CHAPTER 4: THE NATURE OF GOD

POCKET HANDBOOK OF CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS (2003) PETER KREEFT & RONALD TACELLI

Tuesday 22 November 2011

The proofs suggested in the previous section all are based on something familiar to us - e.g. the idea of morality. They then encourage us to ask real good questions about what is familiar such as how does the material world exist? The problem is that some of the answers are not to be found in our experience of this world, in what is familiar and nite so the problem then becomes that we are going to end up answering in ways and ideas that are unfamiliar to us.
Tuesday 22 November 2011

Language about God

If God is so mysterious how can language which refers to the world we know, adequately be used of him? The good thing is that God is the answer to these questions - He being the cause of such phenomena, and by meditating on the effects we see, we can then get some light about God from them, even if it is only a pinpoint of light at that.
Tuesday 22 November 2011

For example in physics some recurring effects are seen and what produces them are given names the cause is not directly observed but still what causes the effect is named and ascribed certain properties too. We cannot take this too far as things like gluons and muons are part of the physical world - God created it! God does not exist in physicality like the world we live in does - in fact it is the properties we observe that make us ask the questions about him.
Tuesday 22 November 2011

Gluons are elementary particles which act For example in physics some as the exchange particles (or gauge bosons) recurring effects are seen and what for thecolor force between quarks, analogous produces them are given names the cause exchange of photons in the to the is not directly observed but still what causes the effect is electromagnetic force between two charged named and ascribed certain particles. properties is an elementary particle similar too. The muon We cannot take this too far as to the electron, with a unitary negative electric things like gluons and muons are chargethe physical world - Godthe and a spin of . Together with part of electron, it! God does not exist in createdthe tau, and the three neutrinos, it is classied as lepton. As is the we live in physicalitya like the worldcase with other does - in fact itis not believed to have we leptons, the muon is the properties any observe that make us not thought to be sub-structure at all (i.e., is ask the questions about him. particles). composed of any simpler
Tuesday 22 November 2011

This is more than saying God is out there, or that God is always there (though those are true). God is the source of being for all things. For every creature there is a difference between their essence and their existence - a difference between the fact that things are and what they are. Limited things by their essence are existential zeros - they have a need for being that they cannot supply themselves.
Tuesday 22 November 2011

God exists Absolutely

This is more than saying God is out there, or that God is always there (though those are true). God is the source of being for all things. For every creature there is a difference between their essence and their existence - a difference between the fact that things are and what they are. Limited things by their essence are existential zeros - they have a need for being that they cannot supply themselves.
Tuesday 22 November 2011

If God is the answer to the need for being then he cannot suffer from the same need - thus there is no space between the fact that God is and what he does. He is not caused by some other being - in effect being belongs to him. God must be identical with the fulness of his being.

Tuesday 22 November 2011

God is infinite

Any nite being is limited and needs another condition or cause for its existence. God, therefore, cannot be nite or limited. God is innite, utterly limitless.

Tuesday 22 November 2011

God is one

If God is innite there cannot be many Gods - there can only be one. God exists without limit therefore there cannot be another outside of him - so God must be one

Tuesday 22 November 2011

God is spiritual

That is he is not a material being - being material means having a body, which in turn would be limited and subject to change .

Tuesday 22 November 2011

God is eternal
God is not subject to time - for he is the creator of all things that change, in fact all things that are subject to change question their own being God does not. The Incarnation shows this, God, in Christ, took on human nature (including choosing to be limited by time and space). - e.g. only if a bird ies in the air (and doesnt swim in the sea) can it then dive into the sea, that is enter into the sea. In the same way because God is not temporal he can enter into time.
Tuesday 22 November 2011

God is transcendent and imminent

God cannot be a part of the universe - if he were he would be limited by the other parts of it - as creator of all things he gives being to everything. God being other than his creation is what is meant by the transcendence of God. However at the same time God is present in all things - they cannot be set over and against him for then he would be limited by them. Note that this does not men God is everything (Pantheism) nor does it go towards deism where God is distant from creation, allowing it to run its own course.
Tuesday 22 November 2011

God is intelligent
God is the creator and sustainer of all things chemical elements, all physical beings etc. These all have intelligible structure and t into intelligible structures around them. Therefore all the intelligible structure is part of the work of intelligence, the work of the creator - who must in turn be intelligent.
Tuesday 22 November 2011

God is omniscient and omnipotent

There are no real barriers to Gods knowing or acting - after all he created everything and sustains it, so how can there be something he doesnt know, or doesnt have power over? Gods will cannot be thwarted unless God himself chooses to allow that, as in allowing humans to choose to sin. Even there it presupposes omnipotence and is not an argument against it. More could have been said - for example about Gods love - but that is not the intention here.
Tuesday 22 November 2011

Is God a HE?
Kreeft says that most Christians agree God is not a he as; 1. He does not have a physical body 2. Women are not essentially inferior to men. So, should we defend the use of the male pronoun for God? - are we allowed to change the names given in the Bible and used by Christ? Is the Bible to be interpreted culturally in this way? CS Lewis Christians believe that God himself has told us how to refer to him.
Tuesday 22 November 2011

Historical precedent defends the use of he - only Judaism of all the ancient religions only had God revealed as male - in the imagery man enters a women to make her pregnant, so God impregnates our souls with grace or supernatural life from without - a woman cannot impregnate herself, the universes cannot create itself and the soul cannot redeem itself.

Tuesday 22 November 2011

The three religions descending from Abraham all have this in common the transcendent God creating nature out of nothing and a refusal to call God a she - though the Bible has some verses referring to feminine attributes; - Isa 49:15, Isa 66:13, Isa 46:3 So a masculine pronoun protects us from the idea that nature is born from God as a woman rather than created, and, the grace of God against the idea that we might save ourselves both of these ideas have been inevitable and ubiquitous in religion
Tuesday 22 November 2011