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Challenges to Religious Belief

Challenges to Religious Belief. Evil and Suffering Science . God does not want to eliminate evil . God does not exist . EVIL Moral Natural . God is not powerful enough to defeat evil . Nothing can stop evil . God is not what he claims to be. Evil exists so God must have created it.

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Challenges to Religious Belief

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  1. Challenges to Religious Belief Evil and Suffering Science

  2. God does not want to eliminate evil God does not exist EVIL Moral Natural God is not powerful enough to defeat evil Nothing can stop evil God is not what he claims to be Evil exists so God must have created it

  3. Evil • PLATO’S FORMS • There is an inner part of us, you might call it the soul, that does not change. It is eternal and, before it became tied down by a body, it was connected with the real world of FORMS. • Good is the most important form and allowed us to see other forms e.g. Justice, truth and beauty • Remember Plato’s Cave... The Form of Good (The Sun) • Evil is not a form! • Forms = no shape, the essence of an object • Re-visit the strengths and weaknesses of Plato’s Forms

  4. Challenges to Religious Belief Evil and Suffering Science

  5. Stephen Hawking • As we shall see, the concept of time has no meaning before the beginning of the universe. This was first pointed out by St. Augustine. When asked: What did God do before he created the universe? Augustine didn't reply: He was preparing Hell for people who asked such questions. Instead, he said that time was a property of the universe that God created, and that time did not exist before the beginning of the universe. • A Brief History of Time (1988)

  6. Can we therefore assume... That God exists outside of OUR time... Questions: Link Plato On the outside of the cave... Is God the Form of Good? Link Evil and Suffering What implications does the premise that God exists outside our time have on our existence? (Consider the analogy of the house... God can see through the windows...!!!)

  7. Religion and Science 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  2 Now the earth was [a] formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. [a] = possible ‘came’ Now analyse what this suggests about the role of God and what pre-existed. Is this compatible with Big Bang Theory?

  8. Big Bang Theory: Red Shift • In the 1920s Edwin Hubble observed that light from starts became redder the further they travelled away from the earth. From this he deduced that the universe is expanding outwards and, by measuring the red shift, he calculated the speed they were travelling and the date when this movement must have begun. Its start was called ‘Big Bang’ and postulates a cosmic expansion of enormous energy and heat from which all matter was formed.

  9. Creation ex nihilo • Remind yourself of the work on God as creation ex nihilo. • Do you think this belief is compatible with the Big Bang theory or not?

  10. Intelligent Design • The assertion that there is an intelligent cause to our universe • A purposeful designer Ring any bells....???

  11. Stephen Hawkins “An expanding universe does not preclude a creator, but it does place limits on when he might have carried out his job.” A Brief History of Time (New York: Bantam, 1988)

  12. Debate

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