Is God Always the Creator?: Exploring Divine Attributes

 Is God Always the Creator?: Exploring Divine Attributes


Has God always been The Creator? This question arose in my mind while reading Dr. William Lane Craig’s book, Time and Eternity: Exploring God’s Relationship to Time, as on page 88 he states, 

“Thomas agrees with premise (3). On his view, relations between God and creatures, such as God’s being Lord over the world, first began to exist at the moment at which creatures come into being.”

The context of this quote was whether God is temporal or timeless. Craig argues that since the beginning of creation, God is temporal as creating necessitates new relations that He previously did not have. An extrinsic change within God necessitates temporality. However, my inquiry is regarding whether God is “Lord over the world” regardless if creation exists. Surely, all rational souls agree that God is Lord when creation exists but how about before? Some argue that God became a creator as soon as He created and thus some attributes of God are not eternal. However, I shall contend to the contrary. 

I agree with Craig that God is temporal as it relates to creation as God can go from speaking with Moses to not speaking to Him. However, I would go further and say that God has His attributes such as being The Creator or being the “Lord over the world” prior to creation. It is not because He created that He earned the title or attribute, rather because He has the power to create He has such attribute and deserves such title. Furthermore, God has all His attributes prior to creation as if He did not have His attributes before then He would not be perfect and therefore not God as He would have gained something which He previously did not. God possesses all of His attributes eternally and it must be stated that the relationship between God and His attributes is not that of a causal dependence but a counterfactual dependence. What is meant by this is that His attributes are intrinsic to His existence. For example, a triangle intrinsically has three sides to be a triangle. In the same way, God has the attributes of perfection to be God.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Refutation of the Ashariyyah Aqidah

Image
Refutation of the Ashariyyah Aqidah   Aqidah:   Ash’ari beliefs:   1. Divine timelessness i.e. that Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ does not perform new sequential actions Himself. 2. Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ acts without motive or wisdom behind His acts as they believe if Allah was acting to fulfill a purpose then He would have been previously imperfect as He would be in need of something. 3. Metaphorical interpretations of Allah’s actions and attributes in order to avoid anthropomorphism. 4. Occasionalism i.e. the belief that God is the only true cause and that what we perceive as causes and effects in the world are merely occasions for God’s direct intervention. They deny that created entities have any intrinsic causal power or secondary causation. In other words, God creates the cause and the effect at each moment independent of the material 5. objects that seem to be involved. 6. Morality is arbitrarily based on Allah’s سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ will i.e. absolu
Read more

Overview of Athari Metaphysics

Image
Overview of Athari Metaphysics Metaphysics, the study of the fundamental nature of reality and existence, presents significant challenges and complexities. Within the realm of metaphysics, the Athari, a school of thought in Sunni Islam, perspective offers a unique approach to understanding the attributes and actions ascribed to Allah, or God. This overview explores the fundamental principles of their (and also my) metaphysics, including the distinction between the different types of predications when describing God’s attributes. It also considers the role of rational arguments alongside textual proofs for the existence of God and questions the concept of Divine Simplicity. Additionally, the overview delves into the uncreated nature of the Quran and the understanding of God's actions within His essence. By examining Athari metaphysics, we gain insights into the nuanced interpretation of divine attributes and deepen our understanding of God’s unknowable essence. The Athari view d
Read more

Challenging the Trinity: Indexicals and the Leftow Dilemma

Image
Challenging the Trinity: Indexicals and the Leftow Dilemma     The Doctrine of the Trinity stands as a central tenet of Christian belief, positing the existence of three distinct persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—within the divine unity of God. However, a nuanced examination reveals intriguing challenges that will be discussed in detail. This blog post will present two more arguments against the Doctrine of the Trinity. I have already discussed the Logical Problem of the Trinity (LPT) and how the Trinity contradicts Divine Simplicity elsewhere on my blog.   The Argument from Indexicals:   Indexical: A linguistic expression whose reference can change based on the context. Examples of indexicals include I, he, she, here, that, etc. If Person A says I am happy and Person B utters the same sentence, even though the sentence is the same, Person A is saying it while person B is saying it. In the orthodox conception of the doctrine of the Trinity, there is only one mind or one will in the
Read more