Philosophy Now Forum

This is not a "Can God exist?" type of question. People feel there is no inside/outside with our universe. Yet people will argue that He can do anything because He has the power.

I suppose the most we can expect is opinions on this question which is fine as that is a start. Since God has the power, then he should be able to do it because He can create an inside/outside boundary for our universe.

What do you think?

PhilX

The God that i know exists pervades all of our reality. There is a theory of parallel universes, even a multiverse so i have no reason to doubt that God could exist in a universe beyond our own.

attofishpi wrote:The God that i know exists pervades all of our reality. There is a theory of parallel universes, even a multiverse so i have no reason to doubt that God could exist in a universe beyond our own.

There are some who insist a multiverse can't exist. My difficulty with that is that only a small percentage of our universe is observable so we don't know everything that's going on with our universe plus how do we know whether or not there is a boundary to our universe since again a small percentage is observable?

PhilX

Philosophy Explorer wrote:

attofishpi wrote:The God that i know exists pervades all of our reality. There is a theory of parallel universes, even a multiverse so i have no reason to doubt that God could exist in a universe beyond our own.

There are some who insist a multiverse can't exist.

There are some that insist that a multiverse can exist.

My difficulty with that is that only a small percentage of our universe is observable so we don't know everything that's going on with our universe
plus how do we know whether or not there is a boundary to our universe since again a small percentage is observable?

ok.

If you mean the God the Christians seems to be talking about, outside of the universe is the only place he can possibly exist.
Everything inside of the universe is bound by a coherent and unbreakable set of physical laws, while God is exempt from such laws.
According to the creationists, God made the universe, which means he had to exist before it did and while it was being constructed, and can never get inside of it, any more than you can crawl into a picture you painted.
Which begs the obvious question: Why should anything that can exist only inside the construct care about anything that can only exist outside?

Skip wrote:If you mean the God the Christians seems to be talking about, outside of the universe is the only place he can possibly exist.
Everything inside of the universe is bound by a coherent and unbreakable set of physical laws, while God is exempt from such laws.
According to the creationists, God made the universe, which means he had to exist before it did and while it was being constructed, and can never get inside of it, any more than you can crawl into a picture you painted.
Which begs the obvious question: Why should anything that can exist only inside the construct care about anything that can only exist outside?

Two things Skip,

Since the OT has God in communication with humans, starting with Adam and Eve on Earth (where God was walking around in the Garden of Eden), that must mean that God can (and has) existed in our universe. Also since
God is all-powerful, that would be another reason why he can exist inside of our universe (but don't ask me how he can do this).

PhilX

It won't work. Too many contradictory claims. The OT has one kind of god; the NT has the same one, but he's changed; Billy Graham has changed him yet again.
Choose one - it doesn't have to be a version of Jahveh; there are many more gods in many mythologies - and then try to be consistent in whatever you say about him/her/it/them.

Skip wrote:It won't work. Too many contradictory claims. The OT has one kind of god; the NT has the same one, but he's changed; Billy Graham has changed him yet again.
Choose one - it doesn't have to be a version of Jahveh; there are many more gods in many mythologies - and then try to be consistent in whatever you say about him/her/it/them.

I'm agnostic Skip. I would think though wherever God is is by His choice and not dictated by religious preference.

PhilX

All gods are chosen or designed according to religious preference and/or political expediency. Then they evolve according the changing taste or need or aspiration of the people who use them - and, indeed, according to the different peoples who inherit or abduct them. The scope and range of a god's abilities vary according to the people's apprehension of the world; his rules and demands change according to the economic and social mores of their societies; his temper is adjusted to the stricture of their government.
Most gods can live quite comfortably within the physical world of their believers - it's only when a god is endowed with Omni-powers that he must be shoved outside the known universe.

Philosophy Explorer wrote:This is not a "Can God exist?" type of question. People feel there is no inside/outside with our universe. Yet people will argue that He can do anything because He has the power.

I suppose the most we can expect is opinions on this question which is fine as that is a start. Since God has the power, then he should be able to do it because He can create an inside/outside boundary for our universe.

What do you think?

PhilX

There is an entire type of theology called panentheism that thinks so. I think Hasidics are considered panentheistic.