The concept and nature of 'God'

Question 1

what are gods divine attributes

4

Answer 1

1. Omnipotence
2. omniscience
3. omnibenvolence
4. eternal OR everlasting

Question 2

what is omnipotence

Answer 2

having unlimited power

Question 4

what are the two definitions of ‘all powerful’

Answer 4

1. god can do anything
2. god can do anything logically possibly

Question 5

what is omniscience

Answer 5

all knowing

Question 6

what is omnibenevolence

Answer 6

all loving

Question 7

definition of everlasting

Answer 7

god exists within time.
this is to say he was there at the beginning of time and will continue to exist forever

Question 8

definition of eternal

Answer 8

god exists out of time
* if God exists outside of time, then He has no beginning or end as these concepts only make sense within time
* So, whereas humans experience time in succession, i.e. one moment at a time, an eternal being experiences all moments simultaneously.

Question 9

what are the THREE probs facing gods attributes

Answer 9

1. problem of the stone
2. euthypro dilemma
3. free will v.s omniscience

Question 10

what is the problem of the stone challenging

Answer 10

gods omnipotence

Question 11

what is the problem of the stone

Answer 11

If God is omnipotent (all powerful), can God create a stone so heavy He can’t lift it?

1. If He can’t then he’s not powerful enough to create this stone
2. But if He can then he’s not powerful enough to lift the stone
3. Either way, there is something God cannot do – which means He’s not omnipotent.

Question 12

response to prob of the stone

Answer 12

1. gods ability to make/lift stones has no effect on his omnipotence
2. George Mavrodes - argues that ‘a stone an omnipotent being can’t lift’ is not a possible thing – it’s a contradiction. And, as discussed in omnipotence, it’s not necessarily a limitation on God’s power to say He can’t do what’s logically impossible.

Question 13

what does the euthypro dilemma challenge

Answer 13

omnipotence AND omnibenevolence

Question 14

euthypro dilemma pt.1

omnipotence

Answer 14

• Is torturing babies wrong because God says it’s wrong?
• Or, does God say ‘don’t torture babies’ because it is wrong?
  If the second option is the case – in other words morality is independent of God – then it’s a challenge to God’s omnipotence. The reason for this is that God’s power would be limited by morality. God is not powerful enough to make ‘torturing babies is good’ true, for example.

whether morality is created by, or independent of, God.

Question 15

euthypro dilemma pt.2

omnibenolence

Answer 15

if option 1(torturing bbaies is wrong because god says its wrong) is true then god can ay ‘torturing babies is good’, or whatever He wanted, and it would be true. What reason is there for choosing the rule ‘torturing babies is wrong’ over the rule ‘torturing babies is good’? The answer, surely, is nothing and so good and bad are arbitrary. But if goodness is arbitrary, it’s hard to make sense of the claim ‘God is good’ or why anyone would praise God for being good. This presents a challenge to God’s omnibenevolence.

Question 16

how does euthypro dilemma propose a threat to the concpet of god

Answer 16

It seems that whichever option we choose – God creates morality or God follows morality – means rejecting a key concept of God (either omnipotence or omnibenevolence).

Question 17

poss response to euthypro dilemma

Answer 17

argue that God chooses the rules of morality based on His other attributes, such as love. For example, God could have chosen to make ‘torturing babies is good’ true. However, God loves humanity and doesn’t like to see us suffer and so for this reason God chose to make ‘torturing babies is bad’ true instead. This would mean goodness and badness are not arbitrary whims but are instead grounded in some justification (God’s love).

Question 18

what is ‘omniscience v.s free will’

Answer 18

• as an omniscient being, God knows everything.
• If God knows everything, then He must know what I’m going to do before I do it
• If God already knows that I’m going to make a choice before I do it, then it must be true that I do
• If it’s true that I make the choice, then it can’t be false that make that choice
• In other words, I don’t have a choice. And if I don’t have a choice to either make or not make that choice, then I don’t have free will.
  SO EITHER,
• God is omniscient but we don’t have free will
  * We have free will but God is not omniscient

Question 19

response(s) to ‘omniscience v.s free will’

Answer 19

1. God’s omniscience should be understood as the claim that God knows everything it is possible to know. The whole point of free will is that it makes it impossible to know the future (that’s what ‘free will’ means). So, God is is still omniscient in the sense He knows everything that is possible to know.
2. Alternatively, we could respond that as an eternal being God exists outside of time and so is observing (and thus knows) our freely chosen actions of the future