God As Infinite (Survey Comparison)

Fishguard Pier, Wales-trekearth

August 21, 2013 

bethesda.ministries.india@gmail.com 

Jai M Paul a friend of this blog 

Bethesda Church Ministries 

Hyderabad, India 

Prayers and Funds to be sent please on behalf of orphaned children 


2003 The Problem of Evil: Anglican and Baptist Perspectives: MPhil thesis, Bangor University 

ERICKSON, MILLARD (1994) Christian Theology, Grand Rapids, Baker Book House.

Statement one: The first statement on the survey was stated as: God is infinite/limitless.

My position on this statement is that Scripture and reason demonstrate this to be the case in the affirmative. Scripture does not use the philosophical term infinite to describe God, however, Erickson stated that the idea is indicated.

Jeremiah quotes God as saying, ‘Am I a God at hand,...and not a God afar off? (Jer. 23:23). The implication seems to be that a God at hand does not preclude his being afar as well. He fills the whole heaven and earth (v.24). Thus, one cannot hide oneself in ‘secret places’ so that he cannot be seen. God speaks of heaven as his throne and the earth as his footstool; the idea that man can confine God by building him a dwelling place is then, sheer folly. The psalmist found that he could not flee from presence of God–wherever the psalmist went, God would be there (Ps. 139:7-12). Erickson, Millard, J. (1985), Christian Theology (p. 273).

One could argue that Scripture is not indicating God is infinite as an attribute, but is, instead, stating that he is all powerful and knowing within his creation. In other words, he is simply of greater finite nature than anything in his creation. However, in Genesis 1, it is indicated that God made the Universe from nothing other than his will and power. Thus he must be beyond all things which he has created, so logically he is infinite in comparison to his creation, and nothing else existed before his creation. Therefore it could be deduced that he is infinite as an attribute, as it appears nothing existed beyond him before or after the creation of the Universe. For this first statement, 94% of Anglicans agreed, 4% were not certain, while 2% disagreed. For Baptists, 98% agreed, while 2% were not certain.

There is with this point an agreement between myself and the great majority of my responders.

2010 Theodicy and Practical Theology: PhD thesis, the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David, Lampeter

Question 13: God is close to all persons

With a frequency of 95 (44.6%) respondents ‘AS’ is the top response, followed by 54 (25.4%) respondents for ‘A’. So 70% of respondents support this idea. There are fair numbers of ‘NC’ as 26 (12.2%) respondents made that choice, and 38 (l7.8%) respondents chose ‘D/DS’.

I do not view this question as primarily important for work on theodicy, but interestingly God’s closeness to persons or immanence is accepted by 70% of the respondents in a world where the problem of evil exists.

Question 14: God is beyond his creation

One hundred and fifteen (54%) respondents chose ‘AS’ and 30 (14.1%) chose ‘A’. This indicates 68.1% support of this idea. It is not specifically indicated in the questionnaire due to limitations of empirical theology, but I am within the survey communicating the idea of transcendence, which shall be discussed in the Theology and Application section.

Question 15: God is in all things

This question concerned the concept of pantheism, and not immanence. From the results, bearing in mind the context of the question is not provided with empirical theology, many respondents understood the question as dealing with immanence. Therefore 74 (34.7%) respondents preferred ‘AS’ while 46 (21.6%) respondents selected ‘A’. It is doubtful that 56.3% of those in the Christian Church, whether conservative or liberal, are pantheists!. Sixty-nine (32.4%) respondents chose ‘D/DS’ and therefore I deduce these respondents reasoned pantheism was being discussed. Pantheism will be further discussed in the Theology and Application section. 

Question 16: God separates himself from his creation

This is a difficult question. The idea behind the proposition is a concern on whether or not the transcendent and immanent God, as infinite and omnipresent, limits his influence on creation and, in a sense, separates his will from that of created beings, allowing them significant, but limited free will. Sixty-four (30%) respondents preferred ‘AS/A’ with this question, 41 (19.2%) chose ‘NC’, while 108 (50.7%) respondents selected ‘D/DS’.

Question 13

Question 14

Question 15

Question 16

Which survey questions?

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