1. Write 3 rules for class discussion Remember: we need to be able to hear each other

5. The existence of GOD. What is God like?

6. So… what/Who is God? According to Christianity God is the supreme being, Creator of all. In the book of Genesis it says he made Man.

7. God made man in His own image.

9. William Paley said that just as a WATCH shows design and has MAKER… so the world shows design and has a maker… GOD. (Teleological Argument.)

10. Is God up in the clouds?

11. Or a force out in space?

12. Or just some form of energy?

13. Is he a bloke with a big beard?

14. Is God OMNIPOTENT? (This means all powerful. Able to do anything!)

15. Is God OMNISCIENT? (This means “All knowing” or “All seeing”.)

16. Is God OMNIPRESENT? (This means that God is everywhere!)

17. Is God OMNIBENEVOLENT? (This means God is all-loving.)

18. BUT…….. If God is all these “Omni” things… why does he allow evil in the world?

19. There is “HUMAN” evil… like WAR.

20. TERRORISM

21. 9/11

22. MURDER

23. STEALING

24. CRUELTY

25. We can say that God allows people freewill…. And so this explains why there is “Human Evil” in the world. Adam and Eve were responsible for the first “Sin” according to the Bible

26. But what about NATURAL EVIL? F A M I N E

27. DROUGHT

28. DISEASE

29. EARTHQUAKES

30. TSUNAMI

32. HURRICANES

33. TORNADOS

34. LIGHTNING

35. TORNADOS & LIGHTNING!!!

36. Evil can be a mix of Human and Natural. For example a famine where no-one from countries with food sends help.

37. If God is omnipotent, omniscient omnibenevolent and omnipresent… surely he would stop all these disasters? And…. Why did he design a planet with all these faults in the first place?

38. Is it a test of faith? Are we being punished? Is it all due to Adam and Eve?

39. Perhaps God’s reasons are too difficult for us to understand or explain?

40. Is there in fact no God at all? Surely that explains why there is evil in the world??

41. Ludwig Feuerbach’s theory is that we are like passengers on a train. If we think that there is a “driver” (God) then we are happy on our journey as we don’t realise we are heading for disaster.

42. We imagine that there is a driver (God) to make our life bearable and meaningful. In the end we just die… but never know our mistake.

43. But then is Nature actually Evil?

44. “ Natural” disasters are not deliberately “Evil” if there is no God.

45. But if the world was designed “intelligently” by God…. Then surely he is to blame?