Omniscience

From previous chapters, data showed that a number of people have come to the Buddha and asked questions. Some of these questions nature is metaphysical. It is beyond the scope of conjecture. Still, these questions are put at the Buddha by various people. Does this indicates that the interlocutors thinks the Buddha know everything? Was he omniscient? Although, the term omniscience is a prominent feature that is attributed to the Buddha and other founders of some religions. However, it nature is very ambiguous. During the Buddha’s time, the concept of omniscience varies in different traditions/religions. For example, in the Vedas, omniscience (sarvajña) is refer to the gods such as Agni, Indra, and Soma. In the Upaniṣhad omniscience is used to describe Atman/Brahman. As the Brihadāranyaka Upaniṣhad (IV 5.6) stated, “When the Self has been… known, then all… is known.” In Jainism omniscience…

Foreknowledge Versus Free Will The philosophical problem concerning human sin and God’s foreknowledge lies in the principle that if God is omniscient, humans cannot be held responsible for sin. This dilemma deals primarily with determinism and libertarianism. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy defines determinism as “the idea that every event is necessitated by antecedent events and conditions together with the laws of nature” (Hoefer, 1). Libertarianism can be defined by the denial of…

is examine some of the most popular theodicies and argue a point for their validity. The most popular theodicy is called The Free Will Defense. This argument holds that God maximized the goodness in the world by creating free beings. Being free means that we have the choice to do evil things, a choice which some of us choose to exercise. This theodicy gains so many followers because it states that God does not create evil, yet evil can not be avoided without depriving us of our fundamental…

The idea of freewill and the existence of an omniscient being poses and interesting philosophical question; Can humans have free will, and co-exist with all-knowing deity, or does this create an apparent conflict? I am going to cover what the definition of these terms (freewill and omniscience) are for our discussion, bring up a few points about an apparent conflict between omniscience and freewill, and provide a conclusion as to whether or not this conflict is a strong defeater for these two…

by Paul Helm, and it is the only view out of all four that is a compatibilist view. Compatibilists believe humans have free will and that everything is determined by God. Helm says that “the issue, as classically stated, is whether divine omniscience, as far as it is concerned with the future, is logically consistent with human freedom.”(Helm 161) If this is the case, then people must accept one of two things, that God is not as omniscient as the bible makes him seem, or that humans are not…

four sets up the structure of the work as a whole…But there are certain parts of historical revelation that resist translation. These are doctrines about the effects of grace, and each part of Religion.” (Hare, 152). According to Nash, “Given what Christians believe about God’s Omni benevolence, omniscience, and omnipotence, it seems to follow that God wants to eliminate evil, that God knows how to eliminate evil. But evil exist.” (Nash). Why is this statement intrinsic and provides the basis…

Throughout the course of human history perhaps no issue has caused as much debate or controversy as the question of the existence of God. People on both sides have provided a variety of interesting arguments to support their positions. Perhaps no argument is as famous as one by Hume which has come to be known as the problem of evil. The argument goes as follows, “Epicurus’ old questions are yet unanswered. Is he willing to prevent evil, but no able? Then he is impotent. Is he able, but not…

Yes, God is omnipotent. But if it is true that men were created in the image of God, that, too, would mean that God is in the image of us. To my knowledge, it is the mind that controls the body. Therefore, I presume it must be God’s omniscience, a quality of the mind, that controls his omnipotence, a quality of the body. Both Mackie’s logical problem of evil and his further dismissal of the freewill hypothesis incorrectly focus on God in terms of his power, not of the knowledge that controls it.…

of Evil poses the argument that 1. if there is a God, then God would be Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnibenevolent. This entails that 2. God would have the ability to eliminate all evil since God is all-powerful, 3. the knowledge to get rid of evil since God is all-knowing, and 4. would want to get rid of evil since God is all-good. 5. Therefore, since God is Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnibenevolent, God would eliminate all evil in the world. 6. However, Evil still exists on Earth. 7.…

things (Martin 2010). A possible argument is that God is able to experience physicality through a connection with his creation, which does not mean God is committing any acts through creation, but simply experiencing it through some form of link. One may also point out infinity, in that existence is infinite, and God could not possibly possess infinite knowledge, as there is always more to know, leaving no one piece unknowable, but leaving the entirety unattainable (Martin 2010). Such an…