Genesis is the book of beginnings. It tells of the beginning of the physical universe, as we know it, including our earth and all things thereon. It appropriately begins with the declaration, "In the beginning God..."
-The message from this first Bible verse through the last verse of Revelation is that God is the beginning, the end, and the fulfillment of all things. It is in Him that we live, breathe and have our being. Man simply does not have any existence outside God.
There is no attempt made in the Bible to prove the existence of God … only to reveal Him … for God's existence is not a Biblical argument. It is an accepted fact. This is also true of the creation story. It simply states that God is the creator of all things.
There are many evidences that God does indeed exist and that He is actively involved in our human existence.
- The reason why things “short and ugly” exist is because God may not have been perfect himself. An Epicurus belief was:
1) God is all-powerful.
2) God is perfectly good.
3) Evil exists.
4) If God exists, then there would be no evil.
5) There is evil.
6) Therefore God does not exist.
Jewish concepts of God Page2
Although in my opinion I believe that because god allows free will evil has to exist else there would be no free will.
Does God really act in the world? I think that God does act in the world, but only occasionally. If the occasion justifies God’s action to carry out his will, he is fully capable to do so and acts accordingly, but the occasions may be few and far between at times or more concentrated at other times.
Through Jewish thought it is believed that miracles are a way of showing God’s activity in the world, however couldn’t this just be coincidence. God’s activity in the world is also conveyed in the bible through the Adam and Eve story where God speaks to them.
-The Jews portray God’s goodness as the covenant; this is also another argument to prove Gods existence. The central theme of Judaism is the covenant between the Jews and God. This was first made Abraham, from whom the Jewish believe they came. This covenant was renewed with Abraham's son Isaac, and Abraham's grandson Jacob.
The covenant was extended as Moses was given the Ten Commandments and other laws. From this, the Jews learn how they should lead their lives.
The covenant involves that the Jews are a chosen people, giving them certain rights as well as responsibilities.
In Greek philosophy Socrates and Plato are concerned with our ability to understand "the Good." In place of the many specific examples of goodness which govern many of our lives, they want us to break free of society's assumptions and to grasp the Good for ourselves, the "absolute" good, so that we can use this knowledge to guide our own lives
-Divine command theory is widely held to be refuted by an argument known as the Euthyphro dilemma. This argument is named after Plato’s Euthyphro dialogue, which contains the inspiration for the argument, though not, as is sometimes thought, the argument itself. The Euthyphro dilemma rests on a modernised version of the question asked by Socrates in the Euthyphro: “Are morally good acts willed by God because they are morally good, or are they morally good because they are willed by God?”
The Euthyphro dilemma can be sumarised as:
(1) If divine command theory is true then either (i) morally good acts are willed by God because they are morally good, or (ii) morally good acts are morally good because they are willed by God.
(2) If (i) morally good acts are willed by God because they are morally good, then they are morally good independent of God’s will.
(3) It is not the case that morally good acts are morally good independent of God’s will.
Therefore:
(4) It is not the case that (i) morally good acts are willed by God because they are morally good.
(5) If (ii) morally good acts are morally good because they are willed by God, then there
is no reason either to care about God’s moral goodness or to worship him.
Jewish concepts of God Page3
(6) There are reasons both to care about God’s moral goodness and to worship him.
Therefore:
(7) It is not the case that (ii) morally good acts are morally good because they are willed by God.
Therefore:
(8) Divine command theory is false.
- A transcendent God is one who is beyond perception, independent of the universe, and wholly "other" when compared to us. An immanent God, however, is one, which exists within - within us, within the universe, etc.
- From the beginning to the end of the Bible miracles occur. Some examples miracles found in the Old Testament are:
Moses and the ten plagues against Egypt: The Israelites are in slavery in Egypt. Moses requests that Pharaoh let the Jewish people go but he refuses. As a result God sends a series of plagues onto the Egyptians. The Nile turns to blood; frogs, gnats and flies swarm the land; livestock dies; people are affected by boils; hail and locusts destroy crops; the land is covered in darkness for three days and finally the firstborn in every Egyptian house dies.
The Exodus and the crossing of the Red (or Reed) Sea: After allowing the Israelites to go Pharaoh changes his mind and chases after them. The sea traps the Israelites with the Egyptian army closing in behind them. Moses holds out his staff and the waters part. The Israelites cross through on dry land in safety. When the Egyptian army tries to cross as well the waters close in around them and they all drown.
