Nature Of God Flashcards
1
Q
Omnipotence meanings
A
- God can do all things
- God can do anything that is logically possible
- God can do anything that is logically possible for a being such as God to do
- God has power over everything
2
Q
God can do all things - Descartes
A
- he can do the logically impossible, he can do anything and statements that are true and untrue at the same time
- solves, God can do contradictory things
3
Q
God can do all things - problems
A
- invalidates all knowledge of God
- removes logical rigidity
- left with problem of evil
- makes God unpredictable
- conflicts bible of God
4
Q
God can do anything that is logically possible
A
- he can only do what is logically possible, nothing self contradictory
- Aquinas, it is logically impossible for God to sin or lie as this would contradict his nature
- solves, Descartes problems, there are some things that God can’t do
- problems, if he is all powerful then he could change the rules and do the self cotradictory
5
Q
God can do anything that is logically possible for a being such as God to do
A
- Kenny, ‘a narrower omnipotence, consisting in the possession of all logically possible powers which it is logically possible for a being with the attributes of God to have’
- problems, very circular it isn’t saying anything
6
Q
God has power over everything
A
- Peter Geach, it is best understood as a capacity for power, power over everything rather then a power to do everything
- solves the problems that God can do
7
Q
Self limitation
A
- Platinga, an omnipotent being may not have omnipotence as a necessary quality
- God may choose to limit his powers in certain circumstances in order to preserve free will
8
Q
McQuarroe
A
- God may be subject to self-imposed limitations
- chose to create a limited universe that functions within natural laws and so limits himself
- God could upset the balance of the world
9
Q
God as timless
A
Boethius
- Birds eye view (aquinas)
- God views eternity all in one glance rather than in a succession of events
- immutable, he cannot change as he doesn’t have time to change
- omnipotent, he has power to see everything but cannot do anything
- no is outside of time so can’t interact
10
Q
God as everlasting
A
- God goes through time as we do
- closer to God of the bible
- God can interact because he is inside our timeline, he can effect what is happening in the present
- he is immutable as he can change overtime, our relationship changes with him as well
- he can do the logically possible, effecting thee future not the past
11
Q
Omniscience - Swinburne
A
- God can only know what is logically possible, he can only know the past and the present
- he can’t know the future, helping the problem of evil
- is free will
- Problems, why doe he not interact with problems going on now if he can, limited his omniscience by not knowing the future
12
Q
Schleiermacher
A
- God has knowledge like you would have knowledge of a best friend
- he knows you so well that he could predict what you would do
- there is still a chance that you wouldn’t do it
- have free will
- problems, it is vague, limited sense of knowledge, if we are so predictable do we have free will, want God to be infallible
13
Q
Middle knowledge
A
- there are many different possibilities of what could happen for every action, for each person, ever
- God may never know for sure what you will chose, it removes some of his omsincience
- problems, adds to what we know of God’s omniscience but doesn’t give a solution, can God do anything or is he limited to give us free will
14
Q
Aquinas - knowledge and the sense
A
- God has complete knowledge of everything that God could know
- there are some things that he can’t know
- his knowledge allows free will
15
Q
Calvinism/ predestination
A
- each person is predestined by God to either be damned or saved
- God’s knowledge is rigid we are not making free will
- problem, you don’t have free will, not point in being moral, not responsible for actions, not fair and unjust
16
Q
Boethius - time and eternity
A
- God is outside of time and sees everything simultaneously
17
Q
Boethius problems
A
- free will, he can see what we are going to do then we don’t have free will
- if he knows what we are going to do then why do we not hold him responsible
- if God knows what we will choose then free will is compromised
- why pray
18
Q
Boethius conclusion
A
- if God sees us from above and knows all things in his eternal present then he rightly judges our future, free actions, and justly distributes rewards and punishments
- God can judge us because it is our choice and its what we decide to do
19
Q
Boethius strengths - human freedon
A
- he is timeless so can’t intervene
- there is no foreknowledge, he can;t know the future
- he has knowledge of the unchanging present
- explains why problem of evil can’t be solved
20
Q
Boethius Weaknesses - human freedom
A
- does not join to God of the bible
- he can’t answer prayers with no foreknowledge
- Jeremiah 29:11 ‘For I know the plans I have for you’
- how can Jesus have entered time and be incarnate
- Kenny, ‘As i type these words, Nero fiddles heartlessly on’, it is incoherent that its all at one point
21
Q
Nelson Pike
A
- a timeless being cannot be affected by anyone else yet the relationship between the believer and God should have some response
22
Q
Eternity - Anselm quote
A
‘God is not in place of time, but all places and times are in him… everything is in you. Nothing contains you, but you contain everything’
23
Q
Kathryn Rogers
A
- Anselm describes eternity as a sort of fifth dimension, encompassing the fourth dimension of time, which itself contains the three spatial dimensions
24
Q
God’s foreknowledge
A
- following necessity
- preceding necessity
- every time is equally real to God
25
Anselm - time
- every moment is equally real and equally present to God, all time and places are in God equal
26
Boethius - view
- God is IN eternity
- past and future do not exist
- eternity is an aspect of time
- God knows all time and places as though they were present to him
- he sees events as a result of choices (simple, conditional)
- God is transcendent
27
Anselm - view
- God IS eternity
- eternity acts separate that contains all present equally, it is a non-temporal concept
- God knows because all times and places are IN hime
- he is alongside us when we make decisions
- he is immanent
28
Strengths - Anselm
- description of time depends on perspective (i am here, you are there)
- protects free will, knows are choices as a following necessity
- his knowledge follows the moment of choice, God is omniscient so there is nothing he doesn’t know
29
Weaknesses Anselm
- time, hard to imagine God’s perspective so we can’t access this idea
- there cannot be a more significant moment for God as all moments are equally present
- Free will, he has already seen the choices that have been made
- not gone further than Boethius
- our perspective God knows what is coming next, eternally present
- immanent so can’t change anything
30
Swinburne response to Anselm
- God is inside of time
- God can’t know the future so solving the problem of free will as you can’t know the future
- incarnation, interaction, immanence are no longer a problem
31
Aquinas solution to omnibenevolence
- God’s nature is goodness
- God can only command out of his nature
- God will only command what is good
- God and morally good are different concepts but they contain the same meaing
32
Euthyphro Dilemma
An action is good because
- God commands it
- Does God comma it because it is good
33
God’s goodness
- Love
- Justice
- sheep and the goats
- covenant
- rewarding
- creator and sustainer
34
Problems with benevolence and evil and suffering and scholars
- logical problem of evil
- evidential problem of evil
- empiricism
- redefining
- human free will
- Hick, soul making
- Augustine, seminally presnt
- Boethius
- Anselm
35
Maurice Wiles
- to retain a belief that God is omnibenevolent and worth of worship then there is only one single act of God , creation
- God has chosen to limit his omnipotence to preserve freedom, prevents arbitrary, preserves omnibenevolence
36
Weaknesses of Wiles
- God has limited himself but if he was omnibenevolent and knows about predestination then he would want to not limit himself so that he doesn’t see people suffer
- left with the same problems
37
Problems with omnibenevolence - justice
- Boethius, God is outside of time so is in fair position to judge
- God can’t intervene so you have free will BUT not biblical
- why would God punish for what he can’t control
- not judged for actions in an unjust world
38
Problems with concept of hell - Hick
- Wiles, God made the creation but implies that God created the world and hell
- creating hell means that he must have know that moral evil exists and that there is punishment (pre destination)
- Hick, you are cleaned in hell so you can get to heaven, soul making doesn’t work
39
Problems with concept of heaven - Hick
- universal salvation, no free will as no choice on where you will end up
- who is worthy of heaven
- if we are all sinful then we are not worth
- Dostoevsky, return ticket
40
God can justly judge human actions
- Boethius, God is outside of time and sees our choices, free will is preserved, actions are chosen freely
- Anselm, God knows as a following necessity so it is free decisions so is a just judge
- Swinburne, God does not know our choices before they are made
41
God can’t justly judge human actions
- if God knows the future then actions are predetermined
- Euthyphro dilemma, God is not good or in charge of goodness so is not bale to judge
- God seems to be unjust as he does not stop the suffering
42
God is not limited by anything
- the bible is clear that God knows the future ‘all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to me’, he knows what our future holds
- Boethius, if God is timeless he mist know everything that is happening and will happen, simultaneously present
- God has no limits - he can do everything including the logically impossible and has foreknowledge
43
God is subject to limitations
- God created the world and chose to limit his power to allow free will
- divine self limitation was necessary in order to have free will
- Swinburne, the future cannot be knows because it has not happened yet. God is within time and he can only know the logically possible therefore can’t know the future (limited by time)
- God has power over all things rather than the power to do anything, God is subject to limits to avoid paradoxes, omnipotence problems and free will
44
God can do all things critisisms
- criticised as it is conflicting
- Aquinas, logically impossible actions are not actions/ ‘proper things’, misuse of language
- C.S.Lewis, adding the words ‘God can’ does not change the meaning, ‘a meaningless combination of words’
