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    Carmelics

    A reasoning platform. Break down any belief into clear reasons, explore both sides, and weigh the evidence honestly.

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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    Home/Original/inverse
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    Inverse View

    It is not the case that God is immutable with respect to existence.

    ?Set your confidence on the premises below to see your aggregate.

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Process theology (Whitehead, Hartshorne) holds that God genuinely changes by acquiring new experiences as the world develops.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.If God acquires new experiential states, God undergoes real existential change, not merely relational change.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Therefore the claim that God is immutable with respect to existence conflates existential immutability with a broader, contestable doctrine of absolute divine changelessness.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reason for 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Hegel's conception of Geist entails that the divine achieves full self-realization only through temporal historical process.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.If divine self-realization is incomplete prior to historical unfolding, God's mode of existence genuinely changes across time.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.Immutability with respect to existence thus presupposes a static ontology of divine being that serious speculative theism explicitly rejects.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Western theists deny that God can begin or cease to be.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.If God cannot begin or cease to be, He is immutable with respect to existence.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

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    Strongest counterpoint
    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.