Richard Swinburne : A Strong Repusenitive Of Rational Theism

Christianity is one of the dominant religions on the planet, and Christian Theism has played a major role in shaping the development of Western culture. Thanks to the pioneering efforts of Christian missionaries, Christian doctrine has even influenced the views of non-Christians. Nevertheless, the contemporary world is a pluralistic and diverse one, and postmodern perspectives have arisen to challenge the wide-ranging influence of Christian Theism. The purpose of this paper is to show how a belief in Christian Theism can help one understand the nature and meaning of life, and this paper will show evidence that this belief brings both uniformity and order to everything.

(Sire, 2009) In Theism, humans relied on the Scripture to lead them. The Scripture was God’s word that laid out the direction to his plan. As Deism started to evolve, humans began to listen to their inner thoughts and curiosities. They began to rely more on the human mind, which separated God from them in a way that had never been done before.

The theist, therefore, appears to be faced with a choice between a view which implies a kind of moral chaos and a life of moral immaturity, and one which belittles an Almighty God. One attempt to resolve this dilemma turns on the distinction

Evolutions of civilizations can occur because of differences in people’s religion, culture, or geographic setting of the settlement. The relationship between the world of the gods and that of men was perceived differently by the Sumerians, Egyptians, and Hebrew ancient civilizations. This is demonstrated by the way each group viewed the process of creation. They had different thoughts on the creation of their gods, the universe and of man. This essay will discuss the relationship between humans and their gods in three different ancient civilizations: Sumerian, Egyptian and Hebrew.

In ancient times, gods were a holy image in people’s mind. Each god had its own role in the universe. Such as the role of creation, the controller of the nature, and the role of the destiny control. The gods had extreme powers, and controlled everything in the world. Worshiped gods became a daily routine for ancient people. In the minds of people in ancient times, worshiped their gods were to prevent these gods became furious, and punished them with their extreme power. Even though the gods were extremely powerful, in many epic texts we could see they also had emotions and characteristics that were just like humans. However, there were still some major differences between the gods and humans.

The relationship between man and God is a long and complex journey that has evolved for centuries. This divine and omniscient being has been a center piece for peoples' lives around the world. This single being is so powerful that he is able to make the sick feel strong and the poor feel rich. One being is worshipped around the world for his divine status. But what if he isn't as superior to humans as the world thinks? In the classic biblical works of literature, The Book of Job and Genesis, a new interpretation of God is presented in a form that is human in his relationship and actions with humans.

To begin, Richard Swinburne starts his paper by defining the two teleological arguments: spatial orders and temporal orders, which he refers to as regularities of co-presence and regularities of succession, respectively. He gives insight as to how eighteenth century philosophers were drawn to regularities of co-presence. They argued by first acknowledging plants and animals have come about from generations of reproduction. But since the universe doesn’t have an infinite past, some higher power must have been the one to create these animals and plants. The initial argument made was reconstructed to dispel any challengers in biology, such as Darwin. The argument was then reconstructed to say the laws of nature make nature itself is a “machine-making machine”. Its parts create more complex parts by adapting to changes in the environment. Swinburne states this reconstruction is better than what it was in its former state, though it isn’t strong, which I agree with. The scarcity of complex organisms throughout our universe do not serve as enough evidence to make the statement that a creator of nature created nature with the idea in mind that nature would produce machine-making machines. As far as we know, Earth is the only planet with significant signs of

In many different texts such as “Gilgamesh” and “The Odyssey”, there is a relationship displayed between God and man or “the divine”. In these stories the gods are almost always close by. The gods in Gilgamesh are very similar to the humans in terms of appearance. Not only that but they behave similar as well. They have emotions and feel things but also expect things of the humans. They want sacrifices and for the humans to obey them. In obeying and pleasing the gods however, the humans in return expect to be guided by the gods and kept safe. This is because the humans see the gods as unconquerable, almighty, and immortal beings. Although being seen that way to the human’s, the gods have their weaknesses too. Despite the fact that there are gods in Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh himself is two thirds god and one third man. He too has unbelievable strength and does unbelievable things like killing the Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven. He is capable of doing things like the gods because he is like them to an extent. He too feels things such as sadness and grief when his friend Enkidu dies. The gods play a part in the lives of man in this way too. For example, the gods agreed in council that either Gilgamesh or Enkidu must die for what they had done in killing the Bull of Heaven. In the end this resulted in Enkidu’s death. Gilgamesh like the gods, doesn’t only feel and have emotions but has a weakness as well. Gilgamesh’s weaknesses in this story are arrogance and pride. He displays this

In Michael Frede’s article, ‘The Sceptic’s Beliefs,’ Frede argues that contrary to popular interpretation Pyrrhonian skeptics do, in fact, have beliefs. However, other scholars such as Myles Burnyeat disagree with this notion that Pyrrhonian skeptics can have beliefs. In this paper I will argue that Frede’s view of The Outlines of Scepticism is the correct interpretation of Sextus. As well as explain and clear up the dispute between epistemic and non-epistemic appearances.

Skepticism is something that we all have to one degree or another. Some of us who carry some Limited (Local) Skepticism might question whether we can really know if the news anchor is giving us correct information or if the five day forecast is really on track this time regarding the rain it is predicting. Others subscribe to the Global Skepticism view; that is, they would argue that we cannot know anything at all, and, therefore, we can’t have knowledge of anything (Feldman 109). As a global skeptic, we would not only challenge the same things that limited skeptics confront, but we would challenge the very essence of our being. If this form of skepticism is valid, we would have to reexamine

The belief in Gods has always existed throughout human’s recored history. Whether it be the Greek Gods: Apollo, and Zeus, or the Judeo-Christian God, believed by Christians in modern day society. The belief of God has always existed among humans, however, assuming God does not exist, what explains the cultural evolution of such a false belief, namely religion? I shall argue that the reason this false belief is successful is because it manipulates human nature better than any other belief by these three points: an avoidance of death (the soul), a sense of worth (knowledge), and a sense, or need of belief (faith).

We are spiritual beings that were created to not only represent but also worship God. When God created man he not only made us in his likeness but gave us a living soul which is immortal thus giving us a spiritual life. Only humans are able to relate to Him in this way to be able to communicate and worship God.

Religion teaches that there is something “greater out there.” Since I was little, that “greater being” has always

As Wilson Knight states, the frequent pleas to the gods "show at most an insistent need in humanity to cry for justification to something beyond its horizon" (188).

Answer question 1 in Preston (2001, p. 39). Preston is a required reading. "Why should I be moral...Where do I think my own values come from?" The entry should be no more than 200 words. Do not delete this instruction.