Existence Of God example essay topic

a) Christians believe many different things about God's nature; due to the huge spectrum of Christians that there are. However, as a general rule they perceive God as being one of the following four things: o Personal - where God is represented as a human being. Christians believe this because it means they can directly relate to Him through one-to-one means. There are variations within this also: Some say that this Personal God is one human being that is always there for everyone, others believe that He is a different being for each person. o Impersonal - an Impersonal view of God's perception is that God is some form of spirit or force, not particularly there for you personally to relate to, but present nonetheless. Impersonality is often seen as the more logical of the two opposites (Personal & Impersonal), merely because the idea of a force follows the idea of God being omnipotent, and the spirit idea follows that of Him being present, but not in human state. o Immanent - a belief that God plays an active role in our lives.

This belief exists due to supposed 'acts of God', which are natural disasters, and also because of 'miracles'. Therefore, Christians who believe God to be Immanent see Him as a being that actually causes things. o Transcendent - the opposite to Immanency, believing that God is beyond the Earth, Time, and Space. This has links with Impersonality; believing God to be this omnipotent force, however Transcendency leans towards God not actually performing anything, but watching over everything. The true nature of God (if He does exist) is constantly argued amongst Christians; and indeed many other religions, however there are a few things that they agree on universally: God is entirely unique, holy and extraordinary. Also, the general consensus is that God is omnipotent and omniscient. b) Christians show respect for the Bible in daily life in a variety of ways. Depending on how strictly they follow Christianity, they will say 'the Lord's prayer' each day, and most Christians go to church services every Sunday (Sunday is significant as it was supposedly God's day of rest in the Creation story).

As well as this, some Christians will read passages from the Bible frequently, recite them, and deep Christians may even try and decipher what the Bible's scriptures truly mean (if they see it as symbolic as opposed to literal). Another way in which Christians are respectful to their holy book in everyday life is by following the teachings that the Bible contains, practically a second law of how they should live (the political law being the first). Christians may also see a completely new dimension to the Bible; as a source of information. People aren't truly Christians unless they believe in the faith for themselves and before they can do this, they need to understand the faith - they can find this out from the Bible. Most believe that although a human wrote it, that the Bible is the words of God, and they therefore must pay it the utmost respect. They see it as very special, and of more importance than any other book.

The Bible is actively used in daily life as an ultimate symbol of power and importance, it is read from at special occasions including weddings and funerals and in courts of law - people must swear on the Bible to tell the truth. This shows that the Bible is widely respected by Christians in daily life and by non-believers in certain ways too. c) On the face of it; I would disagree that 'there is no evidence that God exists'. My initial thoughts are that there is evidence, in the form of millions of believers, history, scriptures and the overall legacy. However, I believe it depends on what is meant by 'evidence': If it means something that proves that God exists then the answer is an emphatic no, but if it is asking if there is anything to suggest that this is the case; then I would say yes.

My reasoning for this is that God has not (and to our knowledge cannot ever) been proven to exist, although there is definitely a case to be argued, if there was no evidence then this simply wouldn't be the case: It would be like somebody saying 'the Universe was drawn with a pencil', this is instantly discarded as ludicrous because there is no evidence to support it. I have made a statement (that many others may have already said) saying 'God does not exist until proven otherwise', like a mathematical formula - it is unjustified to consider it correct until it has been proven to be so. This is my opinion, and I am an atheist, religious people (including Christians) may (and often do) have a different opinion. Some claim to have actually spoken with God, or had some form of individual experience that makes them believe beyond all doubt that God does exist.

Others may say that the evidence of God's existence is all around us everywhere, space, life, the Earth. Intellectuals have ventured into other forms of potential evidence; a good example is 'Newton and the Thumb': Isaac Newton believed that thumbprints alone proved the existence of God. This is because the design on a person's thumb is completely unique; nobody else's thumbprint will be the same. This kind of intricacy and attention to detail Newton said; couldn't have come about by some freak accident - and must have had a creator. Another example is 'Paley and the Watch': William Paley stated that the Earth is like a watch - it has an extremely complex design, and has to have a designer. He said that if you were to throw all the pieces of the watch up in the air, they could never fall into positions that would make the watch work, similarly he said that the Earth could not have come about by some random dispersal of matter, and that it had to have had a designer (just like a watch does).

Obviously, both of these statements can be argued for and against, but regardless they are valid suggestions that God does exist.