Was God able to go "outside" of himself?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ben_Sinner
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
B

Ben_Sinner

Guest
God says that he is eternal and only he existed since the beginning of time. He is the Alpha and the Omega. No one created God. He just IS.

My question is this though: How can God know that, if all he knew was within himself? Wouldn’t he have to look “outside himself”? to prove this?

He also created the universe out of nothing. This would also seem to imply that he had to go outside of himself.
 
In the words of Highlander, there can be only one. One perfectly simple, pure act. Whatever that is must be first, before all else. And this we call God.

So no.
 
Ben_Sinner said:
God says that he is eternal and only he existed since the beginning of time. He is the Alpha and the Omega. No one created God. He just IS.

My question is this though: How can God know that, if all he knew was within himself? Wouldn’t he have to look “outside himself”? to prove this?

He also created the universe out of nothing. This would also seem to imply that he had to go outside of himself.
Click to expand...
Not really. Before the universe (whether or not a “Big Bang” was involved), there **was **no outside the mind of God.

In fact, the world, the sky, our human bodies, and even our own minds are as though “synapses” inside the Divine Mind.

ICXC NIKA
 
God is existence itself (I AM THAT I AM). There is no “outside” where he can go.

tee
 
GEddie said:
Not really. Before the universe (whether or not a “Big Bang” was involved), there **was **no outside the mind of God.

In fact, the world, the sky, our human bodies, and even our own minds are as though “synapses” inside the Divine Mind.

ICXC NIKA
Click to expand...
Wouldn’t that lead to pantheism, or perhaps even God being a solipsist then?
 
Ben_Sinner said:
Wouldn’t that lead to pantheism, or perhaps even God being a solipsist then?
Click to expand...
Pantheism, no. Other things being thoughts in God’s mind does not make them God.

And God could in a sense be described as a solipsist if there were no Trinity.

ICXC NIKA
 
Another part of my question I didn’t really make clear is this:

*How can we be certain that God is the first and only, and that no other higher power created him?..then it kind of leads to “who created the higher power than God, and who created the higher power that is the higher power who created God…(infinite regress)?”
*

Since God isn’t able to go “outside” of himself, then he can’t know that there is a higher power than him that is outside of him who possibly created him…so since God can’t don’t that, maybe what he believes is that he is the absolutely being, because that is all he knows.

.
 
Ben_Sinner said:
Another part of my question I didn’t really make clear is this:

*How can we be certain that God is the first and only, and that no other higher power created him?..then it kind of leads to “who created the higher power than God, and who created the higher power that is the higher power who created God…(infinite regress)?”
*

Since God isn’t able to go “outside” of himself, then he can’t know that there is a higher power than him that is outside of him who possibly created him…so since God can’t don’t that, maybe what he believes is that he is the absolutely being, because that is all he knows.

.
Click to expand...
Seems like you are saying that the god you are describing has limited knowledge. The God I believe in has unlimited knowledge. How is your question any different than the “can god make a rock so big he cannot lift it?” question? On this basis I would called it a meaningless question.
 
davidv said:
Seems like you are saying that the god you are describing has limited knowledge. The God I believe in has unlimited knowledge. How is your question any different than the “can god make a rock so big he cannot lift it?” question? On this basis I would called it a meaningless question.
Click to expand...
Yes, you are right in that it is a meaningless question, kind of like, “Can God smell the color pink? No? Then God clearly isn’t omnipotent.”

If Ben Sinner is considering a god who doesn’t know that there’s some other entity in existence, then this god isn’t God.
 
Ben_Sinner said:
Another part of my question I didn’t really make clear is this:

*How can we be certain that God is the first and only, and that no other higher power created him?..then it kind of leads to “who created the higher power than God, and who created the higher power that is the higher power who created God…(infinite regress)?”
*

Since God isn’t able to go “outside” of himself, then he can’t know that there is a higher power than him that is outside of him who possibly created him…so since God can’t don’t that, maybe what he believes is that he is the absolutely being, because that is all he knows.

.
Click to expand...
You are approaching the question backwards. It is not, “There’s a God, is He first?” Rather, it’s, “Is there something first? Then that is what we call God.”
 
Isn’t knowledge of all inherent in the definition of God?

If so, then anything less is simply not God.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top