The Theology Game: The Freedom of G-d
I recently managed to find the blog of one of my old College friends (http://holy-vignettes.blogspot.com/ for the curious). Within that blog she proposes a theology game. This is my reply to her most recent prompt.
The first thing to understand in my reply to this prompt is that I am an agnostic who adopts an atheistic working model. My knowledge of the Abrahamic texts are minimal (I’ve read one translation of the Old Testament, one or two books from the same translation of the New Testament, a couple passages from what I suspect to be an unreliable translation of the Koran, and a handful of the apocryphal narratives from various sources).
With that in mind, my reflections on the freedom of G-d are probably more like reflections on the limits of the concept of omnipotence within an uncountably infinite universe. For if G-d can truly be said to be omnipotent, then in theory it is free to do whatever it wishes whenever it wishes to do so.
And let me say that for this thought experiment I am not using the standard ‘scientific’ definition of the universe, but rather as shorthand for the span of all existences including all universes and all ‘spaces’ beyond the universes over which G-d can be said to have influence (and let me just note that if G-d is omnipotent, then there should be nothing which exists outside of this definition of the universe).
Within such a view of the universe all things that can happen will happen, therefore the ability to perform an act is the same as the existence of that act somewhere within the ‘universe.’ This, in turn, means that if there is anything that G-d has not done within this expanded definition of ‘universe,’ then it is truly something beyond the power of G-d.
Now let’s examine the following question, “Can G-d permanently and irrevocably remove all of his or her influence from the entirety expanded universe in such a way that it may never be reclaimed while simultaneously allowing the universe to continue to exist?”
If this act is within G-d’s power, then it has already happened somewhere within the universe, and G-d therefore has no influence and is not omnipotent. Alternately, it has not happened anywhere within the expanded universe, and is therefore beyond G-d’s abilities.
Either way, within this model G-d cannot be fully omnipotent, though this breakdown of power only occurs when the powers of G-d would come into conflict with the powers of G-d. With regards to limited beings, such as ourselves, G-d can, and in fact has done everything - we are just incapable of perceiving the other aspects of G-d’s creation.
In other words, within this model, whenever someone asks, “Why has G-d done -----?” the answer would be some variant of, “to perfectly complete existence.” Whenever someone asks, “Why hasn’t G-d done -----?” the answer would be some variant of “G-d has done so, we are simply unable to perceive it.”
Incidentally, as I said at the beginning, this construction was built purely from my own understanding of the concepts of omnipotence and the infinite. If anyone can recommend any philosophers, theologians, or biblical passages that use a similar approach or arrive at a similar construction, I would be interested in seeing who or what they are.
The first thing to understand in my reply to this prompt is that I am an agnostic who adopts an atheistic working model. My knowledge of the Abrahamic texts are minimal (I’ve read one translation of the Old Testament, one or two books from the same translation of the New Testament, a couple passages from what I suspect to be an unreliable translation of the Koran, and a handful of the apocryphal narratives from various sources).
With that in mind, my reflections on the freedom of G-d are probably more like reflections on the limits of the concept of omnipotence within an uncountably infinite universe. For if G-d can truly be said to be omnipotent, then in theory it is free to do whatever it wishes whenever it wishes to do so.
And let me say that for this thought experiment I am not using the standard ‘scientific’ definition of the universe, but rather as shorthand for the span of all existences including all universes and all ‘spaces’ beyond the universes over which G-d can be said to have influence (and let me just note that if G-d is omnipotent, then there should be nothing which exists outside of this definition of the universe).
Within such a view of the universe all things that can happen will happen, therefore the ability to perform an act is the same as the existence of that act somewhere within the ‘universe.’ This, in turn, means that if there is anything that G-d has not done within this expanded definition of ‘universe,’ then it is truly something beyond the power of G-d.
Now let’s examine the following question, “Can G-d permanently and irrevocably remove all of his or her influence from the entirety expanded universe in such a way that it may never be reclaimed while simultaneously allowing the universe to continue to exist?”
If this act is within G-d’s power, then it has already happened somewhere within the universe, and G-d therefore has no influence and is not omnipotent. Alternately, it has not happened anywhere within the expanded universe, and is therefore beyond G-d’s abilities.
Either way, within this model G-d cannot be fully omnipotent, though this breakdown of power only occurs when the powers of G-d would come into conflict with the powers of G-d. With regards to limited beings, such as ourselves, G-d can, and in fact has done everything - we are just incapable of perceiving the other aspects of G-d’s creation.
In other words, within this model, whenever someone asks, “Why has G-d done -----?” the answer would be some variant of, “to perfectly complete existence.” Whenever someone asks, “Why hasn’t G-d done -----?” the answer would be some variant of “G-d has done so, we are simply unable to perceive it.”
Incidentally, as I said at the beginning, this construction was built purely from my own understanding of the concepts of omnipotence and the infinite. If anyone can recommend any philosophers, theologians, or biblical passages that use a similar approach or arrive at a similar construction, I would be interested in seeing who or what they are.