Attributes of God (omniscience)

Question 1

if God knows the future as part of his omniscience what must he have ?

Answer 1

divine foreknowledge

Question 2

what is the argument of omniscience and free will?

Answer 2

• god foreknows all my acts
• what god for-sees must happen
• therefor, if my acts must happen then they cannot be free

Question 3

who argues this point?

Answer 3

Calvin

Question 4

give a biblical quote to support Calvin?

Answer 4

“in love he predestined us”

Question 5

what is predestination?

Answer 5

before creation god determined the fate of the universe throughout all of time and space

Question 6

John Calvin quote?

Answer 6

“ordains eternal life for some and eternal damnation for others”

Question 7

what does Calvins quote suggest?

Answer 7

god had already chosen who will be saved and who will be eternally damned

Question 8

what problem does Boethius have?

Answer 8

hoe can god have divine foreknowledge of the future and humans still remain free?

Question 9

what does Boethius argue in ‘the consolation of philosophy’?

Answer 9

“hopeless conflict between divine foreknowledge of all things and freedom of human free will”

Question 10

whatever God’s ‘providence’ forsees will happen.. why?

Answer 10

because god sees everything in advance and god cannot be fooled or deceived

Question 11

what is providence?

Answer 11

knowledge of the future

Question 12

can the future change? why?

Answer 12

no otherwise, what god sees is just ‘fallible opinion’ of knowledge

Question 13

what is the conclusion?

Answer 13

God has full knowledge but we are not free!

Question 14

what does Boethius say to this conclusion?

Answer 14

NOT HAPPY WITH IT

Question 15

Boethius argues it’s pointless to argue a pre deterministic god whereby god has knowledge of our actions, why?

Answer 15

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

Question 16

therefore ^^^^?

Answer 16

we have to be the author of our actions we’re responsible for our vices/ virtues

Question 17

so what must god have?

Answer 17

full knowledge but I must have free will over my actions in order for reward and punishment to make sense

Question 18

how did Boethius answer this question?

Answer 18

god is eternal

Question 19

How did Boetius justify gods eternity being the reason he has full omniscience and how humans have free will?

Answer 19

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.

Question 20

what does boethius conclude?

Answer 20

this is “not knowledge of future events, but knowledge of a never changing god”

Question 21

simplify boethius’ conclusion

Answer 21

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

Question 22

what does aquinas say?

Answer 22

“god sees all things together and not successively”

Question 23

for aquinas does god interfere with our free will?

Answer 23

no god has a birds eye view of whole of history that is theocentric (from gods perspective)

Question 24

what is the first perspective that can be taken on everlasting omniscience?

Answer 24

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

Question 25

what Is option 2 of gods everlasting omniscience?

Answer 25

god makes a deliberate choice to limit what he knows= human free will

Question 26

what is option 3 of gods everlasting omniscience?

Answer 26

god is aware of all possible choices but we are free to decide which one to choose

Question 27

who supports option 1 and what do they say?

Answer 27

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

Question 28

who supports option 2?

Answer 28

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)

Question 29

who supports option 3?

Answer 29

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

Question 30

Luis of Molina quote to support option 3?

Answer 30

“gods omniscience includes all possibilities for the future”

Question 31

Augustine quote for option 3?

Answer 31

“god simply knows our choices”

Question 32

what are 4 problems with divine foreknowledge?

Answer 32

• 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

Question 33

what is the 3 problems with boethius’ omniscience?

Answer 33

• 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

Question 34

what are the 3 problems with limited omniscience?

Answer 34

• 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