ALL (E GRADE): Wil l be able to summarise the Cosmological and Ontological Arguments MOST (C GRADE): Wil l be able to explain the Cosmological and Ontological Arguments using examples and provide two counter arguments to them both SOME (A GRADE): Wil l be able to evaluate the Ontological Argument using arguments from Anselm and Kant. Wil l be able to assess the Cosmological

LO: TO EXAMINE THE REASONS CHRISTIANS GIVE FOR BELIEVING IN GOD (ONTOLOGICAL

AND COSMOLOGICAL)

STARTER: CHOOSE 9 OF THE 16 WORDS BELOW AND PUT THEM INTO A 3 BY 3 BINGO

GRID IN THE BACK OF YOUR BOOKS

OmnipotentDeity

AtheistAgnostic

OmnibenevolentPolytheistAnalogy

Impersonal

TheistOmniscient

TrinityMyth

PersonalMonotheistHoly spirit

Omnipresent

List five reasons in your book as to why someone might believe in God.

A L L ( E G R A D E ) : W I L L B E A B L E T O S U M M A R I S E T H E C O S M O LO G I C A L A N D O N T O LO G I C A L A R G U M E N T S

  M O S T ( C G R A D E ) : W I L L B E A B L E T O E X P L A I N T H E C O S M O LO G I C A L A N D O N T O LO G I C A L A R G U M E N T S U S I N G E X A M P L E S A N D P R O V I D E T W O C O U N T E R A R G U M E N T S T O T H E M B O T H

S O M E ( A G R A D E ) : W I L L B E A B L E T O E VA LU AT E T H E O N T O LO G I C A L A R G U M E N T U S I N G A R G U M E N T S F R O M A N S E L M A N D K A N T. W I L L B E A B L E T O A S S E S S T H E C O S M O LO G I C A L

LO: To examine the reasons Christians give for believing in God (Ontological and Cosmological)

In pairs you will be given an argument for the existence of God.

These are quite tricky to understand at fi rst! You will have five minutes to read through your

argument and try to understand how it works. Then you need to try and teach it to your partner.

Cosmological ArgumentOntological Argument

LO: To examine the reasons Christians give for believing in God (Ontological and Cosmological)

A L L ( E G R A D E ) : W I L L B E A B L E T O S U M M A R I S E T H E C O S M O LO G I C A L A N D O N T O LO G I C A L A R G U M E N T S

  M O S T ( C G R A D E ) : W I L L B E A B L E T O E X P L A I N T H E C O S M O LO G I C A L A N D O N T O LO G I C A L A R G U M E N T S U S I N G E X A M P L E S A N D P R O V I D E T W O C O U N T E R A R G U M E N T S T O T H E M B O T H

S O M E ( A G R A D E ) : W I L L B E A B L E T O E VA LU AT E T H E O N T O LO G I C A L A R G U M E N T U S I N G A R G U M E N T S F R O M A N S E L M A N D K A N T. W I L L B E A B L E T O A S S E S S T H E C O S M O LO G I C A L

ONTOLOGICAL

This is an argument based on logic & language.

Who is the greatest? ‘God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived.’

• God is the greatest, most perfect thing you can ever imagine.

• He must exist otherwise you couldn’t produce this description.

• If God is perfect in every way, He must exist in reality.

• If He existed only in the mind we could imagine a more perfect God – one that existed in the mind and in reality. Therefore, God exists!

COSMOLOGICAL

• What started everything? In other words what caused everything

to exist in the first place? Only God could be the first cause, back to which every event can be traced (like the ‘domino effect’). St. Thomas Aquinas argued that something cannot come from nothing. Therefore the universe must have a cause – something or someone must have brought it into existence. Someone must have started the chain of events.

• How could a Christian use this argument, as well as the scientific evidence of the Big Bang, to explain the existence of God?

Who can explain the Cosmological Argument using these pictures?

St. Thomas Aquinas argued that something cannot come from nothing. Therefore the universe must have a cause – something or someone must have brought it into existence. Someone or something must have started the chain of events. Only God could be the fi rst cause, back to which every event can be traced (like the ‘domino eff ect’).

LO: To examine the reasons Christians give for believing in God (Ontological and Cosmological)

A L L ( E G R A D E ) : W I L L B E A B L E T O S U M M A R I S E T H E C O S M O LO G I C A L A N D O N T O LO G I C A L A R G U M E N T S

  M O S T ( C G R A D E ) : W I L L B E A B L E T O E X P L A I N T H E C O S M O LO G I C A L A N D O N T O LO G I C A L A R G U M E N T S U S I N G E X A M P L E S A N D P R O V I D E T W O C O U N T E R A R G U M E N T S T O T H E M B O T H

S O M E ( A G R A D E ) : W I L L B E A B L E T O E VA LU AT E T H E O N T O LO G I C A L A R G U M E N T U S I N G A R G U M E N T S F R O M A N S E L M A N D K A N T. W I L L B E A B L E T O A S S E S S T H E C O S M O LO G I C A L

Can you think of any counter-arguments?

• Why does it have to be God that created the world?• Some scientists argue that it is possible to create something from

nothing!• ‘The universe is just there, and that’s all there is to say.’ Bertrand

Russell

Who can use this picture to help them explain the Ontological Argument?

A L L ( E G R A D E ) : W I L L B E A B L E T O S U M M A R I S E T H E C O S M O LO G I C A L A N D O N T O LO G I C A L A R G U M E N T S

  M O S T ( C G R A D E ) : W I L L B E A B L E T O E X P L A I N T H E C O S M O LO G I C A L A N D O N T O LO G I C A L A R G U M E N T S U S I N G E X A M P L E S A N D P R O V I D E T W O C O U N T E R A R G U M E N T S T O T H E M B O T H

S O M E ( A G R A D E ) : W I L L B E A B L E T O E VA LU AT E T H E O N T O LO G I C A L A R G U M E N T U S I N G A R G U M E N T S F R O M A N S E L M A N D K A N T. W I L L B E A B L E T O A S S E S S T H E C O S M O LO G I C A L

LO: To examine the reasons Christians give for believing in God (Ontological and Cosmological)

The Ontological Argument is a linguistic argument (based on logic & language).

Who is the greatest? ‘God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived.’

God is the greatest, most perfect thing you can ever imagine.

He must exist otherwise you couldn’t produce this description.

If God is perfect in every way, He must exist in reality.

If He existed only in the mind we could imagine a more perfect God – one that existed in the mind and in reality. Therefore, God exists!

A L L ( E G R A D E ) : W I L L B E A B L E T O S U M M A R I S E T H E C O S M O LO G I C A L A N D O N T O LO G I C A L A R G U M E N T S

  M O S T ( C G R A D E ) : W I L L B E A B L E T O E X P L A I N T H E C O S M O LO G I C A L A N D O N T O LO G I C A L A R G U M E N T S U S I N G E X A M P L E S A N D P R O V I D E T W O C O U N T E R A R G U M E N T S T O T H E M B O T H

S O M E ( A G R A D E ) : W I L L B E A B L E T O E VA LU AT E T H E O N T O LO G I C A L A R G U M E N T U S I N G A R G U M E N T S F R O M A N S E L M A N D K A N T. W I L L B E A B L E T O A S S E S S T H E C O S M O LO G I C A L

LO: To examine the reasons Christians give for believing in God (Ontological and Cosmological)

Can you think of any counter-arguments?

Just because you can think of something doesn’t mean it exists. (Kant)

God is believed by many to be beyond human understanding and thinking so how could anyone be able to imagine Him?

E GRADE – Create a poster to describe the Cosmological Argument and the Ontological Argument.

C GRADE – Create a poster explaining the Cosmological Argument and the Ontological Argument using examples e.g. dominoes for Cosmological. For each one, include a counter-argument

A GRADE – Create a poster explaining and evaluating the Cosmological Argument and the Ontological Argument. Explain what the counter-arguments could be for each and how likely they are to convince someone as to proof of God’s existence.

A L L ( E G R A D E ) : W I L L B E A B L E T O S U M M A R I S E T H E C O S M O LO G I C A L A N D O N T O LO G I C A L A R G U M E N T S

  M O S T ( C G R A D E ) : W I L L B E A B L E T O E X P L A I N T H E C O S M O LO G I C A L A N D O N T O LO G I C A L A R G U M E N T S U S I N G E X A M P L E S A N D P R O V I D E T W O C O U N T E R A R G U M E N T S T O T H E M B O T H

S O M E ( A G R A D E ) : W I L L B E A B L E T O E VA LU AT E T H E O N T O LO G I C A L A R G U M E N T U S I N G A R G U M E N T S F R O M A N S E L M A N D K A N T. W I L L B E A B L E T O A S S E S S T H E C O S M O LO G I C A L

LO: To examine the reasons Christians give for believing in God (Ontological and Cosmological)

ALL (E GRADE): Will be able to summarise the Cosmological and Ontological Arguments

 MOST (C GRADE): Will be able to explain the Cosmological and Ontological Arguments using examples and provide two counter arguments to them both

SOME (A GRADE): Will be able to evaluate the Ontological Argument using arguments from Anselm and Kant. Will be able to assess the Cosmological

A L L ( E G R A D E ) : W I L L B E A B L E T O S U M M A R I S E T H E C O S M O LO G I C A L A N D O N T O LO G I C A L A R G U M E N T S

  M O S T ( C G R A D E ) : W I L L B E A B L E T O E X P L A I N T H E C O S M O LO G I C A L A N D O N T O LO G I C A L A R G U M E N T S U S I N G E X A M P L E S A N D P R O V I D E T W O C O U N T E R A R G U M E N T S T O T H E M B O T H

S O M E ( A G R A D E ) : W I L L B E A B L E T O E VA LU AT E T H E O N T O LO G I C A L A R G U M E N T U S I N G A R G U M E N T S F R O M A N S E L M A N D K A N T. W I L L B E A B L E T O A S S E S S T H E C O S M O LO G I C A L

LO: To examine the reasons Christians give for believing in God (Ontological and Cosmological)

‘The Ontological and Cosmological Arguments prove that God exists’.

Give your own opinion to the above statement. It is perfectly acceptable to reject the arguments and

still believe in God!Whether you support or reject the arguments you must

explain why.

A L L ( E G R A D E ) : W I L L B E A B L E T O S U M M A R I S E T H E C O S M O LO G I C A L A N D O N T O LO G I C A L A R G U M E N T S

  M O S T ( C G R A D E ) : W I L L B E A B L E T O E X P L A I N T H E C O S M O LO G I C A L A N D O N T O LO G I C A L A R G U M E N T S U S I N G E X A M P L E S A N D P R O V I D E T W O C O U N T E R A R G U M E N T S T O T H E M B O T H

S O M E ( A G R A D E ) : W I L L B E A B L E T O E VA LU AT E T H E O N T O LO G I C A L A R G U M E N T U S I N G A R G U M E N T S F R O M A N S E L M A N D K A N T. W I L L B E A B L E T O A S S E S S T H E C O S M O LO G I C A L

LO: To examine the reasons Christians give for believing in God (Ontological and Cosmological)

Plenary – which picture / word goes with each argument?

A L L ( E G R A D E ) : W I L L B E A B L E T O S U M M A R I S E T H E C O S M O LO G I C A L A N D O N T O LO G I C A L A R G U M E N T S

  M O S T ( C G R A D E ) : W I L L B E A B L E T O E X P L A I N T H E C O S M O LO G I C A L A N D O N T O LO G I C A L A R G U M E N T S U S I N G E X A M P L E S A N D P R O V I D E T W O C O U N T E R A R G U M E N T S T O T H E M B O T H

S O M E ( A G R A D E ) : W I L L B E A B L E T O E VA LU AT E T H E O N T O LO G I C A L A R G U M E N T U S I N G A R G U M E N T S F R O M A N S E L M A N D K A N T. W I L L B E A B L E T O A S S E S S T H E C O S M O LO G I C A L

LO: To examine the reasons Christians give for believing in God (Ontological and Cosmological)

First Cause