Concept of God Flashcards
Was does omnipotence mean?
All-powerful
What did Descartes say about omnipotence?
Absolute omnipotence - God can do anything, even things beyond the realm of logical possibility as he created the laws of logic (e.g he could make 2+2=5)
What did Aquinas say about omnipotence?
God can do anything which is logically possible and does not contradict his nature (e.g. sin)
Explain the paradox of the stone?
P1: Either God can make a stone too heavy to lift or he can’t.
P2: If God can do this, he is not omnipotent as he is unable to lift the stone.
P3: If God cannot do this, he is not omnipotent as there is something he cannot do.
P4: There is nothing logically impossible about either of these tasks.
C: Therefore, God is not omnipotent.
How does Mavrodes respond to the paradox of the stone?
The paradox is unsuccessful because God does not lack power if a task is impossible. Mavrodes says that creating a stone too heavy to lift is self-contradictory for God as he is omnipotent.
Explain the argument that God is eternal
P1: Everything in time changes
P2: But God is immutable and does not change
C1: Therefore, God cannot be in time
C2: Therefore, God exists outside of time (he is atemporal/eternal)
What is Kenny’s criticism of ‘eternal God’
He says this is an incoherent concept; how can the burning of Rome in 64BC be happening simultaneously to me revising now?
Explain the argument that God is everlasting
P1: God is without beginning or end
P2: God interacts with and has a personal relationship with the world
P3: The world is temporal
P4: Any being that interacts with the temporal world is itself temporal
C: Therefore, God is everlasting
What is the issue with ‘everlasting God’
Means he cannot know the future yet - not omniscient
What are some issues with the concept of omniscience?
If God is incorporeal, can he know how to do things? (i.e. can he have any ability knowledge?)
Does God know the future and, if so, what are the implications for free will?
Explain the issue of free will and omniscience - Kenny
P1: Humans have free will and some of their actions are genuinely free.
P2: God is omniscient and so knows beforehand everything that will happen.
P3: Therefore, God knows beforehand in all cases what humans will do.
P4: If God knows what we will do, our actions are not free.
C: Therefore, human free will and God’s omniscience are incompatible.
Responses to the issue of free will
Calvinists - free will is an illusion
Luis of Molina - middle knowledge, God knows every choice we might make
Swinburne - God is everlasting and does not know the future
Boethius - God sees everything in a simultaneous present
Kretzmann and Stump - E-T simultaneity
Explain Kretzmann and Stump’s E-T simultaneity
P1: Humans have free will and we haven’t yet chosen what we will do in the future.
P2: God knows and sees everything simultaneously outside time
P3: Therefore God can see our past, present and future actions all at once from a position of eternity (E-simultaneity)
P4: Although God can see everything that we have done and will do, we will still freely choose our actions
C: Therefore human free will and God’s omniscience are compatible.
Explain the Euthyphro dilemma for omnibenevolence
The Euthyphro dilemma attempts to prove that the concept of God’s omniscience is incoherent. It asks: is something good because God commands it or does God command something because it is good? The first horn is problematic as it suggests that morality is arbitrary. God could command trivial or even cruel acts and they would be good. The second horn is problematic because it suggests that morality is independent of God, limiting him to be constrained by the same ethical rules as us. Therefore, the concept of God’s omnibenevolence is incoherent.
What does it mean to say that God is omniscient?
To say that God is omnipotent is to say that he possesses perfect knowledge. This not only means that he knows everything, he also knows how to do everything (such as creating the world). Aquinas argued that God knows everything directly, rather than through inference or deduction.
