The Nature Of God

Question 1

Quote from Matthew 19:23 on Gods omnipotence.

Answer 1

“With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Question 2

What is the omnipotence paradox?

Answer 2

God is meant to be able to do anything, but there are things that contradict his omnipotence.
E.g. creating a stone that is too heavy for him to lift.

Question 3

What was Descartes view on omnipotence?

Answer 3

Argued God is capable of anything, even the logically impossible. God created logic so can suspend or replace it at will.

Question 4

Why did Descartes reject any other arguments for Gods omnipotence?

Answer 4

Because they put limits on God.

Question 5

What have Christian scholars responded to Descartes?

Answer 5

Scholars have argued that God can do anything, but ‘logical contradictions’ are not things, they are nonsense.

Question 6

Why could Descartes argument be said to curb Gods omnibenevolence?

Answer 6

If God can change the rules of logic, he can change what benevolence means. Any form of logic within morality can be manipulated- making it impossible to trust/have a relationship with God.

Question 7

What is Schleiermachers response to the problem of God’s omniscience?

Answer 7

Argued that God knows us so well he can predict what we will do, like a friend going to a restaurant with you and knowing what you will order before you ask.

Question 8

What is the flaw with Schleiermachers reasoning on God’s omniscience?

Answer 8

The example of a friend at the restaurant is different as they are merely making an accurate prediction, which isn’t the same as having absolute knowledge with no ability to be wrong.

Question 9

What are the consequences of us having no free will?

Answer 9

We can’t be held morally responsible for our actions and God cannot justifiably reward/punish us.

Question 10

Who was Boethius?

Answer 10

A 6th Century Christian Philosopher who attempted to solve the problem of free will and Gods omniscience.

Question 11

Quote from Boethius (+ Book)

Answer 11

“…men are driven to good or evil not by their own will, but by the fixed necessity of what will be.”

Question 12

What was Boethius’ solution?

Answer 12

He argued it makes no sense to talk about God seeing the future as he transcends time, and he sees time in a different way to us.

Question 13

What does Atemporal mean?

Answer 13

God is eternal and timeless

Question 14

What does sempiternal mean?

Answer 14

God is eternal and everlasting

Question 15

What does Presentism mean?

Answer 15

Only the present moment exists, the past is gone and the future hasn’t happened.

Question 16

What would a presentist argue on Gods omniscience?

Answer 16

God cannot know what will happen in the future as it doesn’t exist, so it is illogical to say he can see the future.

Question 17

What is Four-Dimensionalism?

Answer 17

The past, present and future all exist at the same time, and time is a fourth dimension God can move to.

Question 18

What did Anselm argue?

Answer 18

God sees past/present/future as a ‘simultaneous present’, as he exists outside of time, so he sees us making these decisions all simultaneously without influencing them.

Question 19

What did Richard Swinburne argue?

Answer 19

That God cannot be immutable, as someone has to be changeable in order to have relationships. God must exist within time so that he can respond to people and form a relationship with them.

Question 20

Quote from Swinburne (+ Book)

Answer 20

“If God had fixed intentions, for all of eternity, he would be a very lifeless thing”

-‘The Coherence of Theism’ (1977)

Question 21

Did Swinburne argue a God that exists within time is biblical?

Answer 21

He said no, as in the Bible God responds to the needs and interests of peoples.

Question 22

What biblical example does Swinburne give?

Answer 22

King Hezekiah- he pleads with God in his deathbed to let him live as he has been a devoted believer his whole life. God then adds 15 years to his life-this shows his ability to respond to people.

Question 23

Does it make more sense to think of God as existing within or outside time?

Answer 23

• If God lives within time, then does this limit God’s power?
• If God lives outside of the time, then he can’t form relationships with us