The nature and attributes of God

?
  • Created by: 11rsims
  • Created on: 28-05-18 15:20
What is omniscience?
It means all knowing. Omni (all), Scientia (Knowledge)
1 of 47
What are the bible passages which support omniscienc
“Thou knowest when i sit down and when i rise; thou discernest my thought from afar” (Ps 139:2) •“Even the hairs on your head are counted” (Mt 10:29)
2 of 47
what does Davies believe?
•God is wholly perfect and he needs knowledge to be this. The order in the world is the result of someone with knowledge. God is the creator of the universe and creating is an act of intelligence. Knowledge exists in the world so God ,must have it
3 of 47
what do we mean when we say God has all true propositions?
not a skills knowledge but a factual type of knowledge. He knows the truths of maths and logic, and knows empirical truths such as how the laws of nature operate or how many leaves is on a tree
4 of 47
what is the problem of foreknowledge?
•If God knows that i will have cornflakes tomorrow am i free to have toast instead? Because if i do have toast then Gods knowledge must be wrong. We assume that we are free but what if we are not?
5 of 47
what is a timeless God?
God created time and is outside it altogether. He experiences the world’s history all at once so for him there is no past, present or future. So God “You exist neither yesterday, today, nor tomorrow but you exist directly out of time”
6 of 47
what is the two different ways of presenting God's foreknowledge?
If God knows Y, then necessarily Y will happen (Gods knowledge causes events to happen), ◦If Y happens, then necessarily God knows Y (The happening of the event causes God to know them)
7 of 47
What points does he make in the consolation of philosophy?
he has a conversation between himself and lady philosophy. Lady philosophy states that we must have freedom of choice as rewards and punishments only make sense if there is moral freedom.
8 of 47
what does God have knowledge of?
knowledge of a never passing instant rather than foreknowledge, God is eternal so can timelessly survey past,present and the future without impinging on your free will. He knows the world in one single act
9 of 47
What did Anselm believe about what God sees?
to God all time is equally existant the terms past, present and future are just given to a person within time, he must be eternal as he is a being than which nothing greater can be concieved
10 of 47
What was the 4D theory?
Time is a dimension to God, God is present in all places at all times (4D theory), he is omniscient as he is all times and places and all places and times are within him.
11 of 47
Does god impose on our free will according to Anselm?
God sees us making a decision when we choose it but we are free as it is the actual choice which is the source of God’s knowledge.
12 of 47
What did Aquinas want to preserve?
wanted to preserve the simplicity of God as wholly independent from the universe and not reliant on it as the source of his knowledge. God’s knowledge is instant so does not require the passing of time. It's Gods knowledge that causes things to happe
13 of 47
What type of knowledge does God have?
“self-knowledge” as he knows what he creates as it originally existed in his mind he knows your natures so knows what we will choose to do out of your own desires, Your actions do not cause God to know, he already knows it.
14 of 47
What did Gerard Hughes believe?
•he thought Aquinas’ view leads to determinism and a lack of freedom, it is your free actions that cause God to know-This view however compromises God’s simplicity
15 of 47
what is the everlasting God?
he is temporal and travels through time like we do and experiences the past, present and future like we do. There was not a time when he did not exist or will not exist.
16 of 47
What is liberty of indifference according to David Hume?
the freedom to act according to independent choices not determined by external constraints (background, education), if we have genuine freedom then God cannot know future free actions of humans
17 of 47
what is liberty of spontineity according to Hume?
◦humans are free to do what they wish but what they wish is shaped by external constraints. God can know your past, present and future actions as they are determined by your nature
18 of 47
what does Swiburne believe?
•God knows everything that is logically possible for him to know; the past and present are known to the full extent but the future hasn’t happened yet so cannot be the object of knowledge
19 of 47
what does Peter Geech believe?
•sees God as a grand chestmaster, we are free to move around the board without external constraints but we would know with certainty we would lose, God does not know every future action but he does know his ultimate purpose will triumph
20 of 47
what does process theologians believe?
•God is everlasting and travels through time with us. He experiences events in a temporal sense and gains knowledge as time passes, he has to suffer with us and interact with us in time
21 of 47
What does Hartshorne believe?
God perfectly knows what is happening and what will happen it knows the past and present but he cannot know the future. He rejects complete divine knowledge of the future as the future is not yet determined so we cant have knowledge of it
22 of 47
what does Simon Pierre Laplace believe?
the universe is fully determined and the future is the inevitable result of conditions in the present. Everything is determined by previous events so human actions cannot be regarded as free.
23 of 47
what does laplace also believe?
Even though the future hasn’t happened god could be omniscient. The universe works on strict causal laws so God can know with certainty every single event
24 of 47
What is Molinas idea of Middle knowledge?
God knows how uncreated people would freely act if he created them. I can still choose how to act he would just know what choices i make it certain circumstances.
25 of 47
according to Molina do Humans have free will?
God chooses the order which will bring about the fulfillment of the overall scheme. Some free choices will bring about positive effects but some choices will be negative but he allows this to preserve human freedom
26 of 47
what is omnipotence?
Omnipotence means all powerful like when God created the world ex nihilo
27 of 47
what are bible passages that supprt God's omniscience?
“With man this is impossible, with God all things are possible” "For nothing is impossible with God"
28 of 47
Wht is the first definition of God's omnipotence?
God could defy the laws of logic as he created these laws so could abolish them. However is this type of God really worthy of worshipping If God could do the logically impossible then he could avoid the problem of evil
29 of 47
what is definition 2 of God's omnipotence?
God can do everything that is logically possible (for example a timeless God does not have a body so cannot swim)
30 of 47
what is defintion 3 of his omnipotence?
God can do anything that is absolutely possible for him to do without leading to a contradiction. For example God cannot create a square circle. Pseudo tasks are things that look like tasks but aren't.
31 of 47
what is the paradox of the stone?
can God create a stone he cannot lift? If he could not create this stone he is not omnipotent but if he can't lift it he isn't omnipotent either.
32 of 47
does the incarnation show God to be omnipotence?
•God was limited to space, time and human life so we can no longer argue for his omnipotence. However arguably this was just Christ as Man Christ as God cannot have a body, be subject to the flesh and cannot die
33 of 47
what did Descartes believe?
God can do absolutely nything including the logically impossible he is not subject to the laws of logic as he created them, he would be able to create a stone too heavy to lift then lift it
34 of 47
what did aquinas believe?
he cn do anything logically possible which is within his nature. Logically impossible tasks are not real tasks they just appear to be, God cannot act against his nature so cannot sin or do evil
35 of 47
what does Vardy believe?
God chose throughb an act of divine limitationto restrict his own powers to allow us to have genuine freedom
36 of 47
what did MacQuarrie believe?
Jesus is evidence of divine self limitation he became human through Kenosis so he would be able to relate to us
37 of 47
what did Hartshorne believe?
absolute omniptence makes no sensefor something to be powerful it must have resistance put up against it then defeat it, he desribes God's power as insurpassably great but puts him on the same level as us
38 of 47
can God do evil?
• If he is to be morally praiseworthy he should at least be capable of doing evil. But some theologians argue that God cannot do evil as this is fundamentally against his very nature
39 of 47
what is Euthyphros diallema?
is there a standard of goodness outside of God for which he must conform to? Or do good and evil owe their existence to the command of God?
40 of 47
what does the rich man and lazarus & parable of sheep and goats show?
shows that there is a direct correlation between your actions in this life and our reward in the next suggesting that humans are free to choose their own direction and that God commands fair treatment for all.
41 of 47
How is Gods love shown in the bible?
Hebrew (God is “abounding in love and faithfulness” Exodus, and the word hesed meaning covenant love and a commitment which cannot be broken is mentioned over 120 times in the Hebrew bible”) New testament-God so loved the world he gave his only Son
42 of 47
what do Christians think God's love requires?
•requires justice In the old testament Moses killed people who worshipped the golden calf. And in the new testament Jesus speaks 11 times of a hell like Gehenna which is a place of everlasting fire
43 of 47
what does Gods goodness demand?
•demands 2 things:a person has real freedom to choose to be wicked, people are treated fairly
44 of 47
what is an immutable God?
A God who canot change, •Timeless God fits with the idea of an immutable God because as Nelson Pike explained “In order to change, an object must exist at two moments of time”
45 of 47
Can a perfect God change?
•If God is perfect then he cannot change as a change for the better suggests he wasn’t originally perfect and a change for the worse means he is no longer perfect
46 of 47
what does swinburne say about an immutable God?
•An immutable God would be lifeless according to Swinburne as he cannot create, answer prayers or become human
47 of 47

Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

What are the bible passages which support omniscienc

Back

“Thou knowest when i sit down and when i rise; thou discernest my thought from afar” (Ps 139:2) •“Even the hairs on your head are counted” (Mt 10:29)

Card 3

Front

what does Davies believe?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

what do we mean when we say God has all true propositions?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

what is the problem of foreknowledge?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
View more cards

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar Religious Studies resources:

Ayer
See all Religious Studies resources »See all Philosophy resources »