BonosSaint
Rock n' Roll Doggie
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2004
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So does anyone believe there is a God but that He is not perfect--or all-knowing or all- powerful?
JCR said:
So if you want to discuss god with imperfections you'll have to go back to earlier interpretations of THe Devine
JCR said:Christianity, Judaism and Islam all define their one God the same: omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent, so BonoSaint's question asking for someone who believes in a less than all powerful god is an oxymoron.
Unless there's a new monotheism out there floating around.
Is the pagan god(s) all-powerful?
80sU2isBest said:
Here's a question similar to yours: Do people who worship Satan think he is not perfect--or all-knowing or all- powerful? I doubt anyone here worships Satan, but does anyone know what they think in those regards?
WildHoneyAlways said:
So we're calling people who practice Buddhism, Hinduism, and traditional Chinese religion(s) pagans these days, are we?
I don't think the word "God" only refers to monotheism.
WildHoneyAlways said:My Hindu friends don't appreciate being referred to as "pagans."
In my experience, it does not have a positive connotation.
BonosSaint said:I'm not really looking for the views of organized religions or religions with a specific theology. I'm looking more for individual views.
yolland said:Can you give some specific examples of what (IYO) those flaws/imperfections/failures to be omniscient or omnipotent look like in practice? More generally, do you believe that God transcends space/time/other human-apprehensible qualities, and if yes, what yardsticks might one meaningfully use then to evaluate what God "knows" or "does" (or fails to know or do)?
WildHoneyAlways said:My Hindu friends don't appreciate being referred to as "pagans."
In my experience, it does not have a positive connotation.
BonosSaint said:So does anyone believe there is a God but that He is not perfect--or all-knowing or all- powerful?
Open theism, also known as free will theism, is a theological movement that has developed within Evangelical Protestant Christianity as a response to certain ideas that are a part of the synthesis of Greek philosophy and Christian theology. Several ideas within Classical theism (a designation which is not to be taken as inclusive of all of orthodox theism) state that God is immutable, impassible, and timeless. Classical Theists also believe that God fully determines the future thus humanity does not have libertarian free will, or if free, that freedom must be compatible with God's determining actions. These are ideas which open theists oppose.
Open theism claims that God is not immutable, impassible, nor timeless since they believe that these attributes are not consistent with the personhood of God and his relationship to man as presented in the Christian scriptures. According to open theists, the God of the Bible is a God whose actions are not timeless but historical. God is neither completely immutable nor impassible as He may change his mind and He may be affected by his creatures emotionally and in other ways. God does not practice meticulous sovereignty (determining everything) but practices general sovereignty that allows for free will in mankind and allows man to contribute to bringing about the future. The most controversial aspect of open theism is the claim of its proponents that the omniscience of God does not include foreknowledge of the outcome of individual free choices that have not yet been made. Open theists argue the existence of such knowledge is not consistent with the nature of the future that they believe is implied by free will and that such knowledge is not consistent with the belief that our prayers can make a difference to God with regard to his plans.