Judaeo Christian Influences

The concept of God as Creator:

Genesis 1:

♥Earth without form and void. God creates simply by demand "let there be..." and there is. God pre-exists the creation of the world and his sovereignty over created order

Isaiah 40

♥fragile life at mercy of the power of God who is in charge and brought meaning to the chaos

Creatio ex nihilo

♥Belief by most followers of the Bible that God is the creator and shaper of the universe through his intelligent design.

Genesis 2 + 3

♥Adam and eve and The Fall. Here, God WALKS and TALKS (anthropomorphism) and his creativity appears to be "hands on". Adam is created from dust on the ground and God appears to be heavily involved in his creation. He gives them the command of not eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and he later evicts them from the Garden.

God the craftsman

Seen as an expert builder in the book of Job, compared to a potter crafting clay

Omnipotence

He can do anything logically possible but cannot contradict and do evil of any kind because he can self limit

Omniscience

he knows everything. God exists out of time and space (transcendent) and this means he doesn't affect the freedom to act

Omnipresence

he is present everywhere and is able to know and act everywhere. Everything there is, is dependent upon the existence and activity of the sustainer. He was present at creation but external (transcendent)

Omnibenevolent

God is all loving, merciful and all good. He is morally perfect. He shares infinite love with creation

Comparison with Aristotle's Prime Mover

The prime mover attracts everything towards himself and knows nothing of creation whereas God is aware and is actively involved in his creation. He also is also the intimate creator of everything. God isn't unmoved and the will to move comes from God. He has a relationship with humanity (loving) and everything God made is good and purposeful

If God created the universe, God is therefore responsible for everything that happens in it. "God created everything and it was good" which doesn't explain the existence of evil. If God created the universe and everything in it, he is solely responsible for everything that happens within it. Even with the creation story explaining "The Fall", evil could not have created itself out of ex nihilo from a perfect world. So, either the world was perfect and God let it go wrong. Or, the world was created imperfect and evil and suffering already existed. Either way, God is rendered responsible.

The goodness of God

Morally perfect and the source of human ethics :

♥Exodus 20: God's message that loyalty shall be repayed. He is seen as a lawgiver and judge who gives humans known duties and sets standards. This shows his concern for humans and he cares about their behavior and rewards and punishes similar to a parent

♥Job 38: Respond with faith

♥Jeremiah 15- punish those exploiting others- doesnt show them mercy

♥Psalm 23: The Lord our Shephard- anthropomorphic language

♥Psalm 28: The Lord protects, defends, punishes those deserving

♥Psalm 128: Happy are those who obey the Lord and his commands

♥Euthyphro dilemma: Is something good because God commands it or does God command it because it is right? If something is good because God commands it, then there is no independent way of deciding right from wrong. Of God commands it because it's good then this suggests human reason provides us with independent standard by which we can judge what is good. (Possible authority of human reason over God?

Righteous anger: angered at injustice because he cares about creation and human actions

.

Activity/interaction/direct intervention (miracles):

♥Samuel 1: responds to prayer of Hannah to bear a child

♥Joshua 10: Suspends the laws of nature (stops sun in the sky and sends hailstones) to help the Israelites against the Amorites. This shoes he is closely involved in his creation as he directly intervenes with the laws of nature

John 3: shows goodness through Jesus. God came to the world in order to demonstrate his love for humanity

•St Augustine: time is an intrinsic part of creation ("in the beginning" doesn't refer to a particular time

♥Criticisms:

•if God is capable of change and response, how can he be perfect?

•if he is outside time and space, how can he come into the world at a fixed point

•if God is both benevolent and potent, why does he permit evil?

•Science and religion- matter can't have been brought into existence when there was no matter before (creatio ex nihilo)

•Aristotle- nothing can come from nothing

•Babylonian Creation Myths: Similar to genesis. Either imagery is borrowed from the myths in order to express the inexpressible. Or, they may have believed their story as historically accurate

•The Problem of Evil: "God made creation perfectly and it was very good" which doesn't explain the existence of evil. If God created the universe and everything in it, he is solely responsible for everything that happens within it. Even if Genesis 2 explains the Fall as a source of evil, evil couldn't have created itself out of ex nihilo from a perfect world. Either the world was perfect and God let it go wrong, or the world was created imperfect and evil and suffering already existed. Either way, God is responsible as creator.