The existence of God

• Christian beliefs about the Trinity

  • Majority of Christians accept the teaching of the Trinity
  • Unitarianism - God is one being, Jesus was a 'son' of God but not literally God
  • Jehovah's Witnesses - Jesus was created by Jehovah and not eternal, Holy Spirit is not a separate person
• The Nicene Creed teaches that the Holy Spirit comes from both God the Father and God the Son
• The Eastern Orthodox Church believes that the Holy Spirit comes only from the Father
• The Orthodox Church maintains that God the Father is the source of all things and therefore rejects the teaching of the Western church
• God's relationship with the world

  Christian understandings come from the account in the book of Genesis of how the world was created
• The world is dependent upon the command of God
• God's involvement with the world

  God continues to sustain all things
• Views on whether God created the world ex-nihilo (from nothing) or from pre-existent matter


  • Some Christians disagree on this
• The Bible explains that the natural world is in itself a witness to God's existence
• God's relationship with humanity

  Humans were made in God's image, given a role of stewardship over creation, God breathed life into Adam
• God's ongoing care for humanity is shown throughout the Bible
• God's care and relationship with humanity is most clearly seen in his incarnation
• Reasons for different Christian views on God's relationship with the world and humanity

  Traditionally God has been understood to be timeless, but some Christians believe God is everlasting and engaged with creation
• Catholics believe priests act in the power of Christ, while Protestants believe people can have a personal relationship with God without a mediator
• In the Genesis accounts, everything God creates is described as 'good'
• God's creation provides all that is needed to sustain the world and its inhabitants
• God has given humanity rules about how to live a good life, demonstrating his desire for people to act morally
• God allows humans free will and does not force goodness upon them
• Christianity teaches that God will judge all humans when they die and this will determine what happens to them after death
• God offers humans forgiveness through the death of Jesus
• Deuteronomy 32:6: 'Is he not your Father, your Creator, who made you and formed you?'
• Matthew 5:16: 'Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.'
• Titus 1:4: 'Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour.'
• 2 Timothy 4:1: 'In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead.'
• 1 John 2:2: 'Jesus Christ ... is the atoning sacrifice for our sins ... for the sins of the whole world.'
• Philippians 2:6: 'Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God ... Taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.'
• John 14:25: 'The Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I [Jesus] have said to you.'
• St Augustine taught that evil is the responsibility of human beings for making wrong choices
• Irenaeus suggested that man was not created perfect but immature, needing to grow and develop to perfection
• Some Christians believe that suffering is necessary for us to understand goodness, and a test of faith for believers
• Genesis 1:31: 'God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning--the sixth day.'
• Psalm 22:1: 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? so far from my cries of anguish?'
• Jeremiah 5:19: 'And when the people ask, "Why has the Lord our God done all this to us?" you will tell them, "As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land not your own."'
• The design argument suggests the world shows evidence of intelligent design by God
• The anthropic principle argues that the universe is perfectly structured to ensure life would develop, demonstrating God's design
• The first cause argument states that God is the eternal, unchanging first cause of all things
• The moral argument links our sense of right and wrong to the existence of God
• Some Christians reject the moral argument as it does not fit with the belief of God judging people after death
• Christians believe moral behaviour will impact God's judgement, as seen in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats
• Christians believe God reveals himself through the Bible, but they disagree on how he does this