THE CHRISTIAN CONCEPT OF GOD Essay -- essays research papers

THE CHRISTIAN innovation OF GODChristians claim that their concept of graven image is found in the Bible. cognize as classical theism, this view of god has long been considered the orthodox theistic position of the Western world. Though in that respect atomic number 18 numerous prophesy attributes that we could examine, for our present purposes it is sufficient to say that the beau ideal of classical theism is at least(prenominal) (1) personal and incorporeal (without physical parts), (2) the Creator and Sustainer of everything else that exists, (3) omnipotent (all-powerful), (4) wise (all-k immediatelying), (5) omnipresent (everywhere present), (6) immutable (unchanging) and eternal, and (7) necessary and the only when God.Let us now briefly look at each of these attributes.1. Personal and Incorporeal. According to Christian theism, God is a personal creation who has all the attributes that we may see from a perfect person self-consciousness, the ability to reason, kn ow, love, communicate, and so forth. This is clearly how God is described in the Scriptures (e.g., Gen. 1711 Exod. 314 Jer. 2911).God is also incorporeal. Unlike humans, God is not uniquely associated with hotshot physical entity (i.e., a body). This is why the Bible refers to God as touch (John 424).2. The Creator and Sustainer of Everything Else that Exists. In classical theism, all globe is contingent on God that is, all reality has come into origination and continues to exist because of Him. Unlike a god who forms the universe out of antecedent matter, the God of classical theism created the universe ex nihilo (out of nothing). Consequently, it is on God altogether that everything in the universe depends for its innovation (see Acts 1725 Col. 116, 17 Rom. 1136 Heb. 113 2 Cor. 46 Rev. 411).3. Omnipotent. God is also said to be omnipotent or all-powerful. This should be understood to mean that God can do anything that is (1) logically possible (see below), and (2) consisten t with being a personal, incorporeal, omniscient, omnipresent, immutable, wholly perfect, and necessary Creator.Concerning the latter, these attributes are not limitations of Gods power, but perfections. They are attributes at their infinitely highest level, which are essential to Gods nature. For example, since God is perfect, He cannot sin because He is personal, He is incapable of make Himself impersonal because He is omniscient, He cannot forget. All th... ...o right action. Natural wretched confers no additional benefits that moral infernal cannot accomplish to the same breaker point and extent, and in fact natural evil is not even nice to foster interpersonal moral virtues, such as forgiveness and tolerance. A benevolent God would allow no more evil than is dead necessary to achieve his ends. Because natural evil is gratuitous, its existence is incompatible with the existence of God. God, if he existed, could conceivably alter the laws of nature so that evil would only result when triggered by human action. However, manifest natural evil free of human will, such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tornadoes, and disease, undeniably exists. Since the existence of God and the existence of natural evil are incompatible and natural evil exists, the following revised argument from evil is both valid and sound, entailing a true conclusion 1) If God exists, then there exists a being who is omniscient, omnipotent, and perfectly good.2) If there existed a being who were omniscient, omnipotent, and perfectly good, then there would be no natural evil.3) But there is natural evil.C) God does not exist.http//hem.passagen.se/nicb/evil.htm