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Nature and attributes of God (Omniscience (Abrahamic religions (humans hae…
Nature and attributes of God
Attributes of God
Hinduism belived that God could be in many forms
Muslims emphesise Allahs oneness
Nature of God in Christian beliefs developed from Greek ideas and the bible ie the first cause
anthropomorphised- made to seem like a human person ie God as Jesus
Theists belive God is - Omnipotent Omniscient omnibenevolent and eternal/ everlasting
Divine Power
omnipotence paradox
Can God create a stone that is too heavy for himself to lift?
Can God do the imppossible ie miricales as are in the Bible and the ressurection of Jesus , allowing Sarah to have a son
Amos- God has total power over nature
some argue that if God did not have supream power he would not be able to do what is necessary for human salvation
Anselm and Decartes agree that God is something wich nothing greater can be concieved
Understandings of Ominipotence
Decartes
he also belived that God is capable of evil but incapable due to his omnibenevolence however our minds are too small to comprehend that
Decartes belived that God could do anything , as he created logic he can break the rules of logic
This iew also makes God arbitray as he is self conflicting and is something humans cannot understand
If Decartes is correct then God is choosing to inflict Evil onto the world
Not supported by the Bible as it states that God cannot change his mind
Some argue that God can do everything but impossble things do not exist as they are illogical
Ireneus , Augustine and John Hick believed that God acts the only way he can so we can have free will - suffering is the price we pay for being free
Auquinas
God is omnipotent as he is in charge of the whole world
However He can do anything that is logically possible but therefore cannot do anything that is inconsistent with his nature
ie God is incorpreal therefore cannot swim
Swinburn
The coherence of theism in 1977
God can do all things but those that are contradictory are not things as they are illogical
God deliberatly limiting himself?
Vardy 'The puzzle of Evil' 1992
It is wrong to suggets that everything happens because of Gods will
God created the universe and limited himself inorder for existence
Macquarrie Principles of Christian Theorlogy 1966
limitations on Gods omnipotence are self imposed
Jesus
kenosis- self emptying
God emptied himslef of divine attributes to have human limitiations by choice
Gained popularity in 20th-21st century after the war
Rerligious Language issues?
Maquarrie
When speaking of the power of God people should not forget they are using analogy and Gods power is ery different from our own
Aquinas - there will always be aspects of Gods nature that are unknowable to us
The kinds of Power we know are falliable and our imaginations are limited
Whitehead and Hartshore
Better to think of God as a power than cannot be surpassed than a being with total power
total power - not impressie or understandable as nothing would be able to put up any resistance at all- not impressie to conquer no resistance
AO2 - Statan
Other things through free will can put up resistance to God
Omnipotence means oercoming resistance not that there isnt any resistance at all
God relationship with Time
Christians believed that God is eternal
Atemporal ( moves outside of time)
Augustine, Boethius, Anselm , Aquinas and Schleiermacher
Beieve God is not bound by space or time as he created them
God cannot be limited
However if God is outside of time he must be immutable ( unchanging) and perfect
However if he was bound by time God would not meet Anselms definition of a being which nothing greater can be conceived
How can God bring things about and change things if he cannot change himself
Some argue this is because God has a unique nature we cannot understand or compare things to
Augustine and aquinas
Augustine said if the world was made at a particular moment and god was outside of time what did he do before time and why didn’t he pick that moment
Augustine revues that the god in the bible chose to create day and night and then ends the ideas of before and after
Augustine beloved god is immutable and we need to recognise our language is analogical
Aquinas beloved a lot of our philosophical difficulty’s cane from the idea we are taking our own language too literally
Aquinas beloved that an unchanging being outside of time is capable of love and although God does not change his his creation does
Aquinas says God does not change his mind as he is perfectly good
Richard Creel Divine Impassibility 1986
God can be all loving and unchanging as he knows what his will is in response to an I finate number of possibility’s
Sempiternal (moves along the same timeline so the future is unknown)
Atemportal view limits our free will as god may already know what we are
going
to choose
If am atemporal god know someone terrible things are going to happen and doesn’t step in he is baf
Hartshore and Swinburne believe god acts within time
issues
If God is omniscient does he know of things that have not yet happened ?
If he can see all things he is partially to blame for evil
how can we be held responsible for stuff he knew would happen
no point in praying if God already has decided what will happen
god and time in relation to free will
Would it be fair to judge people if they had no real moral freedom
Boethius wrote the consolation philosophy while he was waiting to be executed
How can God know things if they’ve are uncertain
God can see things differently as humans exist I. Time they have a present
God does not exist in time and his knowledge transcends temporal changes
He looks down on our timeline as from a lofty peak
God does not know our decisions in advance as everything happens simultaneously for God
Anselms giew on the timeless God
Andelems view contrasts present isn’t the idea only the present moment exists
He takes a 4 dimensional view of time
He did not beloved he limits of the human imagination provided any evidence against the eternity of God
As God is eternal he isn’t unlimited by space or time he is in control
Andelm argued that god can see all the decisions we make not like boethius “ as though from a lofty prak” but due to his eternal timelessness
Swinburne view on a timeless God
If God is timeless and unchanging can he be said to have a life as a person with a life must be changeable
Can god have relationships or love as an unchangable person is not effected by anything
A view of a timeless God that cannot respond to love is in co flick with the bible as he reacts to the feelings and actions of men
Swinburne argues that the idea of a timeless God is actually permeated from Greek philosophers such ad Plato and Aristotle the promoted by aquinas
Swinburne argues in the bible god does not have a fixed purpose he interacts with people and has a relationship
King Hezekiah prayed to God not to end his life and was saved
Omniscience
God always knows the right thing to do , so if God does something it is the right action?
God has no fale beliefs and cannot be mistaken?
Does God know everyones decisions in advance - is there real freedom?
Abrahamic religions
humans hae responsibility for some of the cations they perform so they can be resposible
Islam - earth is a testing place and you are judged by God
It is possible for people to have a free will and for there to be an omniscient God
Schleiermacher
Like a close freind God can predict what we might do , does this knoledge restrict our choice?
However if God is infallible and never wrong then we must always chose what God has predicted
We could not be held morally responsible for our actions
If God knew , when we were created , the decisions we would make for the rest of time he is responsible for a lot of evil
Does he already know before we are born if we will end up in heaven or hell
If not then God can be suprised and his ability seems limited
Kant
freedom was an essential basis for morality
omnibenevolence and justice of God
Many believe it is Gods nature to love and that Gods love is not caused by something special but something that is made special by Gods love
Gods love has no cause
Hosea 8th C BC
Had to form a marriage that was a symbol of Gods love for Israel
He married Gomer a woman that was repeatedly unfaithful as Israel was unfaithful to God but Hosea still lived Gomer as God still loved Israel
In the OT god should be loved and obeyed and as a result people should live each other
Gods love is expressed through judgment snd forgivness
The prophet Amos told Israel that because of Gods love they would be singled out for punishments
Some holicuast theologian sounds Builth on this idea
In Johns letter he equated love with god he is the ideal love he counts love as the greatest of 3 things that last forever
SOME people believe that the existence of evil contradicts the idea of an all loving God ie Hume and Mill
aquinas beloved that when we speak of love we talk of our love and Gods love is not the same we cannot understand it
Christians believe that God does not leave us to suffer alone and he cane to earth in human form to suffer with us
Moltmann the crucified God 1973
Christianity shows God does morn sit outside of time being perfect and unchanging but he gets involved
THIS was influenced but Mioltmanns experience in WW2
Aquinas
Beloved by god cannot be understood by a finite human and is unknowable
We break God down into knowable attributes such as seeing a building from a number of sides but we do not understand the whole
Dawkins
Beloved that saying God isn’t just a mystery isn’t like Amy a and damagine a
Jackie beloved that it is a mirical people continue to support Christian beliefs given their incoherence
Boethius vs Anselm vs Swinburne
Boethius and Anselm believed god exists outside of time