G-ds Nature
- Created by: Ellen Hannah
- Created on: 04-06-14 14:39
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- Nature of G-d
- G-d as OMNIPOTENT
- Descartes
- God created all things, including logic + can change logic to fit his actions thus He can do things we regard as logically impossible, by changing logic.
- Human minds cannot comprehend the omnipotence of God, so cannot understand what limits him
- Anslem
- Aquinas
- He = omnipotent in relation to creating and maintaining the Earth. This was a single timeless action. (Note: adopted from Aristotle.) Beyond this he is wholly simple, and cannot act.
- God = non-physical being, he is incorporeal \ cannot swimming (answers can he create a rock so heavy he can’t lift it e.g. he can’t lift is as not physical)
- Also God is perfectly good, so cannot commit evil.
- He cannot do ‘pseudo-tasks’ e.g. create a square circle
- Vardy
- God = much more limited than Christians believe
- God = self-limiting, as if he were to act in the Universe is would throw the Universe out of balance.
- God created the Universe in balance, to exist on its own
- Macquarrie
- The Power of God is different to our own, so we can only talk of it using analogy
- Aspects of God nature will always remain unknown
- God is not limited by logic/physicality/time, as they are human concepts
- by his love of Humanity (which he imposed himself)
- Descartes
- G-d as OMNISCIENCE
- Schleiermacher
- God’s knowledge of our actions similar to knowledge of a friend, but more accurate + His omniscience = eternal
- Swinburne
- God = everlasting thus he knows us so well he can predict our actions
- Augustine
- God is outside of time therefore sees all of time at once - has no concept of past/future
- Boethius
- If God knows all our actions and is always right he can’t judge us God knows but doesn’t cause
- Schleiermacher
- G-d as EVERLASTING
- Moltmann
- If God is timeless, he cannot change thus cannot love, as relationships require change
- Swinburne
- God interacts with people in the Bible “I have heard your prayers and seen your tears.” Isaiah 38:5
- However Augustine disagrees, “God is not a man…that he may change his mind.” Numbers 23:19
- Note: If God is impassable and timeless, how can he answer prayers and
cause miracles?
- Untitled
- Moltmann
- G-d as TIMELESS
- Augustine
- Uses the Bible to support God as timeless (against Swinburne)
- If God moves through time, what did he do before he created the earth?
- God transcends the idea of ‘before’ and ‘after’
- Aquinas
- God is not affected by space either. He is immutable.
- Time is an aspect of the created world thus God is not affected by time
- Boethius
- God cannot be everlasting and omniscient at the same time, as he would have to wait to see the outcome
- better to think of God as sitting on top of a mountain, watching an entire road, rather that travelling along the road.
- Schleiermacher
- wholly simple and timeless
- Universe must have always existed, because cannot have acted to create it
- Augustine
- G-d as OMNIPOTENT
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