practice exam question

Practice Exam QuestionDescribe Christian beliefs about religious experience (3 marks).

•To get 3 marks you must make 3 points. (straight to the point)

• For example: you could say something like this:

1) Christians believe that our conscience is a gift from God. Numinous conversion

Miracle prayer conscience

Miracles in the Bible; a belief in God

Objectives•to understand the importance of

Biblical miracles for Christians•to examine miracles in the Old and

New Testaments of the Bible

What is a miracle?

What is a miracle?

Is this a Miracle?

Key words

Miracle: the laws that govern the universe have been broken.

Natural law: the idea that certain actions will produce certain consequences, based on how scientists’ expect nature to work.

Miracles in ChristianityA miracle is a marvellous event that cannot be

explained by any human activity. It is said, by Christians to be evidence of God intervening in the world at a time of crisis or in our daily lives (God exists).

Christians say this happens because God is omnipotent. In the New Testament, two terms are used to describe

miraculous events – ‘mighty works’ and ‘signs’.

A Philosophers definition: A miracle occurs when some ‘invisible agent’ affects the working of the universe.

Scientific laws are descriptions of how nature normally behaves. Scientific laws do not say that something must happen, only that on the basis of previous experience we can expect it to happen. Therefore it is misleading to talk about scientific laws being ‘obeyed’ or ‘broken’.

Science laws reflect the way God’s creation works. However, if God wishes to act differently for a particular purpose (i.e. miracles), then Christians believe that he is free to do so.

Do miracles break scientific laws?

Meaning????????

A Christian might say this…

Miracles in the Bible; a belief in God

Objectives•to understand the importance of

Biblical miracles for Christians•to examine miracles in the Old and

New Testaments of the Bible

Miracles in the Old Testament

• Exodus 14: 21-22 The parting of the Red Sea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuipLOlk_hk

?????????

• Waters made blood - Egypt Exd 7:20-25

• Frogs produced Exd 8:5-14

• Lice Exd 8:16-18

• Flies Exd 8:20-24

• Murrain Exd 10:3-6

• Boils Exd 10:8-11

• Thunder Exd 10:22-26

• Locusts Exd 11:12-19

• Darkness Exd 11:21-23

• Death of the first-born - Egypt Exd 12:29-30

Exodus 7: 20 - 12: -23

See miracles sheet…

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEc_jeGBVxs

• Task…1. Read the Bible passages and fill in the sheet2. Highlight the key points of the text

Miracles in the New Testament

Christians believe that the most important example of God’s intervention in the world was in God taking human form as his Son, Jesus, know as the incarnation.

There are a number of accounts of miracles performed by Jesus in the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). These can be divided into four types:1. Natural miracles2. Casting out demons3. Healing the sick4. Raising the dead

Christians would say that the final miracle, and greatest, was the resurrection of Jesus and his appearance to his followers after his death.

What do Christians think?

But are there any differences (denominations)

Life after death – without this no Christianity

Literal belief Symbolic

Catholic Church Church of England- Believe in miracles.- Peoples’ views vary - Tend to believe only the most important ones.

Transubstantiation – Last Supper

Some Christians do not believe that the miracles in the Bible actually happened but are stories to symbolise important ideas:

i.e. Christians should keep faith despite what happens (calming the storm) or that God’s love is for everyone (feeding the 5000).

Why would miracles lead people to believe in God?

Shows God intervening

in the world through

The Holy SpiritNorm gave up alcohol

Answers prayers

Recap

What are the problems with believing in miracles?

some miracle accounts

can be explained away

as coincidences

some miracle accounts appear pointless

yet others are not supported

by sufficient evidenceother miracle accounts

should be rejected upon

moral grounds (why does

He not answer every

prayer)?

Irrational

The Case against miraclesQuotation by David Hume,

Philosopher (1711 to 1776)“It is no miracle that a man, seemingly in good health, should die suddenly: because such a kind of death, though more unusual than any other, has observed to happen. But it is a miracle, that a dead man should come to life; because that has never been observed in any age or country”

What is Hume saying?

Explain why some Christians might not believe in miracles. (6 marks)

• You could say:• Coincidences• Irrational• No evidence - unreliable• A good God would not perform miracles for some

people who need them and not for others.• Because God created the universe and the laws

which govern it then He would not do things which break his own laws.

• The Jewish tradition argues that in the Exodus account in the Old Testament, God intervened miraculously to save the lives of several thousand Hebrew slaves.

• In the light of the twentieth-century Holocaust, what moral problems might God's intervention in the past raise for a modern Jew?

Key Question:

Do people believe in God because of miracles or do people believe in miracles because of their belief in God?