Natural arguments for humanly conceived good God

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thinkandmull

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Without going into the question of whether man really has a nature, how can it be proven that God can’t create a being with a personhood only, solely consciousness, without a nature, and keep it forever in hell. How can it be proven that simply consciousness has goodness in it? STRONG ARGUMENTS NEEDED. Thanks
 
God is good. He creates only Good. Autonomy is good. Autonomy is good because we can choose to do good. Without consciousness, awareness of what one is doing and choosing to do, personal autonomy is meaningless. Therefore consciousness must be good.

Sin is evil, because it perverts the autonomy gave us to do evil. God did not create sin, he created beings capable of sin. A conscious, autonomous being corrupts himself by choosing to sin. The mere capacity to sin, however, does not itself negate the innate goodness of the autonomy to choose to do good. Indeed, it is a necessary evil, for with no choice, the autonomy to choose to do good is meaningless.

Consciousness is good, firstly because God created it, and because of it allows an autonomous person to know when he can and does choose do good.
 
Well consciousness is good because it can be united to a good nature. But can God create a person who is inherently in nature bad for a certain good, or a neutral soul?
 
thinkandmull said:
Without going into the question of whether man really has a nature, how can it be proven that God can’t create a being with a personhood only, solely consciousness, without a nature, and keep it forever in hell. How can it be proven that simply consciousness has goodness in it? STRONG ARGUMENTS NEEDED. Thanks
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Hello thinkandmull,

Before I try to answer, what is your definition of “nature” and “person”? (Based on your question, I think we understand different things by these concepts, and that would affect my answer.)

Also, when you say “keep [something] forever in hell,” we know from the Faith that Hell is a real possibility for those who reject God’s grace, so I am not expecting to find any philosophical arguments in favor of universal salvation. Do you mean “create someone who has no chance to escape Hell” (as some Calvinists believe)?
 
thinkandmull said:
Without going into the question of whether man really has a nature, how can it be proven that God can’t create a being with a personhood only, solely consciousness, without a nature, and keep it forever in hell. How can it be proven that simply consciousness has goodness in it? STRONG ARGUMENTS NEEDED. Thanks
Click to expand...
Consciousness is the ability to experience and affect or create mental state.

Good could be defined as a quality that appears to consciousness which directs us toward an end, opposite to wrong. Hence consciousness has the potential to direct us toward Good.
 
Well I know an existential, and I am wondering what he is going to be thinking when he gets older and has dementia, wondering if he is a person anymore. What argument can be given that he won’t be abandoned by God, as long as he isn’t a great sinner? Can there be a personhood without a good nature attached?

I also wonder why Aquinas believed that Adam and Eve sinned, according to his beliefs of efficacious grace. Why did they have to sin so to speak? Why was it infallibly certain? Did God create a bad nature?
 
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