Nature and Attributes of God Flashcards
What is Omnipotence?
All-Powerful
What is Omniescence?
All-Knowing
What is Omnibenevolance?
All-Loving
What distinction must be made between God’s relationship with time?
Timeless vs Everlasting
What is Boeithius’ 4 dimensionalism?
God can see time as we see space
What is Boethius’ famous quote about God’s time?
“The whole, simultaneous and perfect possession of unending life”
What is Augustine’s criticism of Boethius?
What was God doing before he created the universe?
What is Aquinas’ argument for God’s relationship with time?
We can not speak of God, and so we can not talk of his time - we speak in analogy
What is Mascall’s pole?
We experience God in time, whereas he experiences time differently
What is Aquinas’s quote about eternity?
“Eternity exits as a simultaneous whole and time does not”
What is presentism?
The past and the present do not exist. The present is the only reality
What is Anselm’s view on presentism?
Past and future is subjective, and it is based on perceiving it
Why does Anselm see it that God does not cause our actions?
Time is in God and God is in time
What does Kenny say of the Timeless view of God?
Seeing the rise and fall of Rome in one go is incoherent
What is the issue with Love for a timeless God?
Love involves a two way process
Why does tensed language of the bible not make God tensed?
It is how they expressed it. This does not mean god himself is tensed
I) What is the issue with prayers for a tensed God
II) What is Aquinas’ rebuttal?
I) God can not react if he is timeless
II) Prayer should not be for requests
What is an issue with Boethious’ assessment?
He may be defending a different godf
What is the biggest benefit of an Everlasting God?
He can act in time
What is the biggest flaw with the Everlasting God?
It either limits God or causes a conflict with free will
Where does the quote “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms”
Deuteronomy 33:27
What does Descartes say about God being able to do the logically impossible?
He is the source of Logic, so he can break it. Otherwise it is limited
What does Mackie say about logical impossibilities?
“Only a form of words which fails to describe any state of affairs”
What is Aquinas’ famous quote on omnipotence which relates to Mackie?
“Whatever involves a contradiction is not held by omnipotence, for it just cannot possibly make sense of being possible”
What does Vardy say on free will and omnipotence?
God chooses to limit himself to preserve free will
What does John Macquaire argue is the only way God is l limited?
Love
