Religious Philosophy:The Paradox of the God of Classical Theism

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Religious Philosophy:

The Paradox of the God of Classical Theism

If you were to ask people at random ‘Where is God?’ some would point to the sky, where others would point to their chest, or you may get the reply ‘God is everywhere’ for Christians - all three of these responses hold truth.

The attributes of God include being omnipresent, tangible and infinite. Many people argue that these qualities contradict each other, making God completely incoherent.

One of the qualities of God is omnipotence, literally meaning ‘all power’. Therefore God has the power to do absolutely anything. The concept of omnipotence is inconsistent and could also raise questions such as ‘Can God invent problems that he himself cannot solve?’ Any answer to this question would suggest that God is not omnipotent.

Another one of God’s qualities is omni benevolence which literally means being ‘perfectly good’ or ‘all loving’. However; some could argue that this contradicts another quality of God, which is that God is personal. In other words, how can God be personal and special to one person while also being ‘all loving’?

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God being omniscient also creates the problem of taking away someone’s liberty; therefore with God being ‘all knowing’ some may feel that we lose our free will this way. This also means that God knows everything that has happened, and everything that will happen in the future; although God is known to be ‘all powerful’ it is still impossible to know everything that will happen in the future, as events in the future do not meet the criteria for ‘knowing something’ according to the Plata/Ayre definition of knowledge.

Two more of God’s attributes are ‘Infinite’ and being an ‘Uncreated ...

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