Theology is the field of study and analysis that treats of God and of God's attributes and relations to the universe; the study of divine things or religious truth; divinity.
0
votes
2answers
74 views
Would a God-like being have any purpose? [closed]
If an entity with knowledge and power that approached infinite existed, what would they live for? What purpose could they satisfy to exist?
If such an entity existed, would the universe not bore ...
2
votes
2answers
133 views
Why do we assume that we know there is a difference between something and nothing?
For example, we ask questions like: Why is there something rather than nothing? it implies that we know the characteristics of what constitutes nothing and something. What if what we perceive as ...
1
vote
0answers
20 views
Is this assertion by Sartre an existentialist reading Pascals Pensees?
In his book What is Literature, Sartre says:
Here, I am thinking of Pascal, who relentlessly repeated that man was an irrational composite of metaphysics and history, his greatness unexplainable
...
1
vote
0answers
19 views
Was neoplatonism a synthesis of Jewish & Platonic monotheism?
Was neoplatonism a synthesis of Jewish & Platonic monotheism?
Neoplatonism was a school of mystical philosophy synthesising Jewish theology and Platos philosophy. Its major theorist & ...
0
votes
4answers
75 views
Is there any reality or substance in matter and energy without God?
Substance {Gk. ουσια [ousia]; Lat. substantia}
"What a thing is made of; hence, the underlying being that supports, exists independently of, and persists through time despite changes in, its ...
4
votes
1answer
171 views
Goedel's theorem and God
I have seen it argued that Goedel's Incompleteness Theorems have implications to existence of God. Arguments for existence of God run mostly along the lines: "Because of Goedel's Theorem, truth ...
-4
votes
0answers
32 views
If there exists a god, why don't we see miracles today? [closed]
If there is a god, in general I am referring to the God of Abrahamic religions, why do we not see clear cut miracles today? Such as people walking on water, healing of the sick, water into wine etc.?
...
-2
votes
0answers
49 views
Do all humans share the same soul called god? [closed]
If the soul was ingrained in the human body, it would be removable.
One could conclude that an arm was to be lost, that person would still be himself and the soul intact. And that arm lost would ...
6
votes
9answers
377 views
Does punishment from god contradict the idea of free will?
In various religions it is often preached that god has given humans free will. But at the same time those religions preach that there is punishment for sinning.
Assuming a god does exist, and god ...
-1
votes
2answers
113 views
What are the methods to evaluate a supernatural statement as carefully as possible?
I've found out that it is hard to evaluate the truth of a statement which has following 5 properties:
They concern events in the future.
They are so supernatural, to the point of being outside of ...
0
votes
0answers
58 views
Check The Validity [closed]
If God is willing to prevent suffering(S), but unable to do so(D), He is not
omnipotent(O). If He is able to prevent suffering(S), but unwilling to do
so(U), He is not loving(L). If God exists, He is ...
-5
votes
1answer
91 views
Is the android a kind of mankind?
In St.Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica, it said
But to know distinctly what is contained in the universal
whole is to know the less common, as to "animal" indistinctly is to know it as "animal"; ...
1
vote
3answers
147 views
Can there be an infinite chain of causes/effects? [duplicate]
One of Aristotle's premises for proving that God exists is that there cannot be an infinite chain of causes and effects, hence there must be one cause which had no previous cause (i.e. God).
Does ...
1
vote
2answers
179 views
The real question of the Holocaust is not ‘where was God?’, but ‘where was man?’ [closed]
For a debate I have to argue "The real question of the Holocaust is not ‘where was God?’, but ‘where was man?'" I am arguing for the point (not my personal view).
So far the points I have got are:
...
-3
votes
4answers
228 views
What can suffice as a scientific proof for God? to what domain can such a proof belong to? [closed]
"Scientific" theories require proof, and there are certain guidelines and standards for the proofs to be acceptable to the "scientific" community in that domain (Algebra, Computer Science, etc.). ...
5
votes
2answers
152 views
Is the argument 'you cannot claim that “God doesn't exist” because you cannot demonstrate this inexistence' an argumentum ad ignorantiam?
I'm able to tell this is an example of argumentum ad ignorantiam,
"I can't prove the existence of god, therefore, god doesn't exist."
But what about the sentence
"One should never claim that "God ...
1
vote
1answer
83 views
devolving or self-limiting omnipotence
A being that is omnipotent should have within its own scope of power possess the ability to deprive self of this omnipotence; limit own power, either permanently or for a time; alternatively to ...
-3
votes
1answer
45 views
Enlightenment and Creation. Your analysis? [closed]
For all the eastern philosophies and many other religions, the goal of life is enlightenment, which means insight or awakening to the true nature of reality.
Would it not have been easier to not ...
4
votes
3answers
143 views
Does physicalism *prove* that the universe is self-subsistent?
I've often heard/read people (Hawking, Dawkins etc) making out that Physics or Physicalism proves that there is no God, or no need for one.
Yet it seems to me that it's an assumption that is ...
2
votes
5answers
358 views
Why is there a God rather than nothing? [closed]
Theists ask, "Why is there something rather than nothing?" How would they answer the question, "Why is there a God rather than nothing?" Is this a valid objection to theism?
4
votes
5answers
231 views
Can there be two infinite beings?
Is the existence of two infinite beings possible (logical)?
What are the arguments for / against the possibility of the existence of two infinitely powerful beings?
2
votes
5answers
285 views
Any philosophy to the equality of zero and infinity
I know math tells a different story, but it occurred to me that if zero were equal to infinity, than nothing would be equal to everything and that would explain how the universe and everything came to ...
5
votes
8answers
339 views
In what way can theism and science co-exist?
Probably the most cliche question ever, but I never got a good answer so I'll ask it anyway:
How can science and theism co-exist? Even if we forget that the two have entirely different ideas about how ...
0
votes
3answers
155 views
Is the controversy about spirituality/divinity vs. atheism already solved? [closed]
Provided that humanity has addressed this issue with rationality and assuming it's been given enough time, there should be an answer to the following questions:
Why do most people choose to believe ...
4
votes
4answers
205 views
Is Dawkins arguing that a cause must be greater than its effect?
On the one hand, Dawkins is a rather vocal exponent of evolution. Evolution, to me, appears to hold that greater complexity can arise form lesser complexity (unless we want to argue that the causes ...
7
votes
1answer
239 views
Why does Aquinas argue that rationality of the universe points to a creator?
In the Summa, Aquinas, working from an Aristotelian philosophical position, argues that the rationality of the universe points to a creator. If I am correct in interpreting his work, he says that the ...
1
vote
1answer
115 views
Moral Arguments for Deity? Russell's refutation
Reading Russell's Why I Am Not a Christian I stumbled upon a passage (The Moral Arguments for Deity) I don't seem to understand.
Kant, as I say, invented a new moral argument for the existence of ...
3
votes
5answers
295 views
If I am infinitely old , can I have a father?
If I am infinitely old , can I have a father ?
And can I have a brother that is infinitely older than me but younger than my dad ?
1
vote
2answers
152 views
Is this paragraph in The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine an example of a rhetorical argument?
I found the following passage in The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine
When Samson ran off with the gate-posts of Gaza, if he ever did so,
(and whether he did or not is nothing to us,) or when he ...
4
votes
1answer
86 views
Descartes's concept of the Immutability of the Divine Will
According to the abstract of this article1,
... Descartes' God acts by a single immutable will for all eternity, and there is no sense in which it is possible for Him to will or to have willed ...
4
votes
10answers
444 views
Does the notion of an all-powerful God conflict with the idea of free will?
In Abrahamic religions, God is often believed to be wholly omnipotent. People also seem to believe that humans have "free will", esp. insofar that they feel they are in control of their own actions. ...
-4
votes
4answers
520 views
Can the existence of God be proved from mathematics? [closed]
This question of highest importance for everybody could not be answered in MO and will not be answered in Mathematics.SE. I can understand why the set-theorists there dive and attack it like vultures. ...
9
votes
2answers
492 views
What impact has Douglass Hofstadter's superrationality had in terms of philosophy?
Superrational decision making is a type of rational decision making in which the players cooperate in a one-shot prisoner's dilemma without coordination, punishment, or magical thinking.
The idea is ...
13
votes
3answers
324 views
Does Wittgenstein's Tractatus establish serious bounds for discussions of the supernatural from a modern point of view?
In today's mathematics, we have many variants of logic (propositional, first order, higher order, fuzzy logic, etc.). These are all self-consistent formal systems that are based on some set of axioms.
...
5
votes
1answer
78 views
Kierkegaard and “the Essentially Christian”
When interpreting any author, it is crucial to understand his terms. Reading The Book on Adler (sometimes titled Concerning Authority and Revelation), I have come to understand that the essentially ...
4
votes
2answers
373 views
Can an eternal god destroy himself? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is the definition of God consistent? (primary)
also:
An immovable object and an irresistible force
God's paradoxes and their implications
To many, at first ...
3
votes
3answers
180 views
God as a product of our universe
I'm new to philosophy and I know very little. While watching lectures on philosophy of 17-18 centuries I realized that the understanding of God was a very important issue (and it probably still is at ...
5
votes
1answer
341 views
Kierkegaard and the Tripartite Theory of Man
Terminological Background
The traditional tripartite view of human nature, or the trichotomy of human persons, refers to the distinguishing of soul and spirit in humans (the body of course being the ...
2
votes
1answer
128 views
Underlying logical structure behind Descartes' Ontological argument?
Quoting SEP:
Version A:
Whatever I clearly and distinctly perceive to be contained in the
idea of something is true of that thing.
I clearly and distinctly perceive that necessary ...
2
votes
2answers
136 views
Is mankind God in an ethical sense?
In an ethical sense (i.e. not metaphysical), could God be equated with mankind?
Many of the religious duties of people towards their god could as well be interpreted as duties towards their peers, ...
6
votes
5answers
480 views
If there is a God, how is that relevant to us?
If you consider the God of the bible to be real (talking about Christianity), then the existence of God is relevant to you because he can do miracles, change your life for the best, and allow you to ...
-5
votes
4answers
94 views
How and why did dualities get created? [closed]
Why is it good and bad? Why male and female? Why day and night? Why positive charges and negative charges?
Why this concept of duality in space? Why couldn't it have all been stacked in a non-dual ...
0
votes
1answer
249 views
How can we know if God is lying or not? [closed]
Stated more generally:
Are there entities whose claims—by the nature of their existence—are outside the scope of rational inquiry?
Consider the example of the Abrahamic God, the relevant matter not ...
16
votes
10answers
1k views
If the universe has a beginning does that prove God exists?
It is curious to note that a eminent Physicist like Stephen Hawking thinks the universe has a beginning. This has some rather startling Religious implications
You can find the link here.
...
8
votes
3answers
232 views
Does God have the power to make identical universes through different means?
The easiest way to explain this question is with a thought experiment:
Consider God, the ultimate of everything, who is wholly omnipotent (all-powerful) and omniscient (all-knowing). Let's just say, ...
13
votes
11answers
972 views
Is there any rigorous philosophical basis for atheism?
Definition/Update
In what follows I use the term God to refer to an entity that has at least one of the following properties:
Has created the universe
Is omnipotent
Is omniscient
Approaches to ...
7
votes
4answers
326 views
How can being able to conceive of something “perfect” imply its existence?
In this question and reading about the ontological argument elsewhere I have discovered that there is (and has been) a lot of discussion about it, and that it was taken very seriously.
Can someone ...
4
votes
3answers
334 views
Which philosophers have argued that a God cannot exist?
Which philosophers have argued that a God cannot exist and why? What are some of the major positions involved, and perhaps some common responses?
-2
votes
2answers
224 views
What are the latest arguments for/against the existence of God? [closed]
What are the newest or latest arguments for or against the existence of God?
What is the state of this debate? After proponents and critics have argued and responded to everything so far, what else ...
4
votes
2answers
540 views
What are the philosophical implications of The Second Law of thermodynamics?
The Second Law of thermodynamics states that "The entropy of a closed system cannot decrease over time."
What are the philosophical implications of this statement, especially wrt to theology and ...
