Concept of God

Question 1

Simple definition of omnipotence

Answer 1

Can do anything logically possible

Question 2

Paradox of the stone premises + conclusion

Answer 2

P1- God is omnipotent
P2- God either can or cannot create a stone so heavy he cannot lift it, so there is at least one thing God cannot do
P3- If God can create the stone then he cannot lift it, so there is at least one thing God cannot do
P4- If God cannot create the stone then there is at least one thing God cannot do
C- Therefore if there is at least one thing God cannot do, God is not omnipotent

Question 3

Simple response to the paradox of the stone

Answer 3

• The reason he cannot create these paradoxes is not a limitation of power but rather there is no such thing as the capacity to create these things

Question 4

Further reply to the paradox of the stone

Answer 4

A further idea is to look at the grammar of the paradox. Keene said the arguments grammatical structure is the cause of the problem. It only appears that God is not omnipotent because of the way we phrase the answer:’ God cannot create a stone that he cannot lift.’ If we phrase it differently to ‘God can lift any stone that he can create’ then it is fine.

Question 5

Definition of omniscience

Answer 5

God knows everything

Question 6

Objection 1 to omniscience

Answer 6

A being which knows all propositions surely knows all false propositions, but this is impossible as you cannot know a false proposition so we must say that an all knowing being knows all true propositions (we seem to be limited again by logical possibility as with omnipotence)

Question 7

Objection 2 to omniscience

Answer 7

Among the many true propositions about the world, many of them are known empirically by the senses . However God does not posses these faculties as he is not embodied in the way we are , so how can he know these things

Question 8

Objection 3 to omniscience

Answer 8

The problem of free will
P1: If God is omniscient he knows all future human actions
P2: If God knows anything in advance it will necessarily happen
P3: If a human action will necessarily happen it is not a free action
C: Either God is not omniscient, or humans are not free

Question 9

How does Aquila’s respond to the problem of free will

Answer 9

He suggests God cannot have foreknowledge of anything as he does not exist within time- he is eternal. If God is eternal he does not see events in the past, present or future as he is outside the passage of time.

Question 10

What is a simple way of responding to the issue of free will

Answer 10

-Bite the bullet and accept that either we don’t have free will ( however Christianity emphasises human freedom e.g judgement day)

Question 11

Definition of omnibenevolence

Answer 11

Gods supreme goodness

Question 12

The Euthyphro Dilemma

Answer 12

• Is something morally good because God commands it, or does God command it because it is morally good?
• Both answers generate a problem for the view of God as supremely good
• If something is morally right because God commands it. This suggests God could command all sorts of intuitively deep immoral things to be morally right if he wished.

Question 13

Omniscience and free human being Objection 1

Answer 13

• a being which knows all propositions surely knows all false propositions, but this is impossible as you cannot know a false proposition so we must say that an all knowing being knows all true propositions.

Question 14

Omniscience and free human being Objection 2

Answer 14

-The many true propositions about the world, many of them are known empirically by the senses. I can know that the room is white or the music is loud because I have senses of sight and hearing, but God does not posses these faculties as he is not embodied in the way we are, so how can we know these things?
- Kenny suggests that God can know these things but not as we do.
-God does not have sense experience of these things but he has intellectual knowledge of them.
- So God has appropriate information but this is not tied to any pleasurable sensation for him.

Question 15

Omniscience and free human being Objection 3

Answer 15

P1: If God is omniscient he knows all future human actions
P2: If God knows anything in advance it will necessarily happen
P3: If a human action will necessarily happen it is not a free action
C: Either God is not omniscient, or humans are not free

Question 16

God as eternal

Answer 16

• Biblical references suggesting he exists outside of time
• ‘The one who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy’- Isaiah 57:15
• If God existed within time then there would be something that he had not created .
• God would not be omnipotent and the creator of all things as he himself was subject to time
• The issue is that if God exists outside of time and knows everything then perhaps our actions are not free if God knows what we will do in the future
• Imagine a person sitting on a hill watching people travel on a road beneath them. From the point of view of the people on the road there are people in front and people behind, but the view of the people on the road there are people in front and people behind, but the view of the person way up on the hill everyone on the road can be seen at the same time. The same applies to God’s view of all events in time.

Question 17

God as everlasting

Answer 17

• God exists within and throughout all time without beginning or end
• The idea of God existing outside of time does not seem to fit with the belief that he acts on the world, for example through miracles
• These things happen at specific points in time suggesting God must participate in time
• This allows for a more personal relationship with humanity and love for them and the world
• However, if God exists in time then this suggests he does not know the future and hence is not omniscient.