going to ask the questions, and you are going to inform me! Where were you when I laid the earth's foundations? Tell me since you are so well-informed!'
• Holy Trinity


  The three Persons of God: the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit
• Jesus: 'I and the Father are One'
• Jesus: 'I am the Way; I am Truth and Life. No one can come to the Father except through me.'
• Jesus said 'I am' on seven different occasions
• Holy Spirit


  • Inspires people to do what is right and avoid sin
  • The great comforter
• Trinity


  A Divine Mystery which is beyond human understanding
• Image used to represent the Trinity

  • Triangle
• Triangle


  • It would not be a triangle if it did not have 3 sides and 3 angles
  • In the same way as the triangle 'is' three sides and three angles so God 'is' Three Persons (never ever, ever, three parts or three people!!)
• Jesus himself explained the 'oneness of God'
• Jesus: ''he (Jesus) and the Father are One''
• Jesus: ''I am the Way; I am Truth and Life. No one can come to the Father except through me.''
• The seven 'I am' sayings of Jesus


  • Truly, Truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, 'I am'
• The reason the religious leaders wanted to kill Jesus was because Jesus had used the words 'I am' with reference to himself and thereby was claiming to be God
• Fully human and fully divine

  Christianity teaches that Jesus was truly God and, at the same time, truly human in every single aspect of his life
• Incarnation


  God the Son took on human nature so that he could save humanity
• John's Gospel: ''The Word* became flesh and made his dwelling among us''
• Angel Gabriel to Mary: ''You will conceive and give birth to a son and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High''
• The Nicene Creed (325 AD) clearly defines the two natures of Jesus Christ - his fully human nature and his fully divine nature