attributes of god Flashcards
what should be spoken about for AO1?
omnipotence
omnibenevolence
omniscient
eternity and gods relationship with time
free will
what are the three approaches to gods omnipotence?
he can do anything even the logically impossible
he can do the logically possible
he has self imposed limitations
which scholars stake the view that god can do anything even the logically impossible?
ANSELM
god has to be able to do anything otherwise he is not TTWNGCBC
DESCARTES
humans are restricted by their human nature and finite minds so much that they cannot comprehend the limitless to gods omnipotence
our limitations are not limitations to god
what scholar argues against the idea that god can do anything even the logically impossible?
J.L MACKIE
you can’t say god can do the logically impossible because there is no such thing
‘its only a form of words which fails to describe any state’
what are the issues associated with god being able to do the logically impossible?
might make god an arbitrary figure who becomes unpredictable - becomes unrestrained in his authority which has been seen before City of S+G
why does god not change laws so that we do not do evil
the bible says he cannot lie (book of Titus) = this would mean he cannot do everything
which scholars say god can only do the logically possible?
AQUINAS
‘whatever involves a contradiction is not held by omnipotence’
he is omnipotent in the sense that he created and maintains the world
SWINBURNE
god can do everything but ‘everything’ must be understood properly
self-contradictory definitions do not refer to things = stone so heavy god cannot lift it
BOTH ARGUE THAT THIS IDEA DOES NOT IN ANY WAY RESTRICT HIS OMNIPOTENCE AND HE CAN STILL DO ‘EVERYTHING’
which scholars argue that god has self-imposed limitations?
VARDY
god deliberately limits his own power for our own benefit
in order for humans to be rational free beings gods powers have to be limited but these limitations are self-imposed
its still right to call god omnipotent because any limitation is self imposed
MACQUARRIE
same explanation as vardy
Jesus didn’t always display gods attributes because of KENOSIS (self emptying, god deliberately emptied out some of his abilities before the incarnation in order to make his encounters with humanity possible) this limitation is through gods own choice
how does religious language play into God’s omnipotence and the nature of God more widely?
the term omnipotence and power is very limited in our fallible human minds
therefore its understandable why we struggle to understand gods power
this view is taken by aquinas and mcquarrie
what are the problems with gods omniscience?
what do we mean by ‘know everything’ - it isn’t clear what omniscience actually entails
there are surely somethings that are even impossible for god to know - e.g knowing what its like to be ignorant leads to contradictions
when place alongside other attributes it leads to questions on why god allows suffering
can it really be said that an immaterial being knows how do do something as mundane as ride a bicycle or to draw
if god knows how were going to behave then we do not have true freewill
there danger in assuming gods knowledge is the same as ours in any way - its beyond perspective
does gods omniscience impose on our freewill?
if god’s divine foreknowledge means that he knows all of our moral decisions before we are them how can we have true free will
what’s Kants view on freewill?
without freedom we can have no moral choice as we would have no genuine options available to us to choose between
not just an illusion that we are making free choices
does omniscience make the concept of heaven and hell unfair?
if god is omniscience, he surely must know the beginning of time which of us have faith and which don’t
before we are born he knows who is going to heaven and who is going to hell which seems somewhat unfair
if his omniscience determines our choices then god cannot justifiably punish us or reward us for our actions
but if he is unaware of the choices we will make then surely his knowledge is limited rather then infinite
who provides the solution to the problem of freedom and gods knowledge?
Friedrich Schleiermacher
what did Friedrich Schleiermacher claim about gods omniscience?
claimed that gods knowledge is akin to that of a close friend who always know how we will act
our friends may know how we will act in a given situation but that doesn’t compromise our freewill
you dont necessarily do what they presume
what is the compatibility of the divine attributes?
idea that some of gods attribute cannot logically co-exist
e.g logically impossible for someone to be in a state of drunkenness and sobriety at the same time
some claims its logically impossible for god to be perfectly just whilst also possess divine foreknowledge
‘with man this is impossible, but with god all things are possible’
