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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
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    321,452
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    42
    A God who was less than maximally perfect would be an idol. — Carmelics
    Home/Divine Attributes
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    A God who was less than maximally perfect would be an idol.

    Divine Attributes
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.A God who was less than ultimate and absolute would be an idol.
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    • 2.A God who was less than maximally perfect would not be an absolute reality.
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Process theologians like Whitehead and Hartshorne argue a dipolar God with genuine relativity to the world is more religiously adequate than a static absolute.
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    • 2.A God who is genuinely responsive and affected by creation—thus not maximally perfect in classical terms—better grounds moral relationship than an immutable absolute.
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    • 3.Worshipping a relationally dynamic God is not idolatry but recognition that perfection includes responsiveness, not merely self-sufficiency.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.The concept of 'maximal perfection' is not self-evident but is constructed from particular metaphysical assumptions rooted in Neoplatonic thought, not universal religious intuition.
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    • 2.Aquinas's identification of God with Being Itself smuggles Parmenidean ontology into theology, making 'idol' a polemical label for legitimate alternative conceptions of the divine.
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    Divine Attributes

    Related

    A God who is genuinely responsive and affected by creation—thus not maximally pe...A God who was less than maximally perfect would not be an absolute reality.A God who was less than ultimate and absolute would be an idol.Aquinas's identification of God with Being Itself smuggles Parmenidean ontology ...
    +3 moreShow less
    Process theologians like Whitehead and Hartshorne argue a dipolar God with genui...The concept of 'maximal perfection' is not self-evident but is constructed from ...Worshipping a relationally dynamic God is not idolatry but recognition that perf...

    Similar

    A God who was less than maximally perfect would not be an absolute rea...88%A God who was less than maximally perfect would not be an absolute rea...87%A God who was less than ultimate and absolute would be an idol.86%The First Being has no potentiality for any perfection not had by its ...76%

    Source

    AI-extracted2/3 agreementValid
    SEP: divine-simplicity
    View source passageHide passage
    What could motivate such a strange and seemingly incoherent doctrine? One central consideration in its favor derives from the Anselmian definition of God as maximally perfect, as that than which no greater can be conceived. A God who was less than maximally perfect would not be an absolute reality and an appropriate object of worship. A God who was less than ultimate and absolute would be an idol. Now an absolute reality must be a se, from itself, and so not dependent on anything distinct from itself either for its nature or for its existence. If God had properties in the way creatures have th...
    Extraction notes

    Validity: The passage states that a God less than maximally perfect would not be absolute reality, and that a God less than ultimate and absolute would be an idol, which together entail that a God less than maximally perfect would be an idol.

    Confidence: Moderate confidence. This is a subsidiary argument clearly stated in the text.

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit