Attributes of God Flashcards
What is omnipotence?
To be all powerful - to have the power to do anything.
What is almighty?
A word that suggests God has the power of all things
What Biblical evidence is there for God’s omnipotence?
- Noah’s flood
- Creating the world from nothing
- Calming storm
-Sending Jesus - Parting the sea
What did Aquinas believe on God’s omnipotence?
He can do anything that is ‘absolutely possible’ - it does not involve a contradiction, either within the task itself, or between the task and the nature of God (e.g. can’t make a square circle, cannot ‘die’ because he is timeless but dying means change)
Strengths of Aquinas’ view on omnipotence?
- Maintains God’s absolute power and attributes, by only ruling out tasks that are meaningless in reality.
- It is only God’s own nature that restricts him- Vardy.
- Logically contradictory tasks e.g square circle are not tasks at all-they are totally meaningless (Aquinas)
Weaknesses of Aquinas’ view on omnipotence?
- Can God choose?’ – Unable to make choices as choice involves change which requires time, this contradicts the attribute of timelessness and God being wholly simple. Therefore, God could not have chosen to create this world.
- God’s attributes already contradict, i.e. God being both immanent and transcendent. Also, God becomes human.
- God is limited-can’t do the logically impossible.
- Macquarrie-God chooses to impose restrictions on himself due to his benevolence and wanting to give free will.
- Mackie - can’t God give us a choice of two goods?
What is Descartes’ view on omnipotence?
God can do anything including the logically impossible e.g. God can make a square circle. This is because God is a mystery to humans. He can break the laws of logic as he is the creator. Must not be restricted to human knowledge as it is limited.
Strengths of Descartes’ view of omnipotence
- Maintains the absolute power of God, we cannot lay down limitations on God’s omnipotence as we are limited in knowledge of him.
- Biblical support-Jesus walks on water, God becomes human-both logically impossible
Weaknesses of Descartes’ view of omnipotence
- Free will defence – if God could do what is logically impossible human beings would have genuine free will and still be controlled in such a way that they could act kindly and justly and rightly.
- Saying God can do anything means he can do the logically nonsensical which is meaningless e.g. square circle does not exist.
- Vardy-God has created this world in such a way as to choose to limit himself with giving humans free will, so can’t do the logically impossible.
What does the view mean to say God can do anything logically possible?
He can do anything that is within the laws of logic in this world. It is logically possible for a child to swim, and so it should be possible for God to swim. If God can’t swim then God is less powerful than the child who can swim. God can lie and commit evil acts.
Strengths of the view that God can do the logically possible?
- Humans can understand this concept, unlike Descartes version of omnipotence.
- God created the laws of logic and so it is a mistake to say that he should be limited by what he has created as he can break them.
- Allows for free will.
Weaknesses of the view that God can do the logically possible?
- This model ignores God’s nature as wholly simple and benevolent which scholars like Aquinas would not wish to do. It involves completely rethinking “God”.
- It anthropomorphises God.
- Applying human logic to God-can’t do this.
- Limits his omnipotence-can’t do the logically impossible
What is Kenny’s view on omnipotence?
God has all the logically possible powers that are possible for God to have. This relates to God’s powers rather than His actions. God can have powers that He doesn’t ever use, and others that are used on some occasions and not others. He can’t actualise them at same time if they are contradictory. E.g. God could have the power to make both an irresistible wind and an unmovable tree. What He couldn’t do is actualise both at the same time.
Strengths of Kenny’s view on omnipotence?
- Doesn’t restrict God’s ability to do things, just when He can do them.
Weaknesses of Kenny’s view on omnipotence?
- Rejected by Aquinas as it assumes God is in time, and in this world.
- Also, Aquinas believed God has no unactualised powers (anything God can do, He does do) – God is full actuality.
What is the anti realist view on God’s onmipotence?
To talk of God’s action is to talk of our loving actions. God’s action is to be found wherever in the world that we commit good deeds. We must act for God and show compassion to the world. Subsequently, we do not need to talk of a timeless God or an Everlasting God. Acting compassionately is the most important thing- it overrides other factors such as wealth and power.
Strengths of antirealist view on omnipotence?
- Individuals can lose possessions and physically suffer pain but since the most important part of life is how they live and the path of holiness, they cannot be hurt in an important sense.
- Overcomes problem of evil –evil is bad deeds not good.
Weaknesses of antirealist view on omnipotence?
- Incompatible with traditional Christian theology.
What is omniscience?
God knows everything; there is nothing he cannot know. It also means he cannot be mistaken. His knowledge includes things that are unavailable to the human mind. Past present and future! However this poses the problem of free will.
What is Schleiermacher’s view on omniscience?
God’s knowledge of us is like that of a close friend - because he knows us, so can make a reliable guess as to what we will do, but there is nothing in his knowledge that forces our choice. Therefore we can make morally free choices.
Strengths of Schleiermacher’s view on omniscience
- maintains free will
- we can all relate to this idea
Weaknesses of Schleiermacher’s view on omniscience
- It reduces his ability- less worthy of worship.
- Far more than a close friend- can see every side of you whereas friend cannot.
- Makes God too anthropomorphic.
- God’s knowledge is supposed to be infallible
What is Aquinas’ view on God’s omniscience?
As God created humans, he fashions each person in accordance with his plans. God is timeless and knows the present, past and future because he is not confined by time. If God knows that an event will happen, then it will happen because God knows it.
Strengths of Aquinas’ view on omniscience?
- God is truly omniscient and omnipotent.
- Solves the problem of evil- there is an ultimate point to suffering that humans are unaware of.
- Newton: time is a concept within itself- it is a measurement of duration, so you don’t need change for time. So God can be timeless and still change
Weaknesses of Aquinas’ view on omniscience?
- Everyone is determined so there isn’t free choice.
- Why would God want people to be atheists/sinners etc, surely he would make everyone good?
- Why would a loving God allow suffering?
What is strong about the view that God may not know at all how we will turn out?
- maintains God’s benevolence
- maintains free will
What is weak about the view that God may not know at all how we will turn out?
- Means that God is not omniscient.
- Doesn’t fit with Anselm’s definition.
- Not a God worthy of worship.
What is the doctrine of Kenosis?
the idea that God deliberately emptied himself of some of his divine attributes before coming to earth, in order to make Jesus’ encounter with humanity possible. This is supported by Vardy, and by MacQuarrie, who said any limitations on God’s omnipotence are self imposed
What is Swinburne’s view on omniscience?
God is in time and knows that past and present perfectly, however God can only predict the future.
