divine attributes Flashcards
what are the divine attributes?
omniscience
omnipotence
omnibenevolence
eternal/everlasting
define omniscience
knows everything there is to know
define omnibenevolence
all good
define omnipotence
the power to do everything possible to do
define eternal
existing beyond time
define everlasting
existing within, for the entire duration of time
give an issue for God being omnipotent
The paradox of the stone:
God either can or cannot create a stone too heavy for him to lift. Both options mean there is something God cannot do.
Being omnipotent means God can do any task.
So, he cannot be omnipotent as this creates a paradox.
name three responses to the paradox of the stone
Frankfurt: if God can do anything, he can do things that seem paradoxical to us in ways we don’t understand
George Mavrodes: omnipotence means being able to do anything logically possible, creating a stone too heavy for God to lift is not logically possible.
Wade Savage: “God cannot create a stone which God cannot lift” is just a misleading way of saying “God can create any stone and can lift it”. Once reworded to get rid of the double negative it’s clear that there is no limit on either God’s stone making or lifting abilities.
give an issue for God being omnibenevolent
Euthyphro Dilemma:
If God is all good, either he is the one who defines what ‘good’ is, or there is some external force determining the meaning of ‘good’ which God conforms to
If he defines ‘good’, morality becomes arbitrary and trivial/immoral acts could become good, which defeats the point of praising God for being good.
If he conforms to an external definition of ‘good’, then he is not omnipotent, so he cannot be omnibenevolent and omnipotent simultaneously.
name three responses to the euthyphro dilemma
Plato: option 2 is fine, God doesn’t need to be omnipotent
Kierkegaard: option 1 is fine, as God is omniscient so only makes rational decisions about morality so it will not be arbitrary. We should have blind faith in him.
Aquinas: false dichotomy. Third option - God IS good by nature, goodness is God inherently.
how does omniscience counter free will?
- if God is omniscient, he knows all future propositions
- “I will do X in the future” is a proposition even before it happens.
- So, if God is omniscient then he knows I will do X in the future
- If God knows that I will do X in the future, it is impossible for me not to do X.
- Free will is being able to do X or Y
- So if it’s impossible for me not to do X, then doing X is not a free choice.
- Therefore, if I was to do X freely then God is not omniscient
- So, free will and omniscience are not compatible
4 Counters to omniscience vs free will (most to least convincing)
- Swinburne (future doesn’t exist yet so God can’t know it as it’s impossible to know)
- Grudem (God is eternal and can view future present and past simultaneously, doesn’t mean that we don’t have free will when acting)
- Anthony Kenny (even though God knows what we will do, it isn’t necessary that we do it. Difference between saying you CAN’T do something and WON’T do something)
- Molina (God knows every possible action we COULD do at any given point. We’re still free to do anything within those given possibilities)
what is the problem of God’s relationship with time?
God must be eternal (to have created the world ex nihilo and to be transcendent)
God must be everlasting (to be immanent and perform divine action)
But everlasting and eternal are mutually exclusive
3 responses to problem of God’s relationship with time?
- Plato: EVERLASTING. God wasn’t a creator ex nihilo, he just organised chaos to become the world as we know it.
- Deism: ETERNAL. God made the world then left it alone like a clock maker leaving his clocks untouched on a shelf. Miracles are symbollic, or God pre-programmed them into the world
- Stump and Kretzmann: ETERNAL. Humans travel round time on a wheel which God views externally and transcendently yet immanently, knowing every moment simultaneously.
2 critiques of Stump and Kretzmann:
- God can’t be omniscient as he doesn’t know what our ‘now’ is
RESPONSE: he does know, every moment is now for him just like every moment is now for us, we just experience the same ‘now’ differently - William Lane Craig: atemporal duration is a logical contradiction
RESPONSE: it is only a logical contradiction because we don’t have the language to explain it in a comprehendible way.
