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The Nature of God
God is Mystery
That which is beyond our comprehension
Then how can we speak of God?
By meditating on His effects we can:
Know something of their cause
Shed a pinpoint of light on God Himself
That is all
The Attributes of God
God exists absolutelyGod is the source of being, or
existence, for all things.
In every creature there is a distinction between its essence and
its existence; that there is a difference between what things are
and the fact that they are.
In God there can be no such distance between
what he is and that he is.God must be identical with
the fullness of being
The Attributes of God
God is infiniteLimitation involves nonbeing
Finite or limited beings require a condition or cause for existence
There can be no limitation in God
God is the very fullness of being
The Attributes of God
God is OneIf God is without limit there can not be more than one God
for there would have to be some difference between them. One could not be where the other was.
GOD MUST BE ONE
The Attributes of God
God is SpiritualTo be a material being is to
be a body of some kind. But a body is always limited and subject to
change. God is the limitless fullness of being so God can not be a body.
GOD IS NOT A MATERIAL BEING
The Attributes of God
God is Eternal
Since God is not material, He is not spatially limited. God can not be subject to time. For God is the
creator of everything that changes: everything that raises a question about its own being.
God is not bound by the kind of changing being which time measures.
The Attributes of GodThe Incarnation
God took upon himself, in Christ, a
human nature, which included time, space and
matter.
This presupposes that The Divine
Nature is different from human nature.
Only because God is not temporal,
can He become temporal
God is Transcendent & Immanent
God can not be part of the universe. If he were, he would be limited by other parts of it. But God is the Creator of all things, giving them their total
being.God must be other than
his creationGod exists in all things.
In Him we live and move and have our being.
God is IntelligentGod is the creator and sustainer of all things.
Everyone of these things has an intelligible
structure, and fits within a system of intelligible
structure.
It is reasonable to affirm that if
the created structure is
intelligent then God is
intelligent.
The Attributes of GodGod is Omniscient and Omnipotent
Apart from himself, God has created everything there is to be known and sustains it in his being.
Their can be no real barriers to God’s knowing or acting
The Attributes of God
God is GoodGod is the source of all
being. Therefore God can not be
evil in any way. A thing is good of its kind if it succeeds in being that kind
of thing to its fullest.God is good to the fullest
We can reasonably assert that these
things are true; but we do not, cannot,
know how.The Life of
GodRemains a Mystery
Is God a He?• Do we have the authority to change the names of God used by Christ, the Bible and the Church?
• Historically all ancient religions other than Judaism had goddesses as well as gods.
• The Jewish revelation was distinct in its exclusively masculine pronoun because of its unique theology of divine transcendence.
• The masculine pronoun safeguards:– The transcendence of God against
the illusion that nature is born from God rather than created.
– The grace of God against the illusion that we can somehow save ourselves
Attributes of GodAttributes of God
Attributes of GodAttributes of GodGod is Mystery
God exists absolutely
God is Immutable
God is infinite
God is One
God is Spiritual
God is Eternal
The Incarnation
God is Transcendent & Immanent
God is Intelligent
God is Good
God is Omniscient and Omnipotent
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