(September 17, 2019 at 6:50 pm)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote:(September 17, 2019 at 5:42 pm)Belaqua Wrote: Aquinas argued that God cannot do wrong, cannot do evil.
If you want to present an argument as to why his reasoning is fallacious you are certainly welcome to.
I'll have a lash.
In order for God to be God, there must be nothing he cannot know (Plantinga, Aquinas).
God's knowledge is not discursive - that is, God does not deduce conclusions from premises. God knows all things at all times (Aquinas, Kretzmann).
An evil act is a 'thing' (Hume)
In order for God to have complete knowledge, God must have knowledge of the experience of God committing an evil act and must have always had this knowledge (Molina).
It is not enough for God to have the knowledge of what evil entails (see above), as that would not give him knowledge of the personal experience of evil (Molina).
In order for God to be God, God must have committed at least one evil act (Boru).
Boru
That seems like a reasonable argument. I'm going to argue back based on two points:
1) That God has no knowledge in the way that people have knowledge. Because God is entirely simple and undivided, there can't be two things, i.e. God (the knower) and evil (the thing that is known).
2) God, as impassible, eternal, and ideal, takes no action. Therefore, he can't have "committed" any acts at all -- good or evil.
I realize this is too simple as stands, but it's time for me to go out for the day. I'll come back to it this evening.
