Attributes of God (omniscience) Flashcards
if God knows the future as part of his omniscience what must he have ?
divine foreknowledge
what is the argument of omniscience and free will?
- god foreknows all my acts
- what god for-sees must happen
- therefor, if my acts must happen then they cannot be free
who argues this point?
Calvin
give a biblical quote to support Calvin?
“in love he predestined us”
what is predestination?
before creation god determined the fate of the universe throughout all of time and space
John Calvin quote?
“ordains eternal life for some and eternal damnation for others”
what does Calvins quote suggest?
god had already chosen who will be saved and who will be eternally damned
what problem does Boethius have?
hoe can god have divine foreknowledge of the future and humans still remain free?
what does Boethius argue in ‘the consolation of philosophy’?
“hopeless conflict between divine foreknowledge of all things and freedom of human free will”
whatever God’s ‘providence’ forsees will happen.. why?
because god sees everything in advance and god cannot be fooled or deceived
what is providence?
knowledge of the future
can the future change? why?
no otherwise, what god sees is just ‘fallible opinion’ of knowledge
what is the conclusion?
God has full knowledge but we are not free!
what does Boethius say to this conclusion?
NOT HAPPY WITH IT
Boethius argues it’s pointless to argue a pre deterministic god whereby god has knowledge of our actions, why?
because its pointless to reward and punish, if my actions are not free and therefore not governed by our own will, its therefore unjust to then punish to reward me
therefore ^^^^?
we have to be the author of our actions we’re responsible for our vices/ virtues
so what must god have?
full knowledge but I must have free will over my actions in order for reward and punishment to make sense
how did Boethius answer this question?
god is eternal
How did Boetius justify gods eternity being the reason he has full omniscience and how humans have free will?
god does not see past, present and future but all time together as the ‘eternal present’, god sees all of time but does not distinguish what is in the past present or future.
what does boethius conclude?
this is “not knowledge of future events, but knowledge of a never changing god”
simplify boethius’ conclusion
god had eternal omniscience but not divine foreknowledge because this means god would determined our actions, god knows everything but as a ‘collective whole knowledge’, not what happens in past , present, future and we have free will
what does aquinas say?
“god sees all things together and not successively”
for aquinas does god interfere with our free will?
no god has a birds eye view of whole of history that is theocentric (from gods perspective)
what is the first perspective that can be taken on everlasting omniscience?
gods omniscience is limited to what is logically possible, the future has not yet happened and therefore gods omniscience is not limited bevies its impossible to know what does not exist or has not happened, his knowledge changes over time and can acquire new knowledge over Time
what Is option 2 of gods everlasting omniscience?
god makes a deliberate choice to limit what he knows= human free will
what is option 3 of gods everlasting omniscience?
god is aware of all possible choices but we are free to decide which one to choose
who supports option 1 and what do they say?
SWINBURNE- god does not know what will happen in the future, a future action isn’t ‘true’ or ‘false’ until it had happened so an omniscient being does not have to know them
who supports option 2?
Vardy and Macquire (explore this idea but don’t directly address it) god limited what he knows to preserve are free, similar to self imposed limitation (Vardy/Macquire)
who supports option 3?
SCHLEIERMACHER, suggested knowledge that you have of your friends omniscience but free e.g. friends knowing what you’ll have for breakfast
gods knowledge does not force or affect what we choose to do therefore we can be held morally responsible
Luis of Molina quote to support option 3?
“gods omniscience includes all possibilities for the future”
Augustine quote for option 3?
“god simply knows our choices”
what are 4 problems with divine foreknowledge?
- how can humans still be held responsible for their actions?
- how can humans be judged evil and therefore punished if they do not have free will
- does this make god responsible for suffering
- classic problem fo evil= epicures/ hume
what is the 3 problems with boethius’ omniscience?
- can god really know everything if god doesn’t know what its really like to change
- tries to support free will of humans and allow for god ro reward and punish justly
- even if god just sees events not on a time scale are we totally free
what are the 3 problems with limited omniscience?
- can god know new events as they happen if god doesn’t change
- find if god does change with humans is god still perfect
- if god cannot see the future, even if its logically possible to see, does that take away gods omniscience
