How can God be omnipresent and transcendent at the same time?

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This question occurred to me after seeing a recent post on another thread of mine. So the question is: How can God be omnipresent and transcendent at the same time?

No doubt St. Thomas Aquinas probably has an answer to this, but I don’t think there would be many users on this forum who are well-read about Thomist philosophy.
 
Who are we as finite creatures to impose limitations and human concepts on the almighty creator of the Universe. "I am who I am. " Exodus 3:14
 
Having or exhibiting the both qualities is not a dichotomy at all. As applied to God, transcendence simply means “existing apart from and not subject to the limitations of the material universe”. Omniscience does not conflict with this. Transcendence actually serves to explain His omniscience.
 
… my dear friend ,

… my own take is god is everything or is in everything in all and many ways , gods omnipresence is present in his creations in that his creations whilst not being him , have been made a part of him in a sense , although pantheism is out , eg if a man loses a leg and gets a bionic leg the bionic leg becomes part of him and yet it is not at the same time , it’s a poor example perhaps but worth consdiering , god is present in his creation and very active and at work in it – it cannot exist without his willing it …

… another way ( perhaps a better way ) to view the relationship that may work better is god is dreaming and all is just thought in the mind of god , so all creation exists as thought eanating from the ultimate good thought which is god , the thought is not him but it is part of him in a sense and yet separate from him at the same time , and the thoufght cannot exist without or outside him , this seems to take care of the problem , what do you think dear friend ??? …

… may god bless and love you 👍🙂 ,

… john …
 
Bohm_Bawerk said:
This question occurred to me after seeing a recent post on another thread of mine. So the question is: How can God be omnipresent and transcendent at the same time?

No doubt St. Thomas Aquinas probably has an answer to this, but I don’t think there would be many users on this forum who are well-read about Thomist philosophy.
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Instead of the Earth at the beginning of creation think of a sword thrust deep into the blazing coals of a coke forge. Our whole universe is the forge, God " the blacksmith " is on the outside of the forge. The forge has no influence on him. But he has influence on the forge and all within it " we " the sword are always subject to the laws He dictates. He may of His will approach the forge and draw close to us. He may also draw the sword from the flames and draw us to him. Because God is not part of the forge he is Transcendent of it. Because God is in control of it and all within it, He is also Omnipresent.
 
God is transcendent because He created everything ex nihilo. He is the sole Cause and Sustainer of everything - which implies that He is omnipresent because nothing can exist without His “ontological support”.
 
Bohm_Bawerk said:
So the question is: How can God be omnipresent and transcendent at the same time?
Click to expand...
Transcendence refers to the fact that God is above all things by virtue of his essence; his omnipresence refers to his being cause of all things. Hence transcendence and omnipresence refer to two different yet complementary ways of understanding the Divine Nature (see ST 1a, q8, a1, ad1).
 
God does not change. God is perfect. Therefore, God is transcendent.

Malachi 3:6 “I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed”

James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

That is, he is above his creation and wholly ‘other’ from his creation.

God is simultaneously omnipresent and the only tension that can be perceived there is imposed by us human beings. If we understand that God is Love and created us out of love than we can see how his presence is immanent yet, transcendent.

The mystics offer us, if you will, an opportunity to see how this may be so. The mystic is in the world yet communicates with God who is transcendent. Actually, many people have a personal relationship with God and have no problem knowing that he is transcendent and omnipresent.

I think the difficulty comes in when we try to impose our intellectual conceptions on the mind and God. I think that a better approach is to approach God as an innocent child and let him tell us about himself. He will guide us to see things and understand concepts that on our own we are unable. It is God who gives wisdom and all we need to do is put our pride aside and be humble and with an open heart and mind let him know that you want to get to know him.
 
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