Nature of God (A2 OCR)

Question 1

Does Descartes argue that because of God’s omnipotence, he can literally do anything?

Answer 1

Descartes believes that God can do anything even if it appears to be contradictory or logically impossible, not only is he the creator of the world but he is also the creator of the laws of logic and mathematics- he could change the fundamental laws of physics

Question 2

Does Swinburne argue that because of God’s omnipotence, he can literally do anything?

Answer 2

Swinburne argued that Descartes concept of God and his divine power is too crazy to be taken seriously. He says that God cannot make a round square because this is a nonsense task, so according to him, God not being able to do nonsense is no limit for God since there is no true task in making a round square.

Question 3

What does Aquinas argue about God and his ability to sin? (three steps)

Answer 3

1) God is perfect and therefore can’t make a mistake
2) A sin is a mistake (in morality)
3) Therefore, God cannot sin

Question 4

what is meant by kenosis?

Answer 4

This is the claim that God, by becoming Jesus, had to humble himself or become less that omnipotent by taking on the form of flesh

Question 5

What does Charles Hartshorne say about God and self imposed limitation?

Answer 5

God is limited because he creates things that have their own powers (a tree). By his reason, creation means that God creates other centres of power, but these centres of power are not God.

Question 6

Psalm 139: 1-4

Jerimiah 1:5

Answer 6

1) O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and rise up; you understand my thought from afar.

2) Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.

Question 7

Unlimited omniscience

Answer 7

This refers to Gods unlimited knowledge including all history past present and future. God is outside of time and has knowledge of the whole time from beginning and end. Fits with the idea that God is eternal and timeless and exists outside of all time and place

Question 8

limited omniscience

Answer 8

This refers to God being limited to what it is logically possible to know or what God chooses to limit since he allows human free will by choice. This means that God’s knowledge will change over time fitting in with the view that God is everlasting which means hat God has always existed but time still passes for Him.

Question 9

What is Boethius’ belief about God being eternal?

Answer 9

Boethius argued that God is changeless and does not exist in time (eternal). It shows that God’s life does not involve change and it does not involve experiencing life as life is a series of events one following another.

Question 10

What does Boethius say the problem of God having unlimited omniscience is?

Answer 10

“human thoughts and actions have no freedom, because the divine mind in foreseeing all things without being led astray by falseness binds human thought and actions to a single manner of occurrence”

Question 11

What does Boethius argue God’s relationship with time is like?

Answer 11

He argues that God is the kind of being that knows all of time, the idea of yesterday fading away does not exist as it is still present to Him. To God all as if it were present in His complete and perfect possession of the whole of time (time)

Question 12

What is Boethius’ answer to the problem of divine foreknowledge in a nutshell?

Answer 12

1) It appears that if God infallibly knows yesterday and what you will do tomorrow, then tomorrow’s actions must be fixed.
2) He cannot infallibly know what will PROBABLY happen, therefore the future must be fixed for God to know it.
3)This means that there is no free will as everything is fixed
4)Boethius’ solution is to argue that God’s knowledge is not the same as our knowledge
5) Therefore, God witnessing a free action in His present and knowing it with certainty does not require the action to be fixed.

Question 13

What does Swinburne say about God being everlasting?

Answer 13

He supports the idea that God is everlasting and argues that Boethius’ idea of all events occurring simultaneously to God cannot be made sense of.
Secondly, he suggests that belief in an everlasting God fits more satisfactorily with God as revealed in the bible.

Question 14

Isaiah 40:28

Answer 14

The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.

Question 15

What does God as everlasting mean? And who supports this idea

Answer 15

It is a statement that God exists without end at all point in time, but it does not mean that God exists timelessly like Boethius argues.
Supported by Richard Swinburne and Nicholas Wolterstorff

Question 16

What is Swinburne and Wolterstorff’s answer to the problem of divine foreknowledge in a nutshell?

Answer 16

1) they both reject Boethius’ idea that God is timeless and views all of time and its events simultaneously.
2)Swinburne argued that this concept makes no sense
3) They argue that the Bible implies that God exists within time and responds to the actions of humans
4)It is God’s reaction to human action that shows they must have free will.