The Nature of God

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The Nature of God
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Content

• Key Terms
• Why Xians believe in God
• What Xians believe about God
• Biblical Authority
• Ways of knowing God

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Key Terms
Atheist Someone who believes that God does not
exist
Theist Someone who believes that God does exist
Monotheist Someone who believes only in one God
Polytheist Someone who believes that the Godhead
has more than one aspect to it
Henotheist Someone who believes that near enough
everything in the world can be worshipped
Agnostic Someone who just doesnt know what to
believe!
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Key Terms
believes that God is only in the minds of those
who believe.
is convinced that God is not and cannot be real.
Atheist Someone who believes that God does not
exist
thinks that people should learn to stand on
their own two feet without relying on God
believes that there is no God and those who
believe in God are wrong!
believes that there is no need to believe in God
thinks that to believe in God is to believe in
an illusion.
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Key Terms
believes that it will never be possible in this
life to know whether God exists or not
Agnostic Someone who just doesnt know what to
believe!
is not sure if you can know whether God exists
or not
feels that any proof of the existence of God is
beyond all human knowledge and understanding
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Why Xians Believe in God
Reason One The world could not exist without
something having created it. (cf. Paleys
Teleological Argument from Design)
Reason Two Everyone knows the difference between
right and wrong how is this? Christians
believe that this knowledge comes directly from
God and is in us at our birth, even though we may
suppress it sometimes.
Reason Three Some people believe in God because
that is how they were brought up and that is
really all that they remember belief in God is
as natural to them as eating and sleeping.
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Responses to Why Xians Believe in God
Response One There is no need for a creator of
the world. This happened when the Big Bang
happened.
Response Two The knowledge of right and wrong
does not come from God, but comes from our social
conditioning. We learn right and wrong through
our parents/guardians, other family, friends,
school, television (etc)
Response Three Just knowing that God exists is
not sufficient. People may have been brought up
like this, but this causes a bigger problem, this
being that they may have never been in a position
to actually DECIDE whether to accept God. They
never made the decision themselves as an adult.
Just growing up with it could mean that you
never really decide its just there.
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What Xians believe about God
Christians believe in the Divine Trinity (The
Triune Godhead)

• The Father
• The Son
• The Holy Spirit

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• God The Father
• Jesus called God Father
• Commonly accepted as the God of the Old
  Testament
• God is compared to a Father as he protects people
  like a Father should

• God The Son
• This is Jesus Christ God Incarnate
• Born of the Virgin Mary miracle birth, miracle
  maker and miraculous teacher
• Died by Crucifixion, Died, Went to Hell, Heaven,
  Resurrected then Ascended
• and is seated on the right hand of Godwho
  shall judge the earth

• God The Holy Spirit
• Known in HB as the ruach is Gods
  representative on earth until the day of
  judgement
• The HS or HG guides people on earth as Xians
  today
• The HS guides the Christian Church in holiness

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The Bible

• There are in total 39 different books in the OT
• It is also (more accurately) called the Hebrew
  Bible
• Starts with Genesis and finishes with Malachi
• Tells the stories of the movement of the Jewish
  nation and tribes
• Separated into sections the Pentateuch, The
  Wisdom and the Prophets

The Old Testament

• There are in total 27 different books in the NT
• Most of them were written by Paul of Tarsus,
  previously Saul of Tarsus, a persecutor of the
  early Christians
• The first four books are the gospels Matthew,
  Mark, Luke and John
• The rest are either the epistles (letters),
  history books or revelatory books

The New Testament
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The Authority of the Bible
Understanding the Bible
in special services such as weddings and/or
funerals.
in small study groups, particularly at special
times of the year like Christmas and Lent
The Bible is Used
by Christians in their own devotions combined
with praying
in almost all Christian services. There is more
than one Bible reading in most services