Does God exist?

• agnostic


  somebody who believes we cannot know if God exists
• atheist


  somebody who does not believe in the existence of God
• belief


  something you accept to be true
• eternal


  everlasting: without beginning or end
• proof


  evidence or argument establishing a fact /truth
• theist


  somebody who believes in the existence of god
• transcendent


  beyond time and space
• The Big Bang Theory


  the leading scientific theory about the origin of the universe
• causation


  the chain of cause and effect
• contingent


  something which depends on something else for its existence
• creationist


  a person who believes the universe originates from god
• design


  the planning something with purpose
• Infinite regress


  a never-ending backward chain of causes
• problem of evil


  the question of how to reconcile the existence of evil and suffering with a benevolent God
• religious experiences


  an extraordinary experience attributed to a religious cause
• Theory of Evolution


  the leading scientific theory about the origin of life
• necessary


  something which does not rely on anything for its existence
• What is Philosophy? Quite literally, the term "philosophy" means, "love of wisdom." Philosophy is an activity people undertake when they seek to understand fundamental truths about themselves, the world in which they live, and their relationships to the world and to each other.
• Plato: (c.429–c.347 BC), Greek philosopher.

  Discipline: Rationalism
• Aristotle (384 - 322 BC) - Father of Biology

  Discipline: Empiricism (all knowledge is based on experience derived from the senses)
• St. Anselm (1033-1109)

  Discipline: Theology
• St Aquinas: (1125-1274)

  Discipline: Theology
• Darwin: (1809-1882)

  Discipline: Naturalism/biology
• The causation argument:

  Argues that an infinite regress of causes is impossible, so therefore there must be an uncaused cause. This is God
• What is the central idea behind the Design Argument?

  A attempt to prove the existence of God through observations of the world around us.
• Paley: (1743-1805) Creator of the Design arguement
• Theory of Evolution:

  States that all life originated from a common ancestor and slowly diverged into different species over time
• On the Origin of Species:

  Book written by Charles Darwin to support his Theory of Evolution (1859)
• Types of Evil: Natural Evil, Moral Evil and Divine Evil
• Natural Evil: Natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes.
• Moral Evil: The evil that is caused by human actions E.g. murder, theft
• Omnipotent: All-powerful
• Omniscient: All-knowing
• Omnibenevolent: All-loving
• The Problem of Evil:

  If God is Omnipotent, then God can remove suffering

  If God is Omnibenevolent, then God couldn't let suffering exist

  If God is Omniscient, then God could see how much pain suffering causes

  Theory 1: God knows we're suffering but can't remove it

  Theory 2: God knows we're suffering and can change it but doesn't want to

  Theory 3: God can't see our suffering

  Theory 4: God doesn't exist