Design Argument
Arguments about God existence and how the universe was created are fairly popular nowadays. And the big question is: Do you agree that there is a God who planned it all or the universe existed just by chance. My answer is yes, I do agree that God exists and He is the one who designed our universe. And I will explain on how this came to be... Firstly, I say that William Paley's analogy of the world to a watch is very reasonable. The watch which has a complex structure is designed by a watchmaker; furthermore, the world, which is much more complex compared to a watch, should also have an intelligent designer behind it - God. Let's take a painting for an example: Behind every painting, there will always be a designer, a painter. Would you believe that the painting just happened by chance? That a strong wind blew and the painting had existed? Of course not! It just shows the same way about the world, that it did not happen just by any chance, and that it was designed by God. Secondly, another strong aspect in the design argument is the Anthropic Principle. It is stated that God specifically design the universe for the human species to exist. Imagine if the giant explosion that created the universe, the Big Bang theory, had made a temperature colder or hotter from our normal temperature today, then, there is a big chance that the human species wouldn't exist. Another point is
Platonic Forms
As Philosophy of Religion Ancient Greek Influences on religious philosophy a) Explain the Platonic concept of "forms". (25) Plato was a Greek philosopher who came up with the analogy of the cave. He basically said that we all live in a cave and we can only see the shadows of reality but not reality itself. He states education will enable us to leave the cave and to see the real world, even if we don't believe in the real world, it exists. He believed that physical objects possessed an entity of form which you could try and understand by separating the image of objects in our mind that we know through our senses and the image of a perfect form of the object. The closer we come to identifying the form, the closer we become to reality, but we are still all trapped in the dark cave. The idea of forms. He believed that the world we live in is a material world and we see imperfect copies of ideal forms. But there is also another eternal world which consists of concepts and forms. It is more real than the world we experience through our senses, and it is the object of knowledge not opinion. He said that the world of sense experience is subject to constant change. For example a leaf that was green yesterday could be brown today, and a boy may be five feet tall now who was two inches shorter some months ago. But the colour brown itself cannot become the colour green, and the
Explain the meaning and significance of Baptism for Christians today with particular reference to how being baptised might affect the behaviour, lifestyle and decision making of Christian believers today.
A01 Explain how Marks account of Jesus Baptism has influenced Christian beliefs and understanding of the sacrament of Baptism. Refer to the central features of Infant and Believers baptism in your answer. A Sacrament is an outward sign of an inward, spiritual blessing. Christians celebrate Sacraments as they believe that they are special channels for bringing God's love and blessing to them. They are viewed as a very important part of worship in many Christian Churches. The word Baptism was initially derived from the dipping of sheep to kill parasites. The same principle is used in baptism; those who are cleansed with water are cleansed from their sins. It is also believed that the term derives from the Greek word baptizein, which is thought to have the meaning "to dip repeatedly" or "to immerse". The Christian sacrament of baptism is the service by which people become members of the Church. There are many references to Baptism in the scriptures and Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist. In Christian Churches, there are two types of Baptism; Infant baptism; mainly practised by the Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Anglican Church, and Believers Baptism; which is practised mainly by the Baptist Church. Infant baptism is based on the principles that when baptised, you are freed from original sin and you enter the Catholic Church. In the Infant baptism, the child is sprinkled
Mencius and Xunzi on Cultivation
EALC 110 Professor Hayden Michael Day March 13, 2008 Cultivation and Transformation: Mencius and Xunzi on Human Nature Confucius inspired a humanistic and ethical outlook that was developed further by prime disciples Mencius and Xunzi. This development took place amidst the background of arguments against other thinkers or in response to their criticisms of Confucianism. However, there was a disagreement within the Confucian school, as well, as shown by Xunzi's critique of Mencius. It may be perceived that Mencius has the dominant position in the Confucian tradition as Mencius's belief that human nature is originally good has often been interpreted into certain sayings of Confucius. Additionally, Xunzi's claim that human nature is "evil" and that people can be transformed to become good may be inconsistent, as they imply Mencius's claim that human nature is inherently good. For this reason, it is crucial to analyze both thinkers separately as integration of one thinker's original thought to another may obscure the important aspects of the assimilated thinker's position. Secondly, this method of analysis will show that the debate is not one conducted from extreme opposites as it may seem at first sight, for both Mencius and Xunzi agreed that man must cultivate his goodness consciously regardless of whether he is born with it or acquires it from the state. The differences
Has science made the Bible a useless document?
"The Bible has been disproved by scientific theories and is therefore a useless document". Discuss (5) Most Christians' agreement or disagreement with this statement would depend on whether they were literalist Christians or non-literalist Christians, but what both these groups would agree on is that although the Bible may or may not have been disproved in part by scientific theory, this most certainly does not make it a useless document. Literal Christians would say that the Bible has not been disproved by science, and the events which are written about are completely true and are taken from real life. Although these may seem impossible to our limited human knowledge, as God is omnipotent he can make the seemingly impossible happen. Non-literal Christians would say that as the Bible is the direct Word of God I contains truths not comprehensible to our human minds, and therefore some events are depicted through myths and metaphors, meaning the events depicted in some places in the Bible could be disproved by science, as the events did not truly exist. However, they would still not argue that the bible is a useless document, as it is the Word of God and often provides much-needed comfort to those in distress. However, other people might argue that as scientific theories which are now widely accepted to be fact, such as evolution, contradict the Bible in many places, the rest
Our Life Is The Creation Of Our Mind
'What We Are Today Comes From Our Thoughts Of Yesterday, And Our Present Thoughts Build Our Life Of Tomorrow: Our Life Is The Creation Of Minds' To What Extent Do You Agree With This? 'What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: our life is the creation of minds.' This statement was said by the Buddha in the Dhammapada, a book of his early teachings. The Buddha also says, 'If a man speaks or acts with an impure mind, suffering follows him as the wheel of the cart follows the beast that draws the cart ... if a man speaks and acts with a pure mind, joy follows him as his own shadow'. I agree with some parts of this statement however, I do not agree with all of it. This quote is Buddha's way of explaining Karma. The Buddha does this by saying that 'If a man speaks or acts with an impure mind, suffering follows him as the wheel of the cart follows the beast that draws the cart ...' The man has done something wrong and now has bad Karma following him like the cart follows the horse that draws it. But Buddha then says, '... if a man speaks and acts with a pure mind, joy follows him as his own shadow'. Here the man has done nothing wrong and good Karma now walks along side him like his shadow. I do not agree with this as I do not believe that there is such thing as Karma. It is my opinion that if a person has done
Are Near Death Experiences:
Are Near Death Experiences: Evidence of an Afterlife or Not? Near death experiences (NDEs) are found to be very common in all different countries. NDEs are explained by a separate soul or consciousness rising out of the body and slowly, peacefully floating to the ceiling. When the victim has reached the ceiling he/she will watch down on their own body and can recall what has happened to them afterwards. This stage is known as the 'out of body experience' and when this stage occurs the victim is either clinically dead or in a great deal of pain, near to death. The second stage is well-known as the 'tunnel of light.' In this stage of the NDE the victim will often drift into a dark tunnel with a bright light at the end. The final stage ('the heavenly stage') is usually identified by the victim when he/she is found to be walking calmly in a beautiful park with graceful music playing in the background. The victim generally sees a close friend or relative which has recently deceased. Many NDEs have occurred with heart attack victims. In most of these cases the patient has only experienced the 'out of the body' stage. However, the memories are very clear and the victim can recall what had happened without the information already stored in the brain. There is no possible way the patient would have known this would have happened. Another experience was recorded but this time
Can we create the perfect world?
When we made the version of the world we all thought was the best, we made many changes involving not getting obese, only dying of old age, people can fly etc etc we made changes to the way people act, the environment, systems and complex issues such as no natural evil. For the environment we decided unbreakable ozone layer, Greeny blue sky, fresh green land and soil and no mud My world is a good world, there is a four day weekend, everyone loves somebody, you can die with loved ones if you wish, cute animals have freedom, a cashless debit card system that prevents theft as it has iris recognition and status is determined by hard work not by what family you were born into or what part of the world you live in, in other words equality. There is a fair justice system with no corruption and bad rulers. There is less need for sleep and No terrorism but world peace. We thought of some appearance changes to such as once you got to 25 you stopped aging as fast, you can change appearance at will and grow tall or short at will and no disease unless your bad. One idea that was extremely interesting was the fact that you could speak to God whenever you want in a walk in center. My world is the things I want and the things I think are needed in this world to make it not just better but the best possible world. Cashless money system will-riot only prevent theft as it has iris
Heaven and Hell - general views, traditional and liberal Christian views.
Heaven and Hell And Life after Death Heaven: General knowledge, Traditional and Liberal Christian views: Many people said that Heaven is not on earth. "My kingdom is not of this world...this realm". There is also a belief that if you are good, you will have an everlasting life with God, and because heaven provides everlasting life, it also offers and provides everlasting comfort (emotional) no mourning or crying. It is also believed that heaven is a beautiful place, where you can see arc angels, angels, saints and your loved ones who passed away before you. However, heaven is also based in faith. It is believed that when someone dies, they will cross over from death to life. Some teachings suggests that, form a human body, it will change into spiritual body to inherit the kingdom of God. "Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust: insure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died, was buried and rose again" (Funeral service). This shows that by the time that humans are going to die, they will turn into ash again from where they come from. That is why some people were cremated because of their belief that they will have to go back from where they came from. This phrase suggests that, we came from dust and we have to return to dust. However, some ethnic groups like the Jews chose not to be cremated, instead they want
Do religious experiences exist?
How Successful is the Argument for Religious Experiences? Religious experiences have been reported for centuries, but there is no proof that reports of any such experiences are genuine. Religious experiences are momentary links between God and man in which the human involved experiences God. Genuine religious experiences can be life-changing and can affect many people, but it is doubtable whether any reports are genuine since only a single person can experience the experience they claim connected them to God. Religious experiences lack proof since they involve a single person. The public have to rely on this single person to relate the experience, so there is a huge margin for fake reports and exaggerations. Disputable mental health statuses can cause what is believed to be a religious experience: people with ill mental health may experience what they would assume is a religious experience. Religious experiences can also be claimed as a result of a vivid dream or inexplicable lights or sounds. Links with God can be imagined or added to the experience for dramatic effect - supernatural effects can be common, but lacking a link with God. Strong religious believers may also believe themselves closer to God, and link this with an (imaginary) religious experience. Devoted people often attribute God to parts of the everyday world. For example, a person could say they felt