The second part of the readings discussed Islamic belief of God, the problem of good and evil, the sacred stories, and the divine law. What caught my attention was the section about God and the creation account. According to Bilhartz, "like Judaism and Christianity, Islam accepts the creation accounts found in the Hebrew Bible" (p. 120). This is evident in Surah 57 when it said, "He it is Who created the heavens and the earth in six Days and is moreover firmly established on the Throne (of authority)" (Bilhartz, p. 120).Furthermore, Allah is described as more than just being a god of creation but as "a god of judgment, compassion, mercy, and generosity" (Bilhartz, p. 121). These divine attributes are not that different from the characteristics …show more content…
According to the Islamic scriptures, all of Allah's creation, including the material world and humanity, was perfect because Allah is perfect. Evil came into the world in the form of Iblis or Satan, who was able to persuade mankind to deviate from Allah (Bilhartz, p. 122). According to the Qur'an, Adam was created to be the earthly representative of Allah and was regarded by Allah to be higher than the angels. However, Satan refused to regard Adam to be higher than the angelic beings. This is evident in Surah 7 when it said, "It is We Who created you and gave you shape; then We bade the angels bow down to Adam, and they bowed down; not so Iblis; He refused to be of those who bow down" (Bilhartz, p. 122). I found this interesting because it described why Satan deviated from Allah in the first place. Furthermore, although the Islamic scriptures portray man as being highly esteemed above the angels, the Qur'an described human nature as " very impatient, fretful when evil touches him; and niggardly when good reaches him" (Bilhartz, p.123). However, this is only so for those who are not devoted to Allah. These scriptures gave me some insight on how Muslims perceive Allah and human nature and how it is not that much different from Christianity and
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis1:1.) God’s perfect wisdom created everything. In Genesis 1 and 2 we can see that God has loving and gentile nature when He created the earth and heavens. God created man in his image and we are the only creation that God breathed in the breath of life for human beings (Genesis 2:7). God did not do this for any of other creations but only for humans. The Bible has many scriptures that tell us how creative God is. Genesis 1;26 states “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created all of this for us to have fellowship with him.
This thesis is shown by John Hick in his article Evil and Soul-Making. As Hick explains, humans already exist in God’s image but have “not yet been formed into the finite likeness of God . . . Man is in the process of becoming the perfected being whom God is seeking to create. However, this is not taking place – it is important to add – by a natural and inevitable evolution, but through a hazardous adventure in individual freedom . . . this involves an accumulation of evil as well as good” (Hick 1-2). In other words, humanity is slowly progressing toward a world in which evil does not exist, as implied by the term “finite likeness of God,” but in order to reach that state, we must first deal with acts of evil, in order to learn what good truly is. On a personal level, this is known as soul-builder
The Existence of God Being Proved A Priori The existence of God can be proved a priori by a logical deduction from the concept of God, when we think about the idea of God we realise that real existence is an essential part of how we conceive the idea of God. God therefore necessarily exists so that it is impossible for him to not exist. I belive to be necessary to examine Anselm's version of the ontological argument, in order to answer the above question, namely whether God's existence can be proved a priori. Anselm states that a non believing fool (in the Psalms) can coceive the idea that God is 'a being than which none greater can be thought' because he understands it.
Highlighting the main beliefs of Islam as well as criticising these philosophies, Al Ghazali’s main contribution to Islamic theology was showing the relationship between God’s power and human acts.
The Proof of the Existence of God There are many arguments that try to prove the existence of God. In this essay I will look at the ontological argument, the cosmological. argument, empirical arguments such as the avoidance of error and the argument from the design of the. There are many criticisms of each of these that would say the existence of God can’t be proven that are perhaps.
Since God is perfect, he could not have created evil. Rather, the origins of evil date back to Adam and Eve. Satan, a fallen angel, managed to tempt Eve into eating the forbidden fruit; thus introducing evil into the world. One may wonder why God, whom is omnipotent, decided not to eradicate evil from the world. The answer is straightforward. When God created man, he gave him free will due to his immeasurable love. As a result, the introduction of evil into the world gave man a choice; to follow God and pursue righteousness, or pursue evil and henceforth separate oneself from
In this paper I will discuss three similarities and four differences between Enuma Elish-The Epic of Creation (King,1902) and Genesis 1:1-3:24 as described by Michael Fishbane (Fishbane, 1979). These writings are selected to describe the story of creation of the earth and the inhabitants of the earth. However, each author has a very different view and way of explaining what they have interpreted the sacred texts to mean.
Truth, what is truth? This question itself has a thousand answers, no person can ever be sure of what truth is rather, truth can be justified, it can checked for reliability with strong evidences and logic. If the evidence proves to be accurate then it can be established that a certain answer is the truth. However, have we ever tried to think about what intrigues us to seek the truth? To think about a question and set foot firmly on the path of knowledge. Definitely it has! That was the very cause itself which is why this world has witnessed some of the greatest philosophers like Aristotle, Plato and Socrates etc. along with the school of thought. The ability to think and reason is one of the greatest ability humans have, it is what distinguishes us from the animals. It is what gives us free will, the ability to control our own outcomes. However, it is that ability to ‘think’ itself which has caused men to rebel with the myths and statements established about the unseen and natural forces since the beginning of time. It gave rise to questions such as: Do aliens exist? Is there a world of the unseen? Life after Death and the most popular question since the beginning of times, Does God exists? And the answer is ‘yes’. Here is how I will justify my stance.
A Scientific Understanding of God Two eighteenth century movements, the Enlightenment and the Great Awakening, changed American colonists’ views on reason and wisdom. The Enlightenment, led by philosophers such as John Locke, emphasized abstract thought to acquire knowledge. The European and American thinkers’ research led to a greater understanding of scientific phenomena and the questioning of the government’s rule. Similar to the Enlightenment, the Great Awakening changed colonists’ mode of thought through the concentration of emotion rather than wisdom. Reverend Jonathan Edwards, a Great Awakening revivalist, emphasized seeking salvation by recognizing one’s own moral corruption and surrendering to God’s will. Although the Great Awakening challenged religious, social and political orthodoxy, the Enlightenment had a greater impact on colonial America and vastly influenced future decisions. The Great Awakening reached a large quantity of people because of the traveling orators that preached the evangelical word. Although Enlightenment learning was limited to the wealthy, educated colonists, the movement’s influence was still stronger because the well-to-do ruled the land. Enlightenment philosophers began questioning corrupt governments and the combination of church and state. John Locke claimed that because the people created a government, then civilians could change the run of the government. This belief, perhaps, was the most influential to colonial society. Educated and powerful political leaders began questioning their government under British rule, therefore, igniting dreams of independence. The Enlightenment theory added to the oppression of British rule led to a revolution. Although not as significant as the Enlightenment, the Great Awakening still had a deep impact on colonial society. Primarily, the conflict that arose between the religious revivalists and ultimately ended in a split in the evangelical group changed the face of religion in the British colonies. The New Light revivalists spawned such denominations as Baptist and Methodist, which differed in the old lights beliefs in doctrine and matters of faith. These new sects resulted in a stronger tolerance toward religious diversity. Also, because revivalists preached mainly to backcountry people who had no religious affiliation, the emphasis on emotion rather than wisdom gave less-educated people a feeling of self-worth. These new freethinking converts gained the strength to begin questioning social and political order. The movements of the Enlightenment and the Great Awakening mainly produced a new mode of thought for American colonists.
Saint Aquinas defines the existence of God with the upmost clarity. Saint Anselm and William Paley attempt to tackle the existence of God but are weighed down by weaknesses within their argument. Even with Saint Anselm being a Christian theologian, he does not incorporate his personal religious beliefs into his argument. St. Anselm relies purely on logic and ontology to define what he constitutes as God, defined as a being in which nothing greater can be thought. This definition is general enough to be consistent with what various individuals establish as their “God.” Anselm uses Tinkerbell as an example to defend his thought to reality premise. Tinkerbell relies on the faith from children to believe in her existence for her to exist. For Anselm, if something is thought then in some realm, it must exist. However, St. Anselm does not address crucial arguments that deteriorate his position. The translation from thought into reality is not clear. A sole idea constructed by the mind does not establish its place in reality. Dragons are thought and even read to a child during their adolesc...
The word “genesis”, in the original Hebrew, means “in the beginning”; the book of Genesis tells the account of how all of earth, humanity, celestial bodies, and life came to be. It is more than just a historical document about the origins of life itself; it is a book that establishes the foundation of the Christian faith, and it affects the worldviews that are held by the believers in faith. When analyzing Genesis, it is arguable that chapters one through eleven are very crucial in shaping the way Christians view the natural world, human identity, human relationships, and civilization.
The Qur’an is believe to the ultimate source of God by many Muslim believers. It contains 114 suras for the believers as the core practices of the Islamic religion and Muslims throughout the world recites its verses (Chang, Lecture. 1/21/14). They believed the prophet of Allah was Muhammad, who received the words of Allah through Angel Gabriel, and was passed on with the Qur’an during Ramadan. Angel Gabriel one night came to Muhammad “in clear human form” (“Scripture and Tradition in Islam- The Qur’an and Hadith” 104), and gave the messages from Allah to him. From the establishment of the Qur’an, Muslims have viewed the book as the last revelation of their god Allah, and thus are the true words from God for their ways of life and in reaching Allah in their afterlife. The book also teaches “mankind’s responsibility assigned by God” (Gordon 115). Therefore, Muslims practices in ways to prove their devotion towards the new religion of Islam by being faithful, and performing religious practices.
Every day God created something new and blesses it. God created nothing irrelevant or unworthy. Entirely everything he created served a purpose. Also all he had created came from nothing. The fish were undeniably produced out of the waters, and the beasts and man out of the earth; but that earth and those waters were made out of nothing. God created what is known as the world today and everything that exists on the earth. Reading Genesis 1 gives all mankind an idea of how life started and how the earth was formed to be this magnificent place. The earth is very complicated yet God could solve all of the problems and create blessings. He gave us light and darkness, day and night, water and land. He created all living creature including mankind.
In the Islamic religion, human beings will be judged in accordance to their deeds. Therefore, people are prompted to observe due diligence and uphold life while acting in a manner that indicates virtuous behaviour. The punishment of evil deeds is succumbing to hell and joining Satan, who refused to kneel before Adam and was cursed to an eternity of fire.
...ethics, and so forth. The crucial piece of information to remember about this religion is that they greatly emphasis unity and have a great amount of diversity. Even though it is a diverse religion, all of the Muslims are monotheistic and solely believe that Allah is the creator of everything, including humans. As a human being they believe that they are in debt to God or simply stated as according to Seyyed Hossein Nasr, “Therefore, all that we are and all that we have belongs to God for which we are indebted to Him and for whose gifts we must give thanks (shukr)” . God is the Absolute and the main point of the Islamic religion is that it is crucial to worship him and follow his commands, and that will lead to peace among everyone. This particular religion has continued to rapidly grow throughout the world and as with most religions, it will continue to grow.