The Technical Fallacies in the Internal Qualities of
This article focuses on the God that is mentioned in Judeo-Christian scriptures,
and whose image is widely accepted across Christianity, Islam and Judaism.
Philosophers like Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, who were heavily influenced
by the writings of Plato and Aristotle, came up with a set of attributes that are
widely accepted across all the Abrahamic religions. Although none of these are
mentioned in any religious book like the Bible or the Quran, philosophers
agreed that these attributes have to exist if God is perfect. These attributes
include ‘Omniscience’, which is the ability to know all, ‘Omnipotence’, which
refers to the state of being all-powerful, ‘Omnibenevolence’, or the quality of
possessing perfect goodness, ‘Omnipresence’, or the ability to exist in all
places, and ‘Omnitemporality,’ which is the ability to exist in all times.
The first problem, typically known as the 'omnipotence paradox,' arises when
Can God create a rock so heavy that he himself can't lift it? Since he is
omnipotent, he has to be able to, otherwise there is one thing he can't do.
However, if he creates such a rock, he won't be able to pick it up, hence
proving that there is one thing he cannot do.
This is just the first of the internal contradictions that arise when we study the
qualities of God. Some of these contradictions regard not just God, but people
Humans are believed to have been given free will. But is free will just an
illusion? When it is said that God is omniscient, it means that he knows
everything that is going to happen. Arguable, knowing is not the same as
causing. However, hypothetically, God knows that you are going to finish an
entire glass of Coke, but you drink that glass of Coke because you can, out of
free will. If you do not drink it, again out of free will, you will have proved God
wrong, single-handedly stripping him of his Omniscience. Yet, since it is an
absolute quality that God possesses, you cannot do something to prove him
wrong, hence stripping the illusion of free will.
Can God sin? Since he is omnipotent, it would seem that he can, since he can
do anything. But if he is omnibenevolent, it means that he can’t. This is known
If God is impeccable and incapable of sin then doesn't that mean that he is not
omnipotent? After all, anybody can sin, very easily in fact. It would seem
strange that a mere mortal can do something that God can't. An argument
contradicting this says that sin doesn't apply to God. That implies that even
though God might do something that would be considered a sin if a human did
it, the idea of sin simply doesn't apply to God, because as a result of his
omnibenevolence, everything He does is, by default, perfect. This is troubling as
it negates the value of God's goodness. Saying God did a thing is the same as
saying God did a good thing; therefore, his goodness doesn't mean anything.
It's is hard to understand how God can have a personal relationship with his
creatures (as claimed by numerous religious scriptures) if he doesn't experience
time in the same way or feel the same way we do. If he already knows what is
going to happen, is it even possible to change God's mind via a prayer?
"If God knows what's going to happen in the future, (which he does if he's
omniscient) and if he has the power to bring about any state of affairs, (which
he does if he's omnipotent) and if he always wants to bring about the best state
of affairs, (which he does if he's omnibenevolent) then God has already decided
what's going to happen in every single case, to everyone, always." - Eleanor
Stumps, contemporary American philosopher.
So either a prayer is asking God to do something he was already going to do,
making it a waste of time, or a prayer is asking God to do something he had
already decided against because it wasn't the best course of action. It would be
undesirable if God did change his mind because of a prayer, because that
would not be best for mankind and we would end up sitting in some sort of a
nuclear wasteland- hypothetically, of course.
Needless to say, God's qualities are, at the very least, internally inconsistent;
they can't all exist at the same time.
Vanaj Moorthy, Batch of 2020.
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