The Nature of God: God, eternity and free will Flashcards

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1
Q

How does time have significance to humans?

A
  • As humans we are governed by time, we always talk through past, present and future
  • We also talk about time leading to decay, this is an error in language we all make, e.g it is not time that rusts the iron bar
  • we live in a dimension of time
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2
Q

What is the issue of whether God is governed by time the same way humans are?

A
  • If God is timeless, how does this affect his relation with us?
  • Begs the question of whether we truly make our own decisions or possess free will
  • If we do not have free will, then does this still mean our relationship with God is genuine?
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3
Q

What is Boethius’ view of divine eternity?

A
  • He argues that God is timeless and eternal, he is outside of the time process and unaffected by it
  • He argues how our knowledge is not like God’s, ours is time-constrained but God has an understanding of eternal order
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4
Q

Quote Boethius on his belief of God’s Divine Eternity in time?

A

“complete possession of all at once illimitable life”
- Nothing in life has has possession of all illimitable life apart from God
- God experiences complete possession all at once and has an atemporal experience, whereas we have a temporal experience of life and the world

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5
Q

How does Polish Philosopher Tadeusz Kotarbiński argue against Boethius’ notion of divine eternity?

A
  • Treats time as the duration of objects, objects do not exist within time but their lastingness is what we refer to as time
  • No objects means there is nothing at all, not empty time and space
  • If time is the duration of objects, then this poses a problem as God is not an ‘object’ so how does he sit outside a time process that is contingent on objects
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6
Q

How does Einsteins Theory of General Relativity dispute Boethius’ notion of Gods divine eternity?

A
  • Asserts that time might not be the unchanging thing that our everyday experience might suggest
  • Our language treats time as a process, e.g wave erosion, but if the continuity of time is an illusion, our own understanding is flawed so does God sit outside of this?
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7
Q

How does Eleonare Stump and Norman Kretzmann argue against Boethius’ notion of divine eternity? (Quote)

A
  • Argued that we are temporal beings so we have a past, but because God is atemporal he does not, so can God then change the past?
  • “God cannot alter the past, but he can alter the course of the battle of Waterloo”
  • This creates the idea that God cannot alter the past, only what is present to him, so can he change something in the past that affects the present, considering that is the present to him?
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8
Q

What issue of divine ‘foreknowledge’ does Boethius attempt to answer?

A
  • If God is timeless then surely he knows what is going to happen and what we are going to
  • Then surely we should hold him partly responsible for the evil in the world
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9
Q

Quote Boethius on divine ‘foreknowledge’ and expand on his point?

A
  • “Providence sees… governed by necessity… humans see… they do not regard as being governed by necessity”
  • He argues God knows what will happen, precisely, but we cannot be surprised as obviously his knowledge is fixed and precise
  • However he makes the point that we do not have Gods experience, we experience choices at face value, e.g I can choose whether to write this essay or not, we experience the choice, God does not CAUSE he simply KNOWS
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10
Q

Quote Boethius on Gods foreknowledge and free will + expand on his point?

A
  • “Gods foreknowledge does not impose necessity on things”
  • Boethius points out there is a difference between knowing what someone will do and causing that to happen
  • E.g I know that it is my friends birthday next month, but it does not necessitate I will cause the birthday and the celebration, its just foreknowledge of the event
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11
Q

Outline the two types of necessity cited by Boethius and what one is God part of?

A
  • Simple Necessity, Something that has to be the case, e.g a mortal HAS to die
  • Conditioned Necessity, When the necessity follows from choice, e.g If I choose to walk, I cannot not being walking
  • God has Simple Necessity, everything he has foreknowledge of MUST be the case, whereas we have Conditioned Necessity, we experience choice to create a necessary condition
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12
Q

Quote Henry Sidgwick on support for Boethius’ notion of free will?

A
  • ” I have a distinct consciousness”
  • Sidgwick argues that our experience is one of choices, the fact that some choices are difficult is what makes the process so conscious
  • When I make a choice it is a conditioned necessity, a product of my choice
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13
Q

What is an issue with Boethius’ divine ‘foreknowledge’ and use D.Z. Phillips

A
  • Some argue that it minimises God’s qualities, the notion of timelessness preserves the greatness and power of God, but not his lovingness
  • D.Z. Phillips goes as far to say God is love, but Boethius’ conception makes it hard to put it this way
  • To what extent is God still loving when you allow someone to fall into great harm despite kiwis git will happen and by extension can prevent it
  • Why did God allow Hitler and Stalin to do what they did
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14
Q

What is St Anselm’s view of Divine Eternity?

A
  • In agreement with Boethius that God is timeless and eternal, as a consequence of his own omnipotence
  • He argues that God is a being ‘than which nothing greater can be conceived’ which as a result leads to God being considered impassible, not capable of being affected by that is outside himself, he is not contained by the same laws we are as a result of his omnipotence
  • God is simple and outside of time to preserve his supremacy, “all at once in several places or times”
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15
Q

How does Anselm differ from Boethius in his view on free will?

A
  • Usually free will is viewed as a choice, but Anselm believes it is in rectitude, doing the right thing
  • For Anselm we are free to do the right thing and part of an action being righteous is the fact that we had the choice to do the right thing and chose it
  • Doing the right thing without choosing it is not righteous whereas the choice to also do wrong and choosing right is far more righteous
  • Accordance with Augustine and his view on evil
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16
Q

Give a Quote that emphasise Anselm’s view of divine eternity and God being in the fourth dimension?

A
  • “in eternity a thing has no past or future”
  • For Anselm the concept of eternal present is not the same as ours which is contrasted with past and future
  • Eternity is a non-temporal concept, therefore God is in a fourth dimension
  • God knows the future as unchanged, but we see it as changeable through our choices
17
Q

Why does Anselm describe God as in the Fourth Dimension?

A
  • Anselm recognises the difficulty of encompassing the fourth dimensional eternity in the language we use
  • He understands the language such as ‘foreknowledge’ and ‘predestination’ involve the elements of time but are very different in their application to God
18
Q

What does Richard Swineburne believe about divine eternity? (Quote)

A
  • Swineburne rejects the notion of God being timeless as God being outside of time is unbiblical
  • “God does now this, now that; now destroys Jerusalem, now lets the exiles return home”
  • Swineburne is arguing that Christianity involves a God that is more immanency involved with it creation, not one that is outside the time process
19
Q

What other theologians support Swineburnes argument against a timeless God?

A
  • Paul Tillich has argued that a God outside of time process would be lifeless and believers speak of a ‘living God’
  • Karl Barth argues the incarnation of Christ as the son of God was an act of immanence
20
Q

How does Swineburne argue that a timeless God is logically inconsistent? (Quote)

A
  • He argues for God to be truly timeless he would have to be aware simultaneously of all the events that have happened at different times, as they happened
  • “How could God be aware… destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 587 BCE as it happens and of its destruction by the Romans in 70CE as it happens”
  • Argues that the two are times are not simultaneous with each other so to know them both as they happen is logically impossible
21
Q

Quote Swineburne on how humans themselves imply that God is not timeless

A
  • “pictured as being in continual interactions with humans”
  • Swineburne argues that humans say things about God that presuppose a time and his immanence with his creation
  • For example we talk about WHEN God punishes, WHEN he warns, forgives etc, suggesting his nature is immanent
22
Q

What two main pillars does Alvin Plantingas argument rest upon?

A
  • The radical nature of free will
  • The nature of Gods omnipotence
23
Q

What is Jean Paul Sartre’s version of the Free Will defence and how does Alvin Plantingas view differ from this?

A
  • Sartre agrees we are radically free but no reasons can be given for our choices
  • Plantinga however believed that free choice should not be confused with unpredictability, there are reasons for our actions but these reasons are not causes
24
Q

Quote Plantinga on the Free Will Defence?

A

“Free Will Defence is the idea of being free with respect to an action”

25
Q

Quote and explain Plantinga’s view on free will and moral goodness?

A

“To create creatures capable of moral good… must create creatures capable of moral evil”
- Argues that free choice allows us to do something that is morally significant
- It is only a genuine moral action if it is done freely, to be morally good is to freely choose the good and not have it forced upon you

26
Q

What does Plantinga believe about the nature of God’s omnipotence?

A
  • Agrees with Aquinas that God can only do what is logically possible, anything else is meaningless
  • Plantinga argues that God has created the best of all possible worlds, a world without evil for Plantinga is logically absurd
  • To eliminate moral evil would eliminate the greater good and leave a world that is ultimately no good
27
Q

What does William Hasker argue? (Quote)

A
  • “much better to take the bible at face value”
  • Agrees w Swineburne, the immanent involvement of God in the bible points to his temporal nature
  • He also agrees with the logical incoherence of timelessness, how would God provide us with the ultimate incarnation of Jesus?
28
Q

What is Stephen M Cahn’s view on Aquinas’ notion of omnipotence?

A
  • Argues that God doing what is logically possible is different for a timely and timeless God
  • “assuming God is omniscient, God knows the entire physical structure of the universe, but does not know the outcome of free choices”
  • Timely God knows everything in terms of physical, but does not know free choice
29
Q

What is the view of Ingolf Dalferth? (Quote)

A
  • Argued we need to think of God as perfectly loving, if love is the central truth about God, then the everlasting truth makes sense
  • “Gods love does not operate uniformly as it does in timeless creation. It adapts”
  • An omni-benevolent God is therefore hard to reconcile with one who is timeless