General description of God
1. Give a general description of God, noting those characteristics
without which you would not be willing to use the word “God.”
If you don’t believe in God, say with some precision what it is
that you don’t believe in.
2. If you believe that there is a God who is all-powerful, all-knowing,
and concerned with justice and the well-being of humanity,
explain how there can be so much evil and suffering in the world.
Pursue as far as you can the responses and objections to one of
the various attempts to answer the problem of evil. (A good way
of doing this is to have a friend act as devil’s advocate and try to
refute your efforts to defend a solution to the problem.)
3. If you believe in God, try to explain to an atheist friend (real or
imagined) why you believe in God.
If you think there are good reasons for believing, state them.
If you think there are good arguments for, or a proof of, God’s
existence, state the arguments or the proof and defend it against
your atheist friend’s objections.
If you think that the only way to believe in God is through
faith, answer your atheist friend’s objections that you are being
irrational, that you are simply indulging in “wishful thinking,”
and that you are escaping from your responsibilities to change the
world and, instead, are accepting a fantasy in which God will take
full responsibility.
4. Choose one of the traditional proofs of God’s existence and
work it out in some detail, answering objections and making the
argument as irrefutable as you can. (See next page for further
readings.)
5. If you don’t believe in God, what would convince you that God
does exist? If you do believe in God, what would convince you
that God does not exist?
