RE: The Nature of God

Question 1

How does Descartes describe God’s omnipotence?

Answer 1

• God can do anything
• he has the power to do even things which are logically impossible. this is because he’s the creator of the laws of logic, mathematics etc.
• he created the universe and so he can manipulate it, he made the rules so he can change them.

Question 2

How does Swinburne describe God’s omnipotence?

Answer 2

• God can do anything as long as it’s logically possible, he can’t do nonsense.
• God cannot sin as it’s an imperfection and God is perfect.
• Descartes’ idea is too difficult to comprehend. he said that ‘some things cannot be done rather than God cannot do them’.

Question 3

How did Aquinas describe God’s omnipotence?

Answer 3

• god can only do the logically possible.

- he can’t make a rock too heavy to lift as it contradicts his omnipotence.

Question 4

What did Peter Vardy say about self-imposed limitation?

Answer 4

• God created the universe in a way in which his ability to act is limited.
• the universe is perfectly created for free, rational humans. if God acted differently, the universe would not be how it is now.
• God wants us to have true freedom and to not be influenced by him. we should have a loving relationship with God, and not be forced to like him.

Question 5

What did John Hick say about self-imposed limitation?

Answer 5

VALE OF SOUL MAKING

• evil in the world allows our souls to develop so we can be in the likeness of God.
• god deliberately distances himself from us, this distance is known as the epistemic distance.
• we have free will so we can make good or bad decisions.

Question 6

What was Aquinas’ counter argument towards Anselm over self-imposed limitation?

Answer 6

God doesn’t transfer his power to objects within the world. They have power within themselves but God must be connected to them in order for them to function.

Question 7

Which scholars believe that God’s knowledge is unlimited? (3)

Answer 7

• Boethius
• Aquinas
• anselm

Question 8

What are the 2 main reasons why the three scholars believe that God’s omniscience is unlimited?

Answer 8

1) God is a perfect and immutable being - this means that he’s without fault. He must have unlimited knowledge or he’d be constantly learning new things and is imperfect.
2) he’s a timeless/transcendent being - he exists above and beyond our known universe thus having the ability to view all of time.

Question 9

Which scholars reject the idea that God has unlimited omniscience?

Answer 9

• Swinburne

- Wolterstorff

Question 10

What are the 2 main reasons why the two scholars believe that God has limited omniscience?

Answer 10

1) God cannot see the future as it hasn’t happened yet. You can’t have knowledge of a non-event.
2) God exists within time and witnesses events chronologically - as we see them.

Question 11

What does Swinburne say about God’s omni-benevolence?

Answer 11

• God has provided humans with clear guidance on how to behave. We have natural law, the bible and Jesus (situation ethics)
• God is fair in his judgement and punishment as he’s given us free will. If we misuse free will and use it for the wrong things, he is fair in his punishment.
• he can be viewed as a just parent as he corrects out bad actions. if we learn from our mistakes, punishment can be the most loving action.

Question 12

What did Boethius say about God’s omni-benevolence?

Answer 12

• God knows all things before they happen. he can see all past, present and future events simultaneously.
• he’s just in his judgement as he doesn’t influence our choices. he’s not forcing us to act in a particular way, he just knows what we’ll do before we do it. he’s not predestining us.
• he watches over us and doesn’t interfere with our free will.

Question 13

What does Kirkegaard say about the nature of God?

Answer 13

• he believes it isn’t necessary to resolve apparent conflicts between the divine attributes.
• He simply accepts that God is beyond human understanding.

Question 14

What are the characteristics of a ‘simple’ God?

Answer 14

• God is God (perfect, can’t be broken down and explained in parts).
• Immutable (unchanging)
• immaterial

Question 15

What’s the difference between divine eternity and divine action in time?

Answer 15

• divine eternity: God exists outside of time

- divine action in time: time passes for God

Question 16

What did Anselm say in favour of god’s divine eternity.

Answer 16

• god must be timeless as he’s the greatest conceivable being and is simple.
• if God was to exist within time, he wouldn’t be the greatest conceivable being.
• God sees the universe as a block universe, can see past, present and future at one time.

Question 17

What did Boethius say to support the idea that God sees all events at once?

Answer 17

‘God ponders all things as if they were enacted in the present’.

Question 18

In summary, how does Boethius view god?

Answer 18

• changeless
• doesn’t exist in time
• eternal
• all of time is simultaneously present to him
• sees all of time in one ‘glance’.
• transcendent being.

Question 19

What did Swinburne say to in favour of God existing within time?

Answer 19

he’s ‘reactive and responsive’ to human actions.

Question 20

What did Wolterstorff say in favour of God existing within time?

Answer 20

-‘it’s not because he’s outside of time that we worship and obey God. it’s because of what he brings about within time’.

Question 21

How did Karl Barth use evidence from the Bible to support God existing within time?

Answer 21

the belief in Jesus as the son of God is a case of God acting intentionally and decisively in human history.

Question 22

What did Boethius say about the effect of God’s unlimited omniscience on our free will?

Answer 22

argued against the idea that the future is fixed as God infalliably knows it.

• god’s knowledge is different to ours. what we see as tomorrow is actually the present to God.
• witnessing a free action and therefore knowing it doesn’t require that the action is fixed.

Question 23

summarise Swinburne and Wolterstorff’s views on unlimited omniscience

Answer 23

• for Swinburne, the concept makes no sense.
• they both agree that the Bible suggests that God acts within time and is ‘reactive and responsive’ to human actions.
• it’s god’s reaction to human actions that means that we must have free will.

Question 24

What are Swinburne’s views on omnibenevolence and divine judgement?

Answer 24

• we have free will so we can choose between good and bad actions.
• if we misuse our free will, God us just in punishing us.
• like any good parent, he corrects our bad actions. it’s the most loving action to punish in order for us to learn from our mistakes.

Question 25

What are Boethius’ views on omnibenevolence and divine judgement?

Answer 25

• God knows all past, present and future events simultaneously. he knows the choices that a person with free will is going to make.
• This doesn’t interfere with free will.
• Therefore, he’s just in his judgement as he doesn’t influence or control human actions.

Question 26

What did Anselm say about divine eternity and human freedom?

Answer 26

• god does not know today what you will choose to do tomorrow.
• divine foreknowledge is no threat to human freedom as god sees time in a different, timeless way.
• he sees time as a 4-dimensional ‘block universe’ with all times being equally real.
• our future is God’s present.

Question 27

what did Boethius say about divine eternity and human freedom?

Answer 27

• there must be free will as no rational nature would exist without it.
• the more rational a person is, the more likely they are to pursue God.
• similar to Boethius, God knows the world in a different way to how we know it.

Question 28

What was Swinburne’s argument that god cannot foreknow future free actions?

Answer 28

• if an action is free, then it cannot be necessary.
• with a free action, it has the potential or opportunity to be something else.
• if god can work out what I do tomorrow, my actions would be necessary in order for that to happen. these actions will not be free.
• God limits his omniscience by making free creatures. he makes unpredictable beings who are ‘outside’ the normal laws of nature in some way.

Question 29

What are the advantages and disadvantages of Boethius’ solution to the problem of foreknowledge, free will and omniscience?

Answer 29

ADVANTAGES:

• God is present in all of history and sees everything at once.
• no past moment is lost to God.
• God can know future actions by being present to them, in keeping with omniscience.

DISADVANTAGES:

• a timeless God is hard to comprehend.
• how can a god outside of time interact within the world as seen in the Bible?
• seeing all of history at once doesn’t make sense.

Question 30

What are the advantages and disadvantages of Anselm’s solution to the problem of foreknowledge, free will and omniscience?

Answer 30

ADVANTAGES:

• God is present in all of history and sees everything at once.
• no past moment is lost to God.
• God can know future actions by being present to them, in keeping with omniscience.
• 4-dimensionalism fits with the modern physics idea that all of time is a 4-dimensional block called space-time.

DISADVANTAGES:

• a timeless God is hard to comprehend.
• how can a god outside of time interact within the world as seen in the Bible?
• seeing all of history at once doesn’t make sense.

Question 31

What are the advantages and disadvantages of Swinburne’s solution to the problem of foreknowledge, free will and omniscience?

Answer 31

ADVANTAGES:

• a god that exists within time seems a lot closer and less distant than a timeless God.
• a biblical God acts within time (adam and eve).
• it’s easier to see how we can have free will if God cannot infallibly know our future actions as he limits his omniscience.

DISADVANTAGES:

• may make God not worthy of worship as we have something in common.
• the fact that he can’t know future actions condemns him to ignorance, he doesn’t seem truly omniscient.
• creation has a lot of risks if God doesn’t know what we’re going to do.