WJEC/Eduqas RS for A2/Yr2: Religion and Ethics (DRAFT)

WJEC / Eduqas Religious Studies for A Level Year 2 and A2 Religion and Ethics

However, the above point is by no means universally accepted as an illustration of God’s omnibenevolent nature. This is because, as both Augustine and Calvin argue, God only appears to predestine some people to be elect and thus be forgiven of their sins. Therefore, only some people will receive salvation. The rest, the reprobates as Calvin called them, will not be saved by God and will not be made righteous. For some, this has grave implications for God’s omnibenevolent nature. This is because God is punishing and rewarding certain people on behaviour only he had control over. Bertrand Russell concluded that God must be ‘a monster’ since ‘A God that punishes or rewards on the basis of God’s own eternal decisions in unfair and immoral’. Therefore, predestination potentially does influence our understanding of God’s omnibenevolence, But this time it is the opposite conclusion that can be drawn, i.e. predestination illustrates God is not omnibenevolent. Moreover, God’s omnibenevolent nature can also be questioned because if people’s lives are predestined by God, then he must also create and control all moral evil. For example, how could God be omnibenevolent when he predestined such evil events as the holocaust? Indeed, Arminius was inspired to write his free will theory because he felt the need to defend God’s omnibenevolent nature against predestination so that: ‘God might not be considered the author of all sin’. Furthermore, God’s omnibenevolent nature can be questioned if people’s actions are all predestined by God, because it would mean that people would not have free will. Therefore, people would be like automated robots just carrying out their God- given pre-programmed life; with no willpower to change anything. Again, Arminius argued for free will because he wished to illustrate that: ‘man is not an automaton in the hands of God’. Key quote A God that punishes or rewards on the basis of God’s own eternal decisions is unfair and immoral. (Russell) Another line of argument that predestination influences our understanding of God is that predestination suggests that God intervenes in human affairs with miracles. It is quite conceivable that a predestining omnipotent and omniscient God could have pre-planned all miracles. This idea is supported by C.S. Lewis. Lewis argues that a miracle is no more than God interacting with this world by introducing new laws of nature. Lewis argues God only does these ‘miracles’ to remind us of his omnipotence, and thus his predestining nature as the creator and controller of all laws of nature. Therefore, predestination influences our understanding of God as a God who carries out miracles. However, to counter the above, predestination theory does potentially rule out miracles as an answer to spontaneous prayer; such as, in Joshua 10:13 in the Judeo- Christian Bible. This is where God miraculously made the sun and moon stand still so that Joshua could have enough light to defeat the enemies of Israel. The reason why such miracles might be doubted, if predestination does occur, is because such miracles were as the result of spontaneous prayer of an individual. But if an omnipotent God has already predestined all outcomes then spontaneous miracles by God are impossible. In response, it could be argued that even if the miracles are a request from people, God still knows in advance how he will respond and what he will do. So in that sense, all miracles are predestined.

Does determinism make God no better than a child playing with its teddy bear?

We’ve used the caption from the previous proofs here for image 4.29. I hope that we’ve done correctly. We recognise that the image has changed though. – design

DRAFT r r

AO2 Activity List some conclusions that could be drawn from the AO2 reasoning from the above text; try to aim for at least three different possible conclusions. Consider each of the conclusions and collect brief evidence to support each conclusion from the AO1 and AO2 material for this topic. Select the conclusion that you think is most convincing and explain why it is so. Try to contrast this with the weakest conclusion in the list, justifying your argument with clear reasoning and evidence.

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