Ultimate Reality Revision Notes PDF

Section 1.5 Ultimate Reality Objectives: Classsify religious beliefs and teachings about the nature and character of God / the ultimate reality Describe how non-religious people respond to these beliefs and teachings Articulate why these beliefs and teac...

Section 1.5 Ultimate Reality Objectives: Classsify religious beliefs and teachings about the nature and character of God / the ultimate reality Describe how non-religious people respond to these beliefs and teachings Articulate why these beliefs and teachings are important for religious people Key Vocabulary: MONOTHEISM – belief in one God POLYTHEISM – belief in more than one God ULTIMATE REALITY What is Ultimate Reality? it is said that ultimate reality is the absolute nature of all things a personal being (personal and loving God); an impersonal being (as origin and target of all personal beings), or an eternal truth or principal that governs the universe Most religions attribute existence of our species to a Master Designer (theistic). The religions that do not believe in a Master Designer are said to be non-theistic and believe in ultimate reality. What is real? Scientists feel we have enough brain power to comprehend reality. Religions base their beliefs upon faithful acceptance of revealed truth that exceed our human mentality. Since our lives, world, and universe are exquisitely designed down to the most minute atom (could be smaller, if we only knew), the explanation of our existence has to come from someone with a plan. The Nature and Character of God: 1. The natural world can reveal God to Christians because it shows God’s everlasting greatness and presence in the world. The natural world shows patterns and signs of intelligent design, it could not happen by random chance, and so is a testimony to God’s existence and his way of showing to Christians on earth what he is really capable of. Sir Isaac Newton said how ‘In the absence of any other proof, the thumb alone would convince me of God’s existence’- because of it’s complex design, there is no other explanation as to how it is like this, showing God’s relevance and depiction in the natural world. 2. The Bible can reveal God to Christians because it gives us a clear image of God, and sets him apart from other Gods. It helps Christians to understand their relationship, as humans, with God. God is searching for Christians through Christianity and so through the Bible- God’s self-revelation. For Evangelical Christians, the Bible can reveal God entirely and give a complete picture of him and what he expects from us- as it is the ‘word of God’. 3. Church teachings develop over 2000 years of Christianity, are part of Gods revelation. Discussing Church teachings enhances the word of God and helps him become clearer and reveals him to us as Christians. Great Christians understand more of God, and are able to meet God through the church teachings. 4. Religious leaders interpret the Bible and meanings of Christianity then deliver their findings to the congress. This allows the Christians to take what they hear from their leader and apply it to everyday life, allowing God to take a part in how they live. God is revealed through the morals and sermons delivered by their religious leaders. 5. Personal God: Many Christians believe that individuals can have a relationship with God, leading them to talk as if God were a person with human emotions and characteristics, ‘God has to be someone I can relate to, I can relate to a person’. 6. Impersonal God: Maybe God is simply an idea; the idea of infinity; or the idea of a prime number (something which cannot be reduced or divided). God is perhaps a force, like magnetism or gravity, which invisibly influences the Earth. Maybe God is ‘goodness’ or ‘light’. At times, God is presented as a dangerous force, catch a glimpse and something terrible will happen to you. The Bible uses this idea too. ‘The universe is held together by forces. Maybe God is one of them’. 7. As a transcendent God, he is outside or beyond the world or universe, and he created the Earth and then left it to develop and flourish by itself. 8. As an immanent God, he becomes both a creator and sustainer. It also allows him to be a personal God, as if humans on earth can have a relationship with him, he is in the world, involved in the lives of his creations. 9. The Trinity- God has three persons which Christians call the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Father- the transcendent ‘God beyond us’ who created the world and keeps it going. The Son, Jesus- the immanent and personal ‘God beside us’ who came to earth and lived a human life. The Spirit- the immanent yet impersonal ‘God around us’ who guides and inspires Christians from day to day. The Nicene Creed- 4th Century AD- what does it tell us? ‘We believe in one God’- monotheism; ‘maker of heaven and earth’- creator of all; ‘we believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ’- one son, very holy, fully God; ‘He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead’-judgement day; ‘and his kingdom will have no end’-eternal; ‘we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come’. Christian View: all creatures, visible and invisible, are subject to God's will and are to play a role in God's divine plan (Genesis) Ultimate Reality: the Higher Authority, which is God, is the distinct and proven response to prayers and answers of miracles while it may not be possible for humans to fully understand or explain how God's plan is being worked out, Christianity teaches that God is all-knowing and benevolent, and that all things will ultimately work together for the good our lives are in his presence attaining ultimate reality:  ✔ by living life in the light of final judgment and Christ’s example ✔ by transforming this world into God’s kingdom Buddhist View: Nirvana: the enlightened soul follows the 8-fold path to ultimate, spiritual reality cannot be named as ‘God’ the world is not fully real, the Buddhist seeks escape or LIBERATION from this unreal existence space and time is cyclical, such that world-systems come into being, survive for a time, are destroyed and then are remade this happens naturally without the intervention of gods can be attained by following the dharma (teachings) to escape the cycle or rebirth; and by attaining enlightenment ultimate reality is nothing but a transcendent truth, which governs the universe and human life By contrast, the Christian seeks SALVATION from sin, but wishes to transform this world into God’s kingdom. Hindu View: Hindu scriptures described ultimate reality as Brahman non-dual pure consciousness, indivisible, incorporeal, infinite, and all-pervading like the sky the nature of existence, knowledge, bliss, absolute - the ground of all existence, basis of all awareness, and source of all bliss the reality of all realities, the soul of all souls, one without a second, the constant witness of the changing phenomena of the universe two aspects: transcendent and immanent Humanist View: there is no ultimate reality, it is a meaningless concept we put our own meaning into the world do not believe in a God or gods, or any other supernatural or divine eternities do not think that the universe needs a divine power itself in order to have value; we, inside the universe, determine its value the purpose instead is fulfillment of potential can be attained by co-operate living on earth and enjoying our ‘brief spark’ of consciousness (LIFE) Christian Views on the Nature of God: Monotheism: Christians believe that there is only one God Trinity: most Christians believe that there are three distinct Persons to this one God and that these three Persons form a unity. This belief is called the doctrine of the Trinity: ✔ God the Father - the creator and sustainer of all things ✔ God the Son - the incarnation of God as a human being, Jesus Christ, on Earth  ✔ God the Holy Spirit - the power of God which is active in the world, drawing people towards God Holy: God is 'other', different from anything else - separate and sacred Omnipotent: God is all-powerful - everything consistent with God's nature is possible Omniscient: God is all-knowing, of past, present and future Omnibenevolent: God is all-good / all-loving Omnipresent: God is present everywhere Describe Christian beliefs about the nature of God. Christians believe that God has many different characteristics. They believe that God is omnipotent. This means that God is all-powerful. Examples of this can be seen in the Bible, such as God creating the world. Christians also believe that God is omnipresent. Christians believe that this means that God is everywhere all the time. The term omnibenevolence means all-loving, and Christians believe that God loves everyone unconditionally. Also, they believe that God is omniscient which means that he is all-knowing. Christians believe that God knows everything and this is how he judges humans. Monotheism and Polytheism; why people believe in one God or many gods MONOTHEISM is believing in ONE GOD. POLYTHEISM is believing in MANY GODS. Monotheism is the belief in a single, all powerful God. The word Monotheism derives from the Greek words theos – which means god and monos – which means one. Polytheism is the belief in many gods. Polytheistic religions include all religions except Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Sikhism, the only monotheistic religions. A character trait of all monotheistic religions that has shown up all through history is that they believe that God created all reality and is totally self-sufficient. Also monotheistic religions are exclusive. They deny existence of gods of all other religions, unlike polytheists who believe that there can be more gods than what they themselves worship. Polytheism- Nature and the world are divided up into responsibilities of numerous spirits and gods, usually under one high god (e.g. Zeus), or seen as aspects of one God (e.g. Brahman). So, these gods are either separate, squabbling individuals, or personifications of the character of one spiritual reality. Modern Pagans still have a form of polytheism. The advantage of polytheism? Sometimes it may ‘work’ in the sense of bringing good luck, e.g. Ganesh in Hinduism. Also, nature can be explained and tamed by reference to spiritual powers.