Is God the only "all-knowing" being?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Catholic4Jesus
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
C

Catholic4Jesus

Guest
Of course we all know that God is “all knowing.” He knows everything that we do, think, and say even before we do it. He sees all things at all places and all times. However, is the same also true for the Blessed Mother and the Saints? Of course we can pray to them, but do they know what we want before we ask them? Do they see all things at all places and all times? Or is God the only one who is all knowing?
 
I do not believe Saints or the Blessed Mother can have the same powers as God. If so they would equal God, or be Gods in their own right. Because someone is Holy or a martyr for Christ, their reward is everlasting joy, in paradise, with God, no more, no less.
God is all knowing, remember the Blessed Mother and the others in heaven were people, born on this earth, this was their first and only time of existence. God the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit make up the Holy Trinity. One God in three Persons. The Alpha and the Omega. No others in heaven can claim these powers, ever. ONLY God can know all things.
 
You are right. my mistake. thank you for the correction. I will change it if I still can.
 
God’s all-knowingness comes from Him being All-Powerful Creator and being outside of time. The only way anyone/thing else could know as much as He does would be for God to tell them/it. As such, this would mean that God is the only being to really know all.

So, I would say, yes, God is the only “all-knowing” being.
 
If nothing else, only God can truly know what it is to be God.
 
This is probably the answer:
"But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.
 
Omniscience is the very essence of God. Anything that was truly all-knowing, would, by definition, be God.

It is an absolute logical impossibility that any created thing could be all-knowing.
 
Of course we all know that God is “all knowing.” He knows everything that we do, think, and say even before we do it. He sees all things at all places and all times. However, is the same also true for the Blessed Mother and the Saints? Of course we can pray to them, but do they know what we want before we ask them? Do they see all things at all places and all times? Or is God the only one who is all knowing?
In my opinion God is the only one who is “all knowing.” He alone has a comprehensive knowledge of all things. He alone knows what will happen on earth before they actually happen.

The saints and the blessed in Heaven, including the Blessed Mother, enjoy what is known as the beatific vision, where they see God “face to face.” In seeing God, they see all things in Him as well, though not in equal measure, but in proportion to the greatness of their sanctity. Therefore, in my opinion, the saints in heaven have a knowledge of what happens here on earth, and the Blessed Mother could hear all the petitions of her children. I could not say the same about the souls in purgatory. Since these souls have not received the beatific vision yet, I don’t think that they really have a knowledge about what is happening on earth, unless it is revealed to them by God, or by one of the angels or the saints.

Although the saints know all things through their vision of the Divine Essence, it does not mean that they know everything as God knows them. For example, only God knows Himself perfectly, while the saints know Him only in a limited way - limited by their finite grace and their finite being. In addition, God knows the future because He lives in a different duration, - the NOW of eternity, - where He sees the past, the present and the future. The saints, however, are living in time - a time that will have no end, - but in the “now” of time they only see the present, not the past nor the future. If they ever need to know anything about the future, I suppose, they could always ask God to reveal the matter to them.
 
If this is all true, how can the Blessed Mother and the Saint hear our prayers if they can’t see what we’re doing all the time?
 
If this is all true, how can the Blessed Mother and the Saint hear our prayers if they can’t see what we’re doing all the time?
God can grant as much knowledge to any person (human on this earth, human in heaven, angel) as he desires.

Remember in Revelation that the writer (John) can hear every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea.
 
God can grant as much knowledge to any person (human on this earth, human in heaven, angel) as he desires.

Remember in Revelation that the writer (John) can hear every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea.
So then they always know when we pray to them, but they won’t necessarily know everything else we do in our everyday lives I guess.
 
I think the question can be answered with a simple argument in the negative.

(1) If a being is omniscient, then any logical statement which can be conceived this being must know.
(2) Since one can combine any two logical statements into a logical disjunction, there must be infinite conceivable logical statements.
(3) Only a timeless or infinite being can conceive of an infinite set of logical statements.
(4) God is omniscient.
(5) Therefore by (3) God is infinite.

(6) Now assume there must be some other being, Bob, who also is omniscient.
(7) Bob must also be infinite or timeless.

Thus, if doctrine does not allow for two infinite beings, then there cannot exist a second omniscient being without contradiction, since omniscience implies infinitude.

The main objection I anticipate is that it may be possible for a finite being to conceive of infinite logical statements. But I would respond to that by pointing out a finite being in time cannot possibly do this unless he can conceive an infinity of logical statements simultaneously.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top