Yes, of course. But Hick too is making an important initial assumption here: He is assuming that a test of human goodness is a necessary part of the universe. But this is only the case if one assumes the presence of a certain type of God -- one that Continue Reading...
26). Adherents of apophatic theology subscribe to the belief that instead of intellect, it is far more productive to acquire mystical knowledge as this reflects an awareness of God's innumerable ways of manifesting himself. Describing the central di Continue Reading...
Philosophy professor Alvin Plantinga explains that the argument -- "If God is omniscient, omnipotent, and all-good, He would have created the best of all possible worlds" -- is not satisfactory at all. "How, indeed, could one argue, from the existe Continue Reading...
By initiating the covenant, Yahweh is able to outline what he expects from the Israelites and what they can expect from Him. By making this promise, God is ensuring their continuation on their path to holiness (Glenny 1992). He is additionally makin Continue Reading...
Christian knows the earliest verses in the Bible. The Book of Genesis proclaims powerfully, that man was created in the image of God. We are also told that Man was created so that he could hold "dominion" over all of other God's creation. Yet, soon Continue Reading...
Jesus' Teachings, Prayer, & Christian Life "He (Jesus) Took the Bread. Giving Thanks Broke it. And gave it to his Disciples, saying, 'This is my Body, which is given to you.'" At Elevation time, during Catholic Mass, the pr Continue Reading...
He goes further to support this by comparing an existent God and a non-existent God, and since humans cannot imagine any being greater than God then God is existent which is logically true and understandable. When this argument is compared to that o Continue Reading...
McCloskey responds to this by asking "might not God have very easily so have arranged the world and biased man to virtue that men always freely chose what is right?" But in that case, humans would not have genuine free will. And God is justified, Ev Continue Reading...
Following Aquinas's argumentation, we will reasonably ask ourselves, at a certain point, what the cause of what was considered to be the First Cause is. However, with the temporal cause, we may not assume an extra cause, because there will have been Continue Reading...
Philosophy (general) Given that experience is argued to be the foundation of knowledge (according to Locke) how - if at all - does Locke make room for what Leibniz would call 'necessary truths'? Gottfried Leibniz made many criticisms of the work of Continue Reading...
Deity of Christ in the Gospel of John In John's Gospel, the term Son of God is used very frequently but people do not derive the spirituality of Jesus from this title, in fact they refer this title to the messianic position of Jesus. Such a belief h Continue Reading...
The question arising from this claim is whether evidence exists to prove that there exists an infinitely good, powerful, and wise God where morality naturally emerges. Humes argues that is hard to imagine that an all-good, powerful God exists in thi Continue Reading...
William F. Albright A Study of W.F. Albright and How Biblical Archeology Helped Shape His Worldview William Foxwell Albright was first and foremost a believer in the religion of Christianity, a fact that greatly influenced his role as a Biblical a Continue Reading...
Conclusion In principle, it would be entirely possible to replace religious-inspired morality with logically derived concepts of morality in human life. Generally little else would be required besides suspending religious teachings and substitutin Continue Reading...
Moving to a Liberation Theology Introduction The traditional doctrines of Salvation and the Holy Spirit can be viewed differently when approached from the perspective of Liberation Theology. The theological position of the liberation theology is that Continue Reading...
As a result, each substance can have multiple attributes. In fact, an entity with an infinite essence will, by definition, have infinite attributes. Spinoza builds upon the idea of an infinite God by going further and stating that absolutely infini Continue Reading...
Then, by beginning with the idea that there may or may not be a chair present at all, one can begin building on those truths that remain to establish more truths and eventually establish the presence of the chair. Descartes uses such reasoning not Continue Reading...
If it was a dream, then the programmers clearly attempted to incorporate background realism. For example, the characters get dirty; like sweat, dirt is not something that the programmers would need to create to have realistic humans, but there is di Continue Reading...
In fact, development of the idea will be substituted for life (Hegel, 1988). The article on natural right and the System der Sittlichkeit complete each other. The first is destined to reveal a new way of posing the problem of natural right while th Continue Reading...
homosexual practices might have begun in the early centuries, the word "sodomy" was first used by a Catholic missionary, now a saint, Father Peter Damien around 1050. By sodomy, he meant masturbation and anal intercourse between men, a sin he condem Continue Reading...
Conceptions of an Enduring Issue Relationship between Body and Mind/Soul - Aristotle and Descartes Aristotle modeled hylomorphism as a fusion of form and matter or soul and body as two elements of one solid being. Aristotle viewed the body's form Continue Reading...
Human Nature Book Summary Jeeves, Malcolm. (Editor) From Cells to Souls -- and Beyond. New York: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2004. According to Michael Steel in the book edited Malcolm Jeeves entitled From Cells to Souls -- and Beyond, the Continue Reading...
Thus, Sam argues that although the world often seems unjust (and is filled with innumerable instances of evil), yet P. is solved through the belief that every condition (good, in this case) necessitates an equal and opposite condition (evil, as it Continue Reading...
God Look on My Works, Ye Mighty, and Despair Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud's seminal student, wrote that "Bidden or unbidden God is present." This motto of his might well stand in for the ways in which Freud, St. Augustine, and Sallie McFague write abo Continue Reading...
Even before one gets to Rowe's argument, however, one may disregard Hick's argument because it depends on imagining an infinite number of possibilities to explain away evil, rather than accounting for it. Instead of actually explaining how a benevo Continue Reading...
Atheist In "On Being an Atheist," H.J. McCloskey discusses what it means to him to be an atheist. In doing so, he criticizes the classical argument in favor of God's existence. This is not a new criticism, as people have been arguing about whether Continue Reading...
' Religion is belief in the existence of a supreme being while science is a study to explain the how. The main conflict of these two disciplines begins with the concept of life. Religion explains that God is the creator and giver of life, whereas sc Continue Reading...
The way in which this argument is employed differently in classical Islamic philosophy is actually quite interesting. We might compare Aquinas' argument here with Avicenna's use of Al-Farabi's concept of the "active intellect." Aquinas' prime mover Continue Reading...
Rationalist Philosophers Descartes: Explain one of Descartes' arguments in Meditation VI for substance dualism. Critically discuss one possible objection to the argument. Descartes was not a nihilist or solipsist who truly doubted the existence of Continue Reading...
Life It is important to acquire goodness in order to understand the meaning and purpose of life. Distressed and hopeless people do not consider or think about the meaning of life. For them, the meaning of life becomes inappropriate when their exis Continue Reading...
Morals and Ethical Theory Morals & Ethical Theory The objective of this study is to read pages 1 -- 26 of Stephen D. Hales work entitled "This Is Philosophy" and to answer the questions of: (1) Is morality just what God tells me to do? (Divine Continue Reading...
Christian This course changed my concept of what it meant to be a Christian in three fundamental ways, all focused on what it means to me to be a Christian in modern society, rather than on the theological underpinnings of Christianity. This course Continue Reading...
Theology Sacraments are traditional rites that are recognized as having a particular significance or importance. There are seven sacraments and baptism is on of them, it is the first of the three sacraments of initiation. Baptism involves the use of Continue Reading...
At the same time, I think that this belief in a higher power which is not directly related to the text of the Bible is essential because it gives us the sense of not being alone. From various experiences I learned that the toughest sentiment of the Continue Reading...
atheist. Objections and counter-arguments: McCloskey's "On Being an Atheist" In his essay "On Being an Atheist," the author H.J. McCloskey offers a multi-layered criticism of the belief in God and specifically Christian beliefs regarding God. McC Continue Reading...
but, these entities should normally have equal power. If good encloses evil, this means that good is more powerful than evil. In addition one may wonder if it God's choice to allow evil to continue existing. The answer is no. According to Spinoza ev Continue Reading...
162) This solution also helps us to assert a response to one that might employ the existence of evil as a rational indication that God does not exist. That is, we are not any of us in a position of such divine knowledge as to discern how or why cer Continue Reading...
Perhaps the essential myth of all those that exist is that of the cosmogony, or the birth of the universe. This myth has taken incredibly many forms in the course of history, but it should be noticed that all of these forms postulate the existence o Continue Reading...
