C
Contarini
Guest
I would be happy to believe so.
Exactly. Which is to say, He can’t be the sort of being described by Jack Chick. In fact, He can’t be in any respect other than He is, though He could have chosen to do certain good things that He has not done (such as create unicorns, which, alas, appear to belong wholly to the world of secondary creation).
Morality stems from God’s nature. The moral law is an expression of the divine reason, not simply of the divine will (God’s will follows His reason).
Our reason participates in divine reason. It’s not “judging God” to make rational moral judgments–rather, it’s the highest form of worship way can pay the true and living God. You are positing an impossible state of affairs and then making an argument based on it. I probably should not have followed suit (with my omnipotent creative demon scenario), but the point I was trying to make is that it is God’s goodness that makes Him worthy of worship, rather than simply His power.
I know that. Only goodness can create. The problem is that we are positing a different logical order. You seem to think that it’s conceivable for God to set up radically different moral rules. I don’t think this is conceivable. I think it’s a nonsensical scenario from the start (except in the sense that God could presumably have created different kinds of rational creatures–and maybe has for all we know–for whom some moral rules might have been a bit different owing to their different nature).
Actually no. God has no opposite. Or, in other words, the opposite of God is Nothing.
You are right that “what is noble” and “what God decides is noble” are the same thing. But moral excellence is not something God “decides” in the way that He decided the color of grass. It is a participation in God’s *nature.
*Obviously the impossible omnipotent but evil being we are discussing would not be God, so I’m not talking about defying God.
True, and that in the real world that goes along with goodness. But if it were possible to separate the attributes you describe from goodness (I’m very grateful that it isn’t, and no doubt it’s only our sinfulness that allows us to imagine it), then the ability-to-hold-my-protons-together would not in itself be worthy of worship.
With all due respect, you don’t understand me this time.I hate it when I disagree with you but let me explain my reasoning and maybe you will understand.Most of the time I agree with you on issues. Even when I disagree with you I still always understand your reasoning.
God created “divine law” (specific commands) but He did not create “eternal law” (basic moral principles). He is eternal law. You are taking an overly reductionistic view of law as “rules.” How familiar are you with St. Thomas Aquinas’s writings on this subject? (Aquinas is the primary source for the position I’m defending, though of course he never wrote hypothetically about omnipotent demons!) You can find his views in brief here.
