Now and Then A Discourse on Issues of God and Time Essay

Now and Then: A Discourse on Issues of God and Time The classical understanding of Gods relationship with time, eternity, and his knowledge of the future, as exemplified by Classical thinkers such as Boethius, Aquinas, and others, creates problems in regards to creaturely freedom. The question is typically phrased, Since God is never wrong, if God knows at one moment that one of his creatures will perform some act at a moment which will occur after the moment he knew of the act, then will his creature perform this act? I maintain that God does not know the future, because, first, Gods knowledge of the future destroys creaturely freedom, second, God is always ever Creating, and, finally, the future is not knowable. According to†¦show more content†¦If, at t2 S does not perform act p, then God was wrong at time t1. This means that God is fallible, which is unacceptable to both myself and Aquinas, so in this case if God knew last week that I would decide to drink French roast coffee instead of orange juice today, then I had no choice but to drink French roast coffee. Both Aquinas and I agree that God is not fallible, but Aquinas is willing to give up creaturely freedom in order to prove it. The importance of creaturely freedom is that, because traditional Christian thought contains the notion of divine judgment, creatures should be responsible for their actions. Of modern concern is the work of Alan G. Puget (1989). Puget proposes a new doctrine of timeless eternity in reference to God (1989, 209). He differs from his traditional forefathers in that he presents the paradox that God is in time and yet transcends time (1989, 209). His argument is that God is relatively timeless, which means that he is not in any Measured Time (1989, 215). Puget contends that the issue of time and eternity is one of perception; that is, if I experience one hour, God does not experience it in the same manner as I do, because that would mean that God is subject to time. His concern is that one cannot measure God by time, even though God is in time or at least affects time. Puget does not directlyShow MoreRelated The Esthetic Theory and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man1415 Words   |  6 Pagesas a Young Man  Ã‚  Ã‚   In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Stephen Dedalus defines beauty and the artists comprehension of his/her own art. Stephen uses his esthetic theory with theories borrowed from St. Thomas Aquinas and Plato. The discourse can be broken down into three main sections: 1) A definitions of beauty and art. 2) The apprehension and qualifications of beauty. 3) The artists view of his/her own work. 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