Doctrine of God Flashcards
polytheism
there are various Gods
pantheism
God is in and through the universe
deism
God caused creation and does nothing else
materialism
only physical matter exists
univocal prediction
one concept applies to God and other things
analogical prediction
two concepts apply to God and other things
fideism
proofs are inappropriate due to the fallenness of the human mind and the nature of faith
Anselm’s version of the ontological argument
A being which is perfect must exist in reality as well as in the mind
if it did not, we could not conceive of a more perfect being which exists in both the mind and reality
only a being which exists in both the mind and reality can be the most perfect conceivable thing
Criticism of Anselm’s ontological argument
basically criticized the logic
you can conceive an island more perfect than any other known island
such an island must exist since if it did not, it would be less perfect than any known island which is a contradiction
Decartes’ version of the ontological argument
existence is an attribute of God
just as we cannot think of a triangle without sides, we cannot think of God who does not exist
criticism of descartes’ ontological argument
all it proves is that if there is an infinitely prefect being , He exists
existence does not add to the concept of a thing, it does not add anything new
cosmological argument from necessity
everything that exists did not exist at some point and thus were caused to exist
there cannot be an infinite number of causes to bring something into existence
there must be an uncaused cause for everything
kalam cosmological argument
everything that has a beginning needs a cause
the universe began
there cannot be an infinite number of caused causes
there must be a cause for all else that does not needs a cause itself
teleological argument
Human artifacts are products of intelligent design
the universe resembles human artifacts
therefore the universe is a product of intelligent design
the universe is complex and gigantic in comparison to human artifacts
therefore there was an intelligent designer
Darwin’s affect on the teleological argument
darwin’s theory of evolution explained how things got so complex which is one of the main points
anthropic argument
the universe exhibits elements of design specifically for the purpose of containing intelligent beings
Pascal’s wager arguement
if the Christian turns out to be right he gains a good life and heaven
if he is wrong, he stills gains a good life, thus losing nothing
the thomistic view of divine action
essentially there is a difference between primary and secondary causes
the primary cause may be one thing but the secondary cause which is an instrument that the primary cause uses
the problem of contingency
in the Newtonian world, things were thought to happen according to natural laws without variation
after quantum mechanics, we discovered that we cannot predict the speed and location of a sub-atomic particle
the future is not determined by natural laws
difference between God’s permissive and preceptive will
preceptive will- What God desires His creatures to do
permissive will- God permits things to happen that are not apart of His perfect will
Bible passages that help with the contingency issue
1 Samuel 22:11-12
God is timeless
God has the same relationship to time as he does space
time is created
fits with the theory of relativity
God is eternal
God exists in time and it passes for him
He is aware of the sequence of time and exists in the presence
yet is perfectly aware of the past and the future
external passibility
the capacity to be acted upon from without
internal passibility
the capacity for changing the emotions from within
sensational passibility
the liability to feelings of pleasure and pain caused by the action of another being
nominalism vs realism
nominalism- attributes are merely names that humans use but have no referent in God
absolute vs relative
divide God’s attributes into those which relate to God in Himself, apart from creation (absolutes) and attributes that have to do with God’s relation to creation (relative)
communicable vs incommunicable
attributes that are not shared with creatures and attributes that are shared with creatures
openness of God view
for a human being to have free will, God cannot know what that person will choose
problems with the openness view
to know is not to predetermine
assumes an incompatiblist view of Human Will
the general presence of God
God is present everywhere and to everyone
the special presence of GOd
God is also present in a special way
the unique presence of Christ
Christ represents a special and full presence of God
