Is Religion and Theology Scientific? Religion and Theology are two terms that are often confused when it comes to their study. Religion is based on faiths and beliefs when it comes to the acceptance of superhuman powers in the form of God or gods. On the other hand theology is the study of God thought. This is especially true of Christianity.
Calvin’s idea of predestination suggests that some people are God’s ‘elect’ and that, after death, these ‘elect’ will join God in heaven. Believers in predestination claim that our actions, whether ‘elect’ or ‘damned’, are predestined or decided by God; meaning that we have very little, if any at all, free will in our decision making or actions. This theory of predestination often leads people to believe in a God ‘who favours some but not all of his creation’, which would be intrinsically linked to miracles in the sense that, regardless of what we do, God has already decided whether he will interact with the world or perform a miracle. Miracles, in this sense, are seen not as unsystematic breaches of natural law but rather as the eternal intention of God for the world. For this reason, people who agree with Calvin in believing in predestination often find it difficult to understand why miracles aren’t common occurrences.
Critically assess with reference to William James, the argument from religious experience. The argument from religious experience seems to state that we can experience God and therefore God must exist, for surely what we experience must be real. William James, American psychologist and philosopher, worked to expand on and validate this topic. James defined religious experience as ‘The feelings, acts and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatsoever they may consider divine.’ He then identified the four types of mystical experiences: ineffable, noetic, transient, passive. An ineffable experience is one that cannot easily be articulated.
According to Carson “What Matthew aims to write is a Gospel telling us about Jesus, not a church circular addressing an independently known problem. Although Mathew has Semitisms, much evidence
“Visions and voices are not caused by God but can be explained through science” Discuss. (35) A vision can be termed as an experience of seeing something or someone in a trance like state or as a supernatural apparition. When complimented by voices from religious figures it can be said to evoke an even deeper religious experience for believers. However, there exists much debate on what the catalyst is for these experiences; some would argue for God attempting to communicate through his creation, whereas others believe the answer lies in science. A vision and auditory related religious experience can occur in a person consciously or unconsciously.
For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 1. The scripture expresses that the Bible are the Words of God, Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit and authorized to teach the Old and New Testament. 2. Paul brought
Religion is a set practice of beliefs in a moral code and rituals, often including some sort of salvation or enlightenment from doing such, and a belief in certain myths. As well as practicing a certain belief, religion is often equated with a belief in God. This is true in most aspects and for most religions, but a few Eastern religions do not believe there is a God per say, but more of an energy or flow that almost "controls" the universe. Science stems from the latin root "scientiae" which meant "knowledge". Science is the practical observation and theorized belief in what can be seen, felt, heard, smelt, and tasted.
8. Analyse the strengths and weaknesses of using faith as a basis for knowledge in religion and in one area of knowledge from the TOK diagram. ------------------------------------------------- Knowledge Issue: To what extent is faith a justifiable basis for knowledge, in religion and another Area of Knowledge – natural science. Knowledge is often described as justified true belief. This indicates that a belief can be called knowledge if it has undergone sufficient justification.
The Spirit's job in regard to truth is to teach us unknown things about God, for just as no one knows are deep secrets of a person but that person's spirit, so can no one know God's secrets except his Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:11). Jesus says the same in thing in John 16:13: "But when
The belief in a miracle can come from either experiencing them or religious reasons and explanations. People that believe in miracles usually believe in the religious evidence that we are provided with. Christians and Catholics will believe that miracles can happen because there are a lot of stories in the bible that seem to break the laws of nature and almost seem impossible to believe in, for example Jesus healed poorly people and he rose from the dead. In our society people believe that rising from the dead is humanly impossible and then jump into assumptions that this event must of had some sort of supernatural explanation; others will not believe it at all. Catholic people think that if you believe in God miracles seem more obvious to you and if you deny and test the existence of God then it will be harder to see the miracles happen.