Final Short Responses Harder

If the universe is comprised entirely of beings for whom existence is not an essential component of what they are what does this evidence imply?

A. There is a being whose nature is existence who is the source of the existence that existing things must receive

Why is God a spirit?

A. Matter is a kind of being with parts, and things made of matter have the potential to ‘fall apart” and so lose their existence

B. Spirit is the kind of being that has a permanent hold on existence; it has no parts and so can not “fall apart” and lose existence

C. If Gods nature is existence, He cannot be the kind of being that can lose existence and so must be spirit

Why does God transcend space?

A. God is existence and therefore must be the kind of being that cannot lose existence (spirit)

B. Spirit is the kind of being that has no parts and thus does not need space into which parts must be spread

C. Because God is spirit, God does not occupy space

Why is God one?

A. God (existence) is spirit and therefore cannot be divided into parts

B. There cannot be two or more “Gods” claiming to be existence because then each God would have to possess a part of existence that the other would not

Why is God infinite?

A. Infinity is the absence of all limits or boundaries, and there are two basic kinds of limits or boundaries: internal and external

B. Because God is spirit, He has no internal limits or boundaries, which serve to distinguish parts from one another

C. Because God is one, He has no external limits or boundaries, in the sense of having an “outer” limit or boundary that distinguishes God from some other “God”

Why is God eternal?

A. Time is the measurement of change

B. Because God is spirit, He cannot change by subtraction, since being able to lose part of existence implies that He would have to be material

C. Because God alone is existence, whole and entire, He cannot change by addition, which would imply that he was somehow limited by the part of existence He did not yet have

D. Where no change is possible, there is no time

How is God omnipresent?

A. Before a universe of receivers of existence received existence, only God existed

B. Thus, God brought the universe into existence from nothing and so must rely on nothing to keep the universe into existence

C. Thus, God is present everywhere by continually supplying the existence that existing things receive

How do we know God is a personal being with an intellect and will?

A. God is existence and therefore is also responsible for all the various forms and perfections found in existing things

B. Thus, God possesses all the various forms and perfections found in existing things (one cannot give what they do not have)

C. There perfections include those peculiar to human beings, such as the spiritual powers of intellect and will, and being personal

Why is God identical with the characteristics predicated of Him?

A. Some characteristics attributed to God include truth, love, justice, mercy and beauty

B. if such predicates were not completely identical with God, then a limit or boundary would have to be introduced into existence itself (part of God would be truth, and part of God would not), which violates his internal limitlessness

What is the ethical importance of assigning the total “image of God” to every human being?

A. Part of human nature is that we are all created in the “image of God”, in turn all human beings have a royal and sacred dignity and so cannot be treated merely as objects

How does the Father communicate divinity to the Son?

The father generates the Son through the use of the divine intellect to form a completely perfect idea of the Father, containing everything that the Father is including personhood

How do the Father and Son communicate divinity to the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and Sons eternal use of the one divine will in an act of mutual, self emptying love that perfectly expresses and communicates everything that the Father and Son are, including personhood

What does Christianity teach about the way human nature has actually existed?

The first state is undamaged with grace. The current state of human nature is damaged without grace, human nature has never existed without grace

According to Christianity, what two problems did the human race have after the Fall in terms of restoring what was lost, and how did the Incarnation solve these two problems?

1. The grace necessary for an immediate, supernatural friendship between the human race and God in something only God can cause, and thus only God can restore it

2. As a matter of justice, the human race is responsible for repairing the damage in this relationship. But an act of obedience of damaged human nature does not have the moral quality to offset an act of obedience by undamaged human nature

1. God the Son has the divine power necessary to restore lost supernatural life (grace)

2. God the Son unites becomes a member to the human race by uniting with a complete human nature to fulfill the demands of justice. The human nature taken by God the Son is undamaged and so is capable of performing an act of obedience to offset the disobedience of the first parents

How do Christians explain the statements, “God suffered”, and “God died”?

the word “God” only means the divine person, the actions are only proper to human nature, so they must be talking about the incarnate versions of God

What Hindu principles make possible the doctrine of karma?

1. Brahman is identical with creation

2. Brahman is justice

3. If so, everything that happens to a person is either a reward or punishment for one’s actions