Does God act logically?

[Ben_Sinner]

I was reading an article from Catholic Culture explaining the dangers of nominalism.

catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=6802

A few statements are made regarding what William Ockham (the ‘father’ of nominalism) believes about objective nature when it comes to God and man:

"If God’s acts do not possess a logical, objective nature — as Ockham and his disciples taught — then they are merely the result of a groundless divine will unconcerned with what humans call “reason” or “logic.” If that is the case, obviously man cannot use his reason or logic to determine what is just or unjust. Natural law, then, is simply nonsense.

Does the church teach that God acts logically, as well as we can have the ability to use logic in determining right and wrong?

Ockham went so far as to say that the Incarnation had value only to the extent God gave it value; God could have redeemed mankind just as easily by becoming a stone, tree, or donkey. If there is no common, or universal, human nature, the Incarnation was not so much about the Logos* taking on human nature as it was about God working as he wishes, in a manner unrelated to any sort of logic or reason.*

Is this a heretical teaching? Was the incarnation just a random act without logic?

Because of the arbitrary nature of reality, man cannot know the essential nature of sin and grace. Thus, he has no way of knowing his state before God — outside of intuition and inner experience. Besides, nominalism insisted, God can declare sin and grace to exist within man at the same time, regardless of man’s worthiness."

What is the church’s view on this?

How do we battle nominalist temptations as well?

 

[GLam8833]

I had a TERRIFYING vision about my own existence,
“why am I ME?”, if I were not to exist, what happens to God?
Am I God? Then I tried to wish myself non-existent. but the
pulse of life remained beating… SO, I concluded, there IS
a God, and denying Him would be utter darkness and lies,
what is the meaning of LIFE? There must be a sense of
RIGHT and wrong of JUSTICE and crime of GOOD and bad.
or else life is MEANINGLESS and empty! I hope you get the gist
of what I experienced in my terrifying vision!!!

 

[grannymh]

I was reading an article from Catholic Culture explaining the dangers of nominalism.

catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=6802

A few statements are made regarding what William Ockham (the ‘father’ of nominalism) believes about objective nature when it comes to God and man:

"If God’s acts do not possess a logical, objective nature — as Ockham and his disciples taught — then they are merely the result of a groundless divine will unconcerned with what humans call “reason” or “logic.” If that is the case, obviously man cannot use his reason or logic to determine what is just or unjust. Natural law, then, is simply nonsense.

Does the church teach that God acts logically, as well as we can have the ability to use logic in determining right and wrong?

Ockham went so far as to say that the Incarnation had value only to the extent God gave it value; God could have redeemed mankind just as easily by becoming a stone, tree, or donkey. If there is no common, or universal, human nature, the Incarnation was not so much about the Logos** taking on human nature as it was about God working as he wishes, in a manner unrelated to any sort of logic or reason.

Is this a heretical teaching? Was the incarnation just a random act without logic?

Because of the arbitrary nature of reality, man cannot know the essential nature of sin and grace. Thus, he has no way of knowing his state before God — outside of intuition and inner experience. Besides, nominalism insisted, God can declare sin and grace to exist within man at the same time, regardless of man’s worthiness."

What is the church’s view on this?

How do we battle nominalist temptations as well?

The first thing is to establish God as a transcendent, super-natural, infinitely powerful and glorious Pure Spirit solely without equal and without material restrictions of His creative freedom.

Thus, the beginning of this statement, which I put in bold, can use some mental activity.
"If God’s acts do not possess a logical, objective nature — as Ockham and his disciples taught — then they are merely the result of a groundless divine will unconcerned with what humans call “reason” or “logic.” If that is the case, obviously man cannot use his reason or logic to determine what is just or unjust. Natural law, then, is simply nonsense.

Because God is pure spirit, we start with the notion that God as Creator created human nature to share in His Divine life. Genesis 1-26-27. Because God is without material restrictions, He not only can create a nature which is material, He can also create this material being as having a spiritual principle, that is, soul.

In my humble opinion, it looks like there is the possibility of deliberately ignoring the true nature of God. However, I need to take time to study the link. I did spot an author in it who interests me.

 

[grannymh]

I was reading an article from Catholic Culture explaining the dangers of nominalism.

catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=6802

A few statements are made regarding what William Ockham (the ‘father’ of nominalism) believes about objective nature when it comes to God and man:

"If God’s acts do not possess a logical, objective nature — as Ockham and his disciples taught — then they are merely the result of a groundless divine will unconcerned with what humans call “reason” or “logic.” If that is the case, obviously man cannot use his reason or logic to determine what is just or unjust. Natural law, then, is simply nonsense.

Does the church teach that God acts logically, as well as we can have the ability to use logic in determining right and wrong?

Ockham went so far as to say that the Incarnation had value only to the extent God gave it value; God could have redeemed mankind just as easily by becoming a stone, tree, or donkey. If there is no common, or universal, human nature, the Incarnation was not so much about the Logos** taking on human nature as it was about God working as he wishes, in a manner unrelated to any sort of logic or reason.

Is this a heretical teaching? Was the incarnation just a random act without logic?

Because of the arbitrary nature of reality, man cannot know the essential nature of sin and grace. Thus, he has no way of knowing his state before God — outside of intuition and inner experience. Besides, nominalism insisted, God can declare sin and grace to exist within man at the same time, regardless of man’s worthiness."

What is the church’s view on this?

How do we battle nominalist temptations as well?

The first thing is to establish God as a transcendent, super-natural, infinitely powerful and glorious Pure Spirit solely without equal and without material restrictions of His creative freedom.

Thus, the beginning of this statement, which I put in bold, can use some mental activity.
"If God’s acts do not possess a logical, objective nature — as Ockham and his disciples taught — then they are merely the result of a groundless divine will unconcerned with what humans call “reason” or “logic.” If that is the case, obviously man cannot use his reason or logic to determine what is just or unjust. Natural law, then, is simply nonsense.

Because God is pure spirit, we start with the notion that God as Creator created human nature to share in His Divine life. Genesis 1-26-27. Because God is without material restrictions, He not only can create a nature which is material, He can also create this material being as having a spiritual principle, that is, soul.

In my humble opinion, it looks as if Ockham is deliberately ignoring the true nature of God. However, I need to take time to study the link. I did spot an author there who interests me.

 

[kkollwitz]

God’s infinite love transcends logic.

 

[RedFox0456]

Consider that Jesus is referred to as the Logos. It is in the very fabric of Christian theology that God is logic. It is why Christianity gave us modern science - because we believed that God created the universe with such unwavering order and logic that we could actually understand it.

 

[ChainBreaker]

God’s infinite love transcends logic.

Love is logical

 

[Iron_Donkey]

Consider that Jesus is referred to as the Logos. It is in the very fabric of Christian theology that God is logic. It is why Christianity gave us modern science - because we believed that God created the universe with such unwavering order and logic that we could actually understand it.

Yes, God acts logically not because there is this external thing to Him called logic that He must obey, but because logic itself flows from how He is. Kind of like how water is wet not in the sense of having water on it, like a wet towel vs a dry towel, but in the sense of being, well, water.

 

[Bookcat]

‘Logic’ comes from the word “logos” (word, reason, meaning…)

Jesus is the Logos - indeed the meaning of all things.

“The Logos, who is with God, is the Logos who is God, the Creator of the world (cf. Jn 1:1) through whom all things were created (cf. 1:3) and who has accompanied men and women through history with his light (cf. 1:4-5; 1:9), became one among many and made his dwelling among us, becoming one of us (cf. 2:14).”

~ Pope Benedict XVI (Wed Audience Jan 2013)

“God is the absolute and ultimate source of all being; but this universal principle of creation—the* Logos*, primordial reason—is at the same time a lover with all the passion of a true love.”

~ Pope Benedict XVI ( Encylical God is Love).

 

[grannymh]

Ockham went so far as to say that the Incarnation had value only to the extent God gave it value; God could have redeemed mankind just as easily by becoming a stone, tree, or donkey. If there is no common, or universal, human nature, the Incarnation was not so much about the Logos taking on human nature as it was about God working as he wishes, in a manner unrelated to any sort of logic or reason.

Is this a heretical teaching? Was the incarnation just a random act without logic?

This is not even close to Catholic teachings. The Incarnation is the logical soution to the devastating result of Original Sin. Obvioulsy, repairing a broken relationship between humanity and Divinity would be the practical, that is, logical way to handle Original Sin.

Because of the arbitrary nature of reality, man cannot know the essential nature of sin and grace. Thus, he has no way of knowing his state before God — outside of intuition and inner experience. Besides, nominalism insisted, God can declare sin and grace to exist within man at the same time, regardless of man’s worthiness."

***What is the church’s view on this? ***