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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    God is eternal. — Carmelics
    Home/Afterlife & Death
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    Part of a larger discussion

    Supports→Considering the nature of eternity will make clear both the nature of God and his manner of knowing.

    God is eternal.

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

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • It is the common judgement of all creatures that live by reason that God is eternal.
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Universal rational consensus across cultures does not exist: many traditions conceive of gods as temporal, finite, or subject to change.
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    • 2.Even if consensus existed, widespread rational agreement has historically endorsed claims later shown to be false (e.g., geocentrism).
      ?

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    • 3.The epistemic weight of consensus collapses if derived from shared cultural inheritance rather than independent rational inquiry.
      ?

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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.If God acts causally in time—as most theistic traditions affirm—God must stand in temporal relations, making timelessness incoherent (Swinburne, 'The Coherence of Theism').
      ?

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    • 2.A being that is strictly atemporal cannot respond to prayers, foreknow free actions, or intervene in history without acquiring relational properties indexed to time.
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    • 3.Therefore, divine eternality as timelessness is incompatible with the robust personal agency attributed to God in the same traditions that assert God's eternity.
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    Topics

    Afterlife & Death

    Related

    A being that is strictly atemporal cannot respond to prayers, foreknow free acti...Considering the nature of eternity will make clear both the nature of God and hi...Even if consensus existed, widespread rational agreement has historically endors...If God acts causally in time—as most theistic traditions affirm—God must stand i...
    +4 moreShow less
    It is the common judgement of all creatures that live by reason that God is eter...The epistemic weight of consensus collapses if derived from shared cultural inhe...Therefore, divine eternality as timelessness is incompatible with the robust per...Universal rational consensus across cultures does not exist: many traditions con...

    Similar

    Happiness coincides with eternal life.87%God is timeless.85%It is the common judgement of all creatures that live by reason that G...84%God has a timeless mode of existence.82%

    Source

    AI-extracted3/3 agreementValid
    SEP: eternity
    View source passageHide passage
    It is the common judgement, then, of all creatures that live by reason that God is eternal. So let us consider the nature of eternity, for this will make clear to us both the nature of God and his manner of knowing. Eternity, then, is the complete, simultaneous and perfect possession of everlasting life; this will be clear from a comparison with creatures that exist in time.
    Extraction notes

    Validity: The passage explicitly presents the common judgment of rational creatures as the basis for asserting that God is eternal, and the extracted argument accurately captures this reasoning.

    Confidence: Weak argument from consensus; it is explicitly stated in the text as the basis for treating God as eternal.

    Details

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