Deck 5: God and Suffering

Question 1

The ontological argument is an a posteriori argument.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

The first cause argument, if successful, would prove the existence of a perfect God.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

The big bang theory gives some support to the fundamentalist Christian view that God created the world about 4000 B.C.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The free will defense argues that free will necessarily implies suffering.

Question 5

If God limits our freedom of action is necessarily limiting our contra-causal freedom.

Question 6

The narrator of "The Vision" decides to take pills to make her stop seeing the Vision because

A) she thinks it over carefully and decides the Vision can't be real.
B) what the Vision makes her do is uncomfortable and scary.
C) she believes the world is about to end.
D) None of the above

Question 7

What a normal observer is observing and other normal observers could/would observe under similar conditions constitutes our criteria for the

A) religiosity of the perception.
B) veridicality of the perception.
C) teleology of the perception.
D) None of the above

Question 8

If we refuse to consider horrible visions as possible religious experiences, we are

A) using an argument from ignorance.
B) we are committing the ad hominem fallacy.
C) begging the question against what counts as religious experiences.
D) None of the above

Question 9

If a particular argument for the existence of God doesn't work, that

A) shows that God does not exist.
B) counts as some evidence that God does not exist.
C) means nothing one way or the other.
D) None of the above

Question 10

In "Surprise It's Judgment Day," what argument is Martin referring to when he says "Anselm and Descartes claimed that the definition of a perfect God necessarily implies that he exists"?

A) The ontological argument
B) Cosmological argument
C) The teleological argument
D) None of the above

Question 11

"Now, if I take the subject (God) with all its predicates (omnipotence being one), and say, God is, or There is a God, I add no new predicate to the conception of God." This quote is from

A) Anselm.
B) Descartes.
C) Kant.
D) Aquinas.

Question 12

"A being with logically necessary existence." This phrase indicates a being who is such that it

A) can't be made not to exist if it exists.
B) must exist.
C) must think logically if it exists.
D) None of the above

Question 13

The theory of evolution undercuts some versions of

A) the ontological argument.
B) cosmological argument.
C) the teleological argument.
D) None of the above

Question 14

The "fine-tuning argument" is designed to show that God created the universe so that

A) there would be a special creation of human beings on earth.
B) life would appear sometime, somewhere in the universe.
C) there would be minimal suffering.
D) None of the above

Question 15

A person who isn't sure whether or not God exists is called a(n)

A) atheist.
B) agnostic.
C) theist.
D) None of the above

Question 16

The "problem of suffering" is the problem of how God could allow suffering if God is

A) omnipotent.
B) omniscience.
C) omnipotent and omniscient.
D) None of the above

Question 17

There is nothing illogical about saying that an omnipotent God could not do contradictory things because

A) contradictory things are so difficult one can't expect even God to be able to do them.
B) contradictions described nothing to do.
C) contradictions are forbidden by God.
D) None of the above

Question 18

Proving that it is impossible to have happiness without unhappiness wouldn't justify God creating the world like this one because it doesn't

A) mention free will.
B) say how much unhappiness.
C) mention generosity.
D) None of the above

Question 19

The free will defense uses the concept of

A) compatibilist freedom.
B) contra-causal freedom.
C) deep self freedom.
D) None of the above

Question 20

The virtue defense argues that God was right to create a world in which there

A) might be suffering.
B) would definitely be suffering.
C) were necessarily virtuous people.
D) None of the above

Question 21

"It is wrong always and everywhere and for anyone to believe anything on insufficient evidence." This quote is from

A) William K Clifford.
B) William James.
C) Blaise Pascal.
D) Soren Kierkegaard.

Question 22

Pascal's "wager argument" is designed to show that

A) it is more likely that God exists than not so it is more rational to believe in God.
B) considering the gains and losses of believing versus not believing in God make it in your self-interest to believe.
C) wagering God exists would be offensive to God.
D) None of the above

Question 23

William James says that we may believe in God without evidence if

A) we're convinced by Pascal's wager argument.
B) the choice to believe seems while live, momentous and forced.
C) we have thought through the choice carefully.
D) None of the above

Question 24

The idea that God tests our faith by making religions seem irrational is called

A) pragmatism.
B) rationalism.
C) fideism.
D) None of the above

Question 25

According to Kierkegaard, if God made the truth of his existence obvious, it would have

A) made believing too easy.
B) been a welcome change.
C) made it easier to make a "leap of faith."
D) None of the above

Question 26

Discuss the basis for your own religious belief or lack of belief in light of the views of Clifford, James, Pascal, and Kierkegaard.

Question 27

Answer the following question from the text:
Try to imagine the following sort of world: A world with more abundance than anyone could use up, including space for living; people with free will but with a tendency toward good (as we are now supposed to have a tendency toward selfishness or evil); people with bodies that can suffer some painful injuries and diseases but can't be in agony or be maimed or be killed. In this world, people can have adventures and take risks and display moral qualities, although not to the degree that we can (because of the limits on suffering).
a. Is there anything contradictory about this world? Explain.
b. Would such a world be better or worse than our own? Explain.

Question 28

Whether you are a believer or not, explain how you think a believer might try to justify the amount of suffering in the world? You think this justification is ultimately successful?

Question 29

Suppose you began to have some "visions." How would you decide whether they represented some objective reality or were merely fantasies or hallucinations?

Question 30

What do you think of the fideist idea that the intellectually difficult aspects of religion are a test of faith? Would that be a fair test?