RE: The Story
August 24, 2022 at 8:22 am
(This post was last modified: August 24, 2022 at 8:23 am by Belacqua.)
On the notion that if God knows everything it would make everything pre-determined:
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/omnis...maFreeActi
The problem here, as usual, is that people are imagining the Christian God to be like a big guy who acts more or less as people do. No doubt there are many Christians who think this way, and it is reasonable to argue against them.
For most theologians, however, the argument misses the point, and misunderstands what an omniscient God would be like.
For people, "knowing" requires two things: a knower, and a known thing. The two must be separate, as subject and object.
In classical theology, nothing exists independently of God, therefore it is impossible for him to know in the way that people do. Like many terms, "omniscience" applies differently to temporal limited beings than it does to God. In God's case, it means that everything knowable is contained within God. God is the source and ground of all knowable things, including abstractions like numbers.
Similarly, "omnipotence" doesn't mean, in God's case, that he can do everything. It means that all potencies are actualized by and aimed toward God.
But I have been told that for political reasons I am not supposed to talk about theology on this forum. The purpose here is to badmouth the Christians whose politics we dislike.
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/omnis...maFreeActi
The problem here, as usual, is that people are imagining the Christian God to be like a big guy who acts more or less as people do. No doubt there are many Christians who think this way, and it is reasonable to argue against them.
For most theologians, however, the argument misses the point, and misunderstands what an omniscient God would be like.
For people, "knowing" requires two things: a knower, and a known thing. The two must be separate, as subject and object.
In classical theology, nothing exists independently of God, therefore it is impossible for him to know in the way that people do. Like many terms, "omniscience" applies differently to temporal limited beings than it does to God. In God's case, it means that everything knowable is contained within God. God is the source and ground of all knowable things, including abstractions like numbers.
Similarly, "omnipotence" doesn't mean, in God's case, that he can do everything. It means that all potencies are actualized by and aimed toward God.
But I have been told that for political reasons I am not supposed to talk about theology on this forum. The purpose here is to badmouth the Christians whose politics we dislike.
