Attributes of God

Question 1

Boethius’ ‘Simultaneous present’

Answer 1

God is not within out timeline so the future is unknown to us but not to him - he is within a ‘simultaneous present’ in which the past, present and future occur all at once.
Seeing us from a ‘lofty peak’

Question 2

Anselm

Answer 2

Time is the fourth dimension as it is relative to us. Time is within God meaning that he can be close to humans without the constraints of time.

Question 3

Swinburne on omnipotence

Answer 3

‘Everything’ needs to be understood properly. God can create and do ‘things’ but illogical occurrences aren’t ‘things’ (they don’t exist) hence why God hasn’t done them.

Question 4

Swinburne on time

Answer 4

God is everlasting and temporal - meaning he is aware of our actions as they occur. This fixes the issue of free will and the idea that prayers can be answered.

Question 5

Aquinas’ support of Boethius

Answer 5

Analogy that God is on top of a tall building watching everything happen at once.

Question 6

Schleiermacher quote

Answer 6

“In the same way we estimate the intimacy between 2 persons”

Question 7

Descartes on omnipotence

Answer 7

God can do anything, even the logically impossible. He created laws and therefore has the power to change them - otherwise his greatness would be limited.

Question 8

Vardy quote

Answer 8

“This limitation does not, however, lessen God”

Question 9

Vardy on omnipotence

Answer 9

His omnipotence is even more limited than what we think - nothing limits his power except when he chooses to.

Question 10

Macquerie on omnipotence

Answer 10

God’s power is very different from our own - the word ‘power’ refers to the power in our world, not the greatness of God.

Question 11

Stump and Kretzmann

Answer 11

God could change the past in his eternal present, but this wouldn’t effect us as temproral beings, as it is already in the past.

Question 12

Kenny’s criticism of Boethius

Answer 12

The idea of a simultaneous present is ‘radically incoherent’ as it suggests that God doesn’t know there is a relation and sequence between events in time.

Question 13

JL Mackie criticism of Descartes

Answer 13

The idea of logically impossible actions were ‘only a form of words which fails to describe any state of affairs’ so logical impossibilities simply do not exist.

Question 14

Aquinas on God’s omnipotence

Answer 14

He has the power to do whatever is logically possible for him to do.

Question 15

Einsteins box universe theory

Answer 15

The universe is a block of all the things that happen at any time/place. So the past, present and future al exist and are real. Not accepted by all scientists as it suggests that our future is predestined/can’t be changed.

Anselm = this is within God

Question 16

Anselm’s preceding and following necessities

Answer 16

Preceding - laws of nature
Following - God is alongside us in the moment of choice

Question 17

Boethius’ simple and conditional necessities

Answer 17

Simple - nature acting according to laws
Conditional - an action which has been freely chosen

Question 18

The Euthyphro Dilemma

Answer 18

Did God create good or does God command things because they are good?

Question 19

Aquinas’ response to the Euthyphro Dilemma

Answer 19

God and good are like the same sides of a coin. Since God’s nature is good, he can only command what is good.

Question 20

J.S Mill on omnibenevolence

Answer 20

Criticises God’s onmibenevolence and the design argument in particular. Can’t be loving if he created a world where animals had to kill each other in order to survive.

Question 21

Aquinas quote on God’s omnipotence

Answer 21

“everything that does not imply a contradiction”

Question 22

Moses and the 10 plagues vs God’s omnipotence

Answer 22

He knew that the Pharo would be reluctant to free the slaves hence why he sent the plagues.

BUT if it only took the last plague for the Pharo to give in, why didn’t;y he only send this one and save unnecessary suffering.

Question 23

Evaluation of heaven/hell vs free will

Answer 23

“Whoever believes in him, shall have eternal life”

People who use their free will not to believe in God, or those who are incapable of reasoning their beliefs are condemned to hell.

Question 24

Schleiermacher on God’s omniscience

Answer 24

God knows us in the same way that a friend does - he can safely predict our decisions.

Question 25

Criticism of Schleiermacher on God’s omniscience

Answer 25

Hume - God is too great to know us at a human level - if you are going to use an analogy needs to be comparable.

Question 26

Determinism

Answer 26

All actions are inevitable and it is impossible to do/make any other decision than the one made.

Question 27

Compatibilitism

Answer 27

(Created by Hobbes and supported by Hume)
The belief that free will and determinism are compatible.

Question 28

Atemporal

Answer 28

Without relation to time.

(Anselm, Boethius and Aquinas)

Question 29

Sempiternal

Answer 29

Unchanging and everlasting.
In our timeline.

(Swinburne)

Question 30

Aquinas on God’s benevolence

Answer 30

We cannot judge this seemingly unjust world - we do not know God’s ‘master plan’

Question 31

Vardy on God’s benevolence

Answer 31

It is wrong to assume that God is responsible for everything that happens - he can remain omnibenevolent this way.

Question 32

Kant on God’s benevolence

Answer 32

It is redeemed in heaven

Question 33

A.N Whitehead on God’s benevolence

Answer 33

God is sempiternal, so he can’t force people to behave in a way which limits their free will.

“Fellow sufferer who understands”

Question 34

Hartshorne on God’s omnipotence

Answer 34

His power is not limitless, but he is always more powerful than any other being.