Attributes of God Flashcards
Boethius’ ‘Simultaneous present’
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’
Anselm
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.
Swinburne on omnipotence
‘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.
Swinburne on time
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.
Aquinas’ support of Boethius
Analogy that God is on top of a tall building watching everything happen at once.
Schleiermacher quote
“In the same way we estimate the intimacy between 2 persons”
Descartes on omnipotence
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.
Vardy quote
“This limitation does not, however, lessen God”
Vardy on omnipotence
His omnipotence is even more limited than what we think - nothing limits his power except when he chooses to.
Macquerie on omnipotence
God’s power is very different from our own - the word ‘power’ refers to the power in our world, not the greatness of God.
Stump and Kretzmann
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.
Kenny’s criticism of Boethius
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.
JL Mackie criticism of Descartes
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.
Aquinas on God’s omnipotence
He has the power to do whatever is logically possible for him to do.
Einsteins box universe theory
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
Anselm’s preceding and following necessities
Preceding - laws of nature
Following - God is alongside us in the moment of choice
Boethius’ simple and conditional necessities
Simple - nature acting according to laws
Conditional - an action which has been freely chosen
The Euthyphro Dilemma
Did God create good or does God command things because they are good?
Aquinas’ response to the Euthyphro Dilemma
God and good are like the same sides of a coin. Since God’s nature is good, he can only command what is good.
J.S Mill on omnibenevolence
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.
Aquinas quote on God’s omnipotence
“everything that does not imply a contradiction”
Moses and the 10 plagues vs God’s omnipotence
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.
Evaluation of heaven/hell vs free will
“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.
Schleiermacher on God’s omniscience
God knows us in the same way that a friend does - he can safely predict our decisions.
Criticism of Schleiermacher on God’s omniscience
Hume - God is too great to know us at a human level - if you are going to use an analogy needs to be comparable.
Determinism
All actions are inevitable and it is impossible to do/make any other decision than the one made.
Compatibilitism
(Created by Hobbes and supported by Hume)
The belief that free will and determinism are compatible.
Atemporal
Without relation to time.
(Anselm, Boethius and Aquinas)
Sempiternal
Unchanging and everlasting.
In our timeline.
(Swinburne)
Aquinas on God’s benevolence
We cannot judge this seemingly unjust world - we do not know God’s ‘master plan’
Vardy on God’s benevolence
It is wrong to assume that God is responsible for everything that happens - he can remain omnibenevolent this way.
Kant on God’s benevolence
It is redeemed in heaven
A.N Whitehead on God’s benevolence
God is sempiternal, so he can’t force people to behave in a way which limits their free will.
“Fellow sufferer who understands”
Hartshorne on God’s omnipotence
His power is not limitless, but he is always more powerful than any other being.
