#Omnipotence and omnipresence paradox free#

The Euthyphro dilemma takes its name from Plato’s Euthyphro.īack then, it was directed against the many Gods of ancient Greece.

And, as discussed in omnipotence, it’s not necessarily a limitation on God’s power to say He can’t do what’s logically impossible. George Mavrodes replies to the problem of the stone by arguing that ‘a stone an omnipotent being can’t lift’ is not a possible thing – it’s a contradiction.

But if He can then he’s not powerful enough to lift the stoneĮither way, there is something God cannot do – which means he’s not omnipotent.

If He can’t then he’s not powerful enough to create this stone.

If God is omnipotent (all powerful), can He create a stone so heavy He can’t lift it? one moment at a time, an eternal being experiences all moments at once

Experiences all at once: Whereas humans experience time in succession, i.e.

Atemporal: An eternal being is atemporal, existing outside of time.

Limitless: An eternal being is without limit and cannot be limited and so has no beginning or end.

Life: An eternal being has life in a psychological sense (but not a physical or biological sense).

“the whole, simultaneous, and perfect possession of boundless life”īuilding on Boethius’ description, philosophers Eleonore Stump and Norman Kretzmann describe 4 features of an eternal being: The 6th century theologian Boethius described God’s eternal relationship with time as: If God exists outside of time, then He has no beginning or end as these concepts only make sense within time. The concept of an eternal God is more difficult to imagine. Human experience is of travelling round the circle, whereas an eternal being (centre) experiences all points on the circle simultaneously This is to say He was there at the beginning of time and will continue to exist forever. If God exists within time, then He is everlasting. There is disagreement among religious philosophers as to whether God is eternal or everlasting: God always does what’s morally good – He never does anything bad or evil. It’s best understood as the claim that God is perfectly good. Omnibenevolence literally translates as all loving. The claim is still that God knows everything it’s possible to know – but that it is not possible to know the future.

#Omnipotence and omnipresence paradox free#

He knows everything – or, at least, everything it is possible to know.įor example, it is argued that God doesn’t know what we humans are going to do in the future – because we have free will. This is to say God has perfect knowledge. Omniscience literally translates as all knowing. For more information, see the problem of the stone. However, it is argued that the concept of omnipotence is itself contradictory. For something to be logically impossible is for it to contain a contradiction.

Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) argued that this isn’t a real limitation on God’s power. Omnipotence is thus best understood as the claim that God can do anything that’s logically possible. For example, God can’t make “triangles have 4 sides” true, because it is a logical contradiction. God is imagined to be perfectly powerful – it’s not possible for there to exist a being with more power than God.īut this doesn’t mean God can do literally anything. Omnipotence literally translates as all powerful. These characteristics can be described as the ‘divine attributes’.

God, as commonly understood, has a number of key characteristics. However, there are a number of arguments which claim that these characteristics are incoherent or logically inconsistent.Ī level philosophy looks at 3 problems with this concept of God. Typically, these religions agree that God has the following 4 divine attributes: The concept of God in A level philosophy is the concept of God as understood by the three main monotheistic religions – Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.