The idea of God

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  • Created by: Heather
  • Created on: 05-05-14 17:18

The idea of God

Divine Attributes

Omnipotent- All powerful

Omniscient- All Knowing 

Supreme Goodness- God loves us endlessly

Transcendent- Outside of the universe

Immanent- Inside of our universe

Eternal- Timeless, exists outside of time

Everlasting- God exists at each moment of past time, exists now and at each moment in the future.

Singular inchorent concepts:

- Omnipotence

- Supreme goodness 

Mutual inchorent concepts:

- Omniscience vs Transcendent/eternal

- Omnisicence vs Immanent/everlasting

- Omnipotence vs Immanent/everlasting

- Omnipotence vs Transcenent/everlasting

- God cannot know what is happening "now" there is no "now" for God (eternal and omniscient). Response: he knows all the information but it would make no sense to refer to it as "now". There is no "now" time is illusory can't be know about.

- God cannot influenc event in our word if he is outside of time and space (eternal and omnipotent). Response: God can step in and out of time.

- He cannot influence our world if he is out of our time. He cannot be going along ith us but also be timeless (everlasting and eternal).

- Cannot be both outside and inside ou universe (immanent and transcendent)

- God is in the bad things to and cannot be perfect (omniscienct and supremely good)

- Problem of evil (omnipontent and supremely good)

Paradox of the stone (problem with omnipotence)

1. Either God can create a stone which he cannot lift, or he cannot create a stone which he cannot lift

2. If God can create a stone which he cannot lift, then he is not omnipotent (since he cannot lift the stone in question)

3. Therefore God is not omnipotent (because the very notion of omnipotence itself entails a contradiction. 

A second example is the inability of God to change mathematical and geometrical truths. He cannot make "2+2=5" true and he cannot make a sqaure circle.

Omniscience

Indexicals are a problem with God being omniscient, as they are words/terms who's meaning chagnes depending on circumstances in which the word is said. For example:

- Now- no concept of time

- I- Cannot know what it is like to be that person

- Here- God is everywhere

- This- Cannot refer it

Response: Knows the same facts but expresses them in a different way. But he cannot know what it is like to be us (weak and ignorant).

Another problem with God being omniscient is that it prevents free will as God must know everything. Howeve since God cannot be wrong then there is no way that we can avoid an action that God already know is going to occur, therefore if he is omniscient then we do not have genuine free will.

Supreme Goodness

The Euthyphro Dilemma shows a problem with God being supremely good, as it poses the question, "Are morally good commands willed by God because they are morally good, or are morally good commands good because God commands them?."

If "God commands good commands because they

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