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God and eternity are important concepts in theology. God is eternally existent. How this is understood depends on which definition of eternity is used. God can exist in eternity or outside the human concept of time, but also inside of time.[ citation needed ]
In William Rowe's review of Nelson Pike's God and Timelessness the two common definitions of eternity are given. The first is timelessness, which could be described as a timeless existence where categories of past, present, and future just do not apply. The second definition is of God existing in all time dimensions such as past, present, and future. In this case, God would have already existed for an infinite amount of time and will continue to do so. Pike mainly wonders if God could be timeless and all knowing. He argues that if God knows all, then he will know what a person will do in the future and that will be the only thing they can do because that's what God knows will happen, so there's only one option. But, Rowe argues, if God is timeless then he would not know what that person is planning to do before they do it, so therefore he could not be all knowing if he is timeless but if he is all knowing he could not be timeless. Rowe mentions how Pike uses multiple arguments to disprove Anselm of Canterbury and another theologian of their own arguments about why God is eternal (Anselm was a theist who believed God was all knowing and eternal).
Stewart Sutherland also talks about similar perspectives regarding the definition of God's eternity. Sutherland agrees with Nelson's Pikes conclusion that the two common definitions of eternity are defined as timelessness which could be described as a timeless existence where categories of past, present, and future just do not apply. The second definition is of God existing in all time dimensions such as past, present, and future. However, it has been argued that if God is timeless then he cannot be omniscient, because there are many things which a timeless being cannot know. Therefore, God could not know what is happening now, what will happen tomorrow, or what happened yesterday. If this argument is true, it would seem to eliminate the idea of God's foreknowledge, and this will have the advantage that it avoids at least some of the difficulties of the compatibility of belief in God and belief that, in some sense at least, the future actions of human beings are free.
Another perspective is offered from Lawrence Lafleur in his article, "If God Were Eternal". Lafleur believes if God was eternal, he could not be within time at all, he would have to be outside of it. He follows up with the argument that if God is outside of time, he could not interact with us since he would need some sort of access to the present to have a relationship with us. Thus, argues Lafleur, God would have no religious significance to us if he was eternal because then he would not have any connection or hand in our fate. Another argument Lafleur uses is that if God is all knowing, praying and worship is pointless because God already knows because he has conceived the whole world and all of us. According to Lafleur, when we say eternal, what we really mean is everlasting. Only in this way could God be everything we think of him as, both everlasting and all knowing.
The Bible is less clear on which of the two senses is true. The first sense, and perhaps the one with the longest pedigree, is that God exists independently of time. On this view, it cannot be said that God has lived for a certain number of years or will live a certain number of years into the future. The second notion is to say that God is in time but everlasting. This is sometimes called sempiternity . Both conceptions agree that God's existence never ends. They disagree on whether God is in time or outside of it. [1]
John Feinberg, in his book No One Like Him argues for God's omnitemporality over his timelessness. Although agreeing with William Lane Craig that the biblical data are compatible with both views, Feinberg believes that it is easier to make sense of the notion of omnitemporality over atemporal eternity. Feinberg finds it difficult to believe that an omniscient, supremely rational being could know everything there is to know without being temporal. He also believes that the concept of fellowship is easier to understand on the omnitemporal model. Scripture also points to God as having fellowship with and interacting with human beings at various points in their lives, which seems difficult to understand unless there is a temporal sequence in God's thought life. Regardless, Feinberg affirms that both views are fully theologically orthodox, and that divine timelessness does have the advantage of not potentially slipping into the heretical notion of process theology. [2]
There are many ideas about the true definition of eternality, especially in different religions such as Judaism or Islam. D. P. Walker's research specifically focuses on the definition of eternity in the Christian doctrine. In his article “Eternity and the Afterlife”, he states that the Christian eternity combines two notions: non-successive experience and infinite duration. This Christian conception of eternity, formulated by Augustine of Hippo, Boethius, and Thomas Aquinas, is usually said to derive from Plato and the Neoplatonists.
A cosmological argument, in natural theology, is an argument which claims that the existence of God can be inferred from facts concerning causation, explanation, change, motion, contingency, dependency, or finitude with respect to the universe or some totality of objects. A cosmological argument can also sometimes be referred to as an argument from universal causation, an argument from first cause, the causal argument, or prime mover argument. Whichever term is employed, there are two basic variants of the argument, each with subtle yet important distinctions: in esse (essentiality), and in fieri (becoming).
Omniscience is the capacity to know everything. In Hinduism, Sikhism and the Abrahamic religions, this is an attribute of God. In Jainism, omniscience is an attribute that any individual can eventually attain. In Buddhism, there are differing beliefs about omniscience among different schools.
The problem of evil is the question of how to reconcile the existence of evil and suffering with an omnipotent, omnibenevolent, and omniscient God. There are currently differing definitions of these concepts. The best known presentation of the problem is attributed to the Greek philosopher Epicurus. It was popularized by David Hume.
In monotheistic theology, the doctrine of Divine Simplicity says that God is simple.
Pascal's wager is a philosophical argument advanced by Blaise Pascal (1623–1662), seventeenth-century French mathematician, philosopher, physicist, and theologian. This argument posits that individuals essentially engage in a life-defining gamble regarding the belief in the existence of God.
Eternity, in common parlance, is an infinite amount of time that never ends or the quality, condition or fact of being everlasting or eternal. Classical philosophy, however, defines eternity as what is timeless or exists outside time, whereas sempiternity corresponds to infinite duration.
The argument from free will, also called the paradox of free will or theological fatalism, contends that omniscience and free will are incompatible and that any conception of God that incorporates both properties is therefore inconceivable. See the various controversies over claims of God's omniscience, in particular the critical notion of foreknowledge. These arguments are deeply concerned with the implications of predestination.
The problem of Hell is an ethical problem in the Abrahamic religions of Christianity, Islam and Judaism, in which the existence of Hell (Jahannam) for the punishment of souls in the Afterlife is regarded as inconsistent with the notion of a just, moral, and omnipotent, omnibenevolent, omniscient supreme being. Also regarded as inconsistent with such a just being is the combination of human free will, and the divine qualities of omniscience and omnipotence, as this would mean God would determine everything that has happened and will happen in the universe—including sinful human behavior.
The existence of God is a subject of debate in theology, philosophy of religion and popular culture. A wide variety of arguments for and against the existence of God or deities can be categorized as logical, empirical, metaphysical, subjective or scientific. In philosophical terms, the question of the existence of God or deities involves the disciplines of epistemology and ontology and the theory of value.
The attributes of God are specific characteristics of God discussed in Christian theology.
Theological determinism is a form of predeterminism which states that all events that happen are pre-ordained, and/or predestined to happen, by one or more divine beings, or that they are destined to occur given the divine beings' omniscience. Theological determinism exists in a number of religions, including Jainism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It is also supported by proponents of Classical pantheism such as the Stoics and by philosophers such as Baruch Spinoza.
The Quinque viæ are five logical arguments for the existence of God summarized by the 13th-century Catholic philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas in his book Summa Theologica. They are:
The argument from desire is an argument for the existence of the immortality of the soul. The best-known defender of the argument is the Christian writer C. S. Lewis. Briefly and roughly, the argument states that humans’ natural desire for eternal happiness must be capable of satisfaction, because all natural desires are capable of satisfaction. Versions of the argument have been offered since the Middle Ages, and the argument continues to have defenders today, such as Peter Kreeft and Francis Collins.
The Unchangeability or Immutability of God is an attribute that "God is unchanging in his character, will, and covenant promises."
Alvin Plantinga's free-will defense is a logical argument developed by the American analytic philosopher Alvin Plantinga and published in its final version in his 1977 book God, Freedom, and Evil. Plantinga's argument is a defense against the logical problem of evil as formulated by the philosopher J. L. Mackie beginning in 1955. Mackie's formulation of the logical problem of evil argued that three attributes of God, omniscience, omnipotence, and omnibenevolence, in orthodox Christian theism are logically incompatible with the existence of evil.
The eternity of the world is the question of whether the world has a beginning in time or has existed from eternity. It was a concern for both ancient philosophers and the medieval theologians and medieval philosophers of the 13th century, and is of interest to modern philosophers and scientists as well. The problem became a focus of a dispute in the 13th century, when some of the works of Aristotle, who believed in the eternity of the world, were rediscovered in the Latin West. This view conflicted with the view of the Catholic Church that the world had a beginning in time. The Aristotelian view was prohibited in the Condemnations of 1210–1277.
An ontological argument is a philosophical argument, made from an ontological basis, that is advanced in support of the existence of God. Such arguments tend to refer to the state of being or existing. More specifically, ontological arguments are commonly conceived a priori in regard to the organization of the universe, whereby, if such organizational structure is true, God must exist.
Skeptical theism is the view that people should remain skeptical of their ability to discern whether their perceptions about evil can be considered good evidence against the existence of the orthodox Christian God. The central thesis of skeptical theism is that it would not be surprising for an infinitely intelligent and knowledgeable being's reasons for permitting evils to be beyond human comprehension. That is, what may seem like pointless evils may be necessary for a greater good or to prevent equal or even greater evils. This central thesis may be argued from a theistic perspective, but is also argued to defend positions of agnosticism.
Eternal life traditionally refers to continued life after death, as outlined in Christian eschatology. The Apostles' Creed testifies: "I believe... the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting." In this view, eternal life commences after the second coming of Jesus and the resurrection of the dead, although in the New Testament's Johannine literature there are references to eternal life commencing in the earthly life of the believer, possibly indicating an inaugurated eschatology.
In philosophy, the problem of the creator of God is the controversy regarding the hypothetical cause responsible for the existence of God, on the assumption God exists. It contests the proposition that the universe cannot exist without a creator by asserting that the creator of the Universe must have the same restrictions. This, in turn, may lead to a problem of infinite regress wherein each new presumed creator of a creator is itself presumed to have its own creator. A common challenge to theistic propositions of a creator deity as a necessary first-cause explanation for the universe is the question: "Who created God?"
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