Thu Dang

Midterm Paper

Philosophy of Religion

Topic 1

Throughout history and time there has always been that underlying question of how

humans came into existence. This is still one of the most debatable questions today but

many people like to think of God, who is a superior being, as being the creator of all things.

When speaking of God, there seems to be many different forms of him all around the

world. Many people believe he has emotions, some people believe he is actually a she, and

some people believe there are not one, but multiple Gods. However, this paper will be

outlining the classic God and what characteristics he must possess in order to be the

absolute and metaphysically ultimate being. So what exactly makes a God or this higher

being worthy of worship? According to classic theologians, in order for God to be perfect

and worthy of worship, he must possess characteristics that include impassibility,

immutability, omniscience, omni-benevolence, omnipotence, and have an eternal nature.

All these traits come together perfectly and are contingent upon one another. According to

classic theologians, if God did not possess all these characteristics, he is not perfect and

therefore not worthy of worship.

According to classic theists, one of the things that make God perfect is that he is

impassible. This characteristic refers to being incapable of feeling any emotions. This means
that God does not feel or experience pain, happiness, or pleasure. He is considered

unaffected by emotions because he is independent of another being. If he was able to

change and be affected by an outside factor, that means he has not reached actuality but

rather he is still in his potential phase, which is not true. Also, if God was able to feel

emotions, he would not be considered immutable after all, which is also one of the

characteristics that classic theists consider him to have.

Immutability refers to a property that is unable to change. God is a simple God,

which means that he can’t go through real change. All his properties remain the same and

tie together perfectly. Many say that God himself is love rather than affected by love. If he

cannot change then that means he must be impassible, which is why these two

characteristics tie together. If he was not impassible, that would mean he is susceptible to

feel emotions which means he is able to change. If he is able to change through these

emotions that would mean that he is no longer absolute or a perfect being, therefore not

worthy of worship.

A problem or argument that could arise from these characteristics is how the bible

describes God. They describe him as being able to feel jealous, anger, and pride. This goes

against classical theism because now God does have emotions and therefore able to

change. A solution to this problem would be that God does not feel but rather is

understood as wrath. We ourselves can feel his wrath but that does not necessarily mean

there was something that triggered it or that he did it out of anger but in this situation the

only being that feels are humans and not God.

 Another characteristic that God is said to possess according to the classic view, is

that he is omniscient. This means that he is all knowing. This classic God, if truly omniscient,

must know all things including all events, past, present, and future. He is filled with wisdom

as well as all the knowledge and understanding of everything. The problem with this is that

if God really already knows everything, then he knows exactly what is going to happen and

when it is going to happen which takes away free human will. If he already knew everyone’s

destiny, do they really have free will or is it already predetermined. A solution to this

problem that classic theists use is that God’s omniscience is actually compatible with free

will. They claim that because he is outside of time, humans are on a different level than him

than what is within our time. They say that because he is outside of our time and may know

what happens, humans still have free will.

The next characteristic that God should possess, according to classic theologians, is

omni-benevolence. This means that he is all loving and infinitely good. God cannot be bad

or evil but rather purely virtuous and none of his actions or thoughts can be anything but

good. The big and obvious problem with this characteristic is the problem of evil in this

world.

Turning on the news channel it is easy to see how many horrible things are

happening to humanity all around the world. Homes torn apart, children dying, people

suffering from hunger and poverty. If God really were good and all loving, he would prevent

this type of suffering from happening to humanity. He would make the evil go away so

humanity can feel greatness and love all the time.

 The solution to this problem is that evil is not a thing. If God were the creator of all

things, evil is not considered one of them. Classis theists define evil as a wrong choice or

damage done by a wrong choice. It is simply just the absence of good. Rather than blaming

God who is all loving, humanity should learn to deal with evil through the practice of

resolving problems or learning to see a cup half full rather than half empty. In addition, if

there was no evil in this world, no one would know what good was. If everything was all

good, all the time humans wouldn’t experience happiness and joy the same way. Happiness

and joy comes from realizing that there is evil out there and understanding how to be

grateful after the evil that affects someone personally passes. In short, if there was no evil

we would have nothing to compare the good to.

Another characteristic that the perfect God must possess is omnipotence. This

means he must hold the quality of having unlimited and never ending great power. He is

able to do all things and is completely all-powerful. However, a big problem with this comes

with the story of the paradox of the stone. This is an argument that asks if God is all-

powerful, can he create a stone not even he can lift. If he can create the stone, that means

he cannot lift it and is not powerful enough. If he cannot make the stone then that would

mean he does not have that much power to make a big stone therefore meaning he does

not have all the power. Either way if he can or cannot, it is contradictory. Classical theists

responded to this critique by saying that he can do all things as long as they are logically

possible. They claim there are no rocks in existence too big for God to lift himself and that

he is able to do all things only as long as they are logically possible.

 Finally, the last characteristic that God must possess is the characteristic of having an

eternal nature. When something is eternal this means that they are outside of time and not

affected by the past, present, or future. Time is something that we have but when it comes

to God, he is now. He is with us in the moment but also outside of the moment as well. A

problem with this trait is that many argue that God is eternal but acts everlasting which

means he does exist in time. The classic theists’ reply saying that God is relational now but

he still exists outside of what we consider time. There has been some proof through the

study of physics that matter, time, and space all occurred together. This means that God

created all this including time itself and therefore he is still outside of time. He might seem

relational in the now because of the creation of time for us, but he, himself is still outside of

it.

As a perfect being, classic theologians say God must possess a certain number of

qualities. All these qualities depend upon one another and if God doesn’t possess every

single one of these, then he is not worthy of worship. There are many problems to these

characteristics such as the problem of free will or evil but classic theists have arguments

against those problems. They claim that event though some of these may seem

contradictory or that free will now seems questionable, that humanity should still have faith

and believe in him in the end. They say to just trust the process and do good while we are

here on Earth for the time being. It may seem pointless to pray to a being who cannot feel

emotions or change but people should still pray to self-reflect and give a sense of hope for

oneself.