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To: Aquinasfan
The ability to err is a power?

Not at all. The ability to change one's mind and behave differently is a power. If God changes His own law, it's hardly a tacit admission that He was wrong previously. If the speed limit on the road to my workplace is 55 mph, and I usually drive 55 mph, but today I choose to drive 45 mph, it's just a simple change of behavior, not an admission that I was somehow wrong yesterday. Maybe God would change the law to fit changing circumstances. Maybe He would feel that some new law was appropriate to our state of development today.

That doesn't mean that He was wrong yesterday, merely that He's updated the regulations a bit. It's not a error or a contradiction on His part - indeed, if we accept that God is inerrant, then if He changes the law it must be the right thing for Him to do, by definition. And by definition, it must also be non-contradictory and not nonsensical.

We who are limited, fallen creatures have within our power the ability to err, as your argument demonstrates.

And yet it remains unrefuted. ;)

594 posted on 05/22/2002 7:23:38 AM PDT by general_re
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To: general_re
That doesn't mean that He was wrong yesterday, merely that He's updated the regulations a bit. It's not a error or a contradiction on His part - indeed, if we accept that God is inerrant, then if He changes the law it must be the right thing for Him to do, by definition. And by definition, it must also be non-contradictory and not nonsensical.

God can do no wrong because he is God, and because he is God he can do no wrong. Because he is God he can not contradict himself, and he cannot contradict himself because he is God. Circular reasoning........circular reasoning....i'm getting dizzy

599 posted on 05/22/2002 7:31:26 AM PDT by JediGirl
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To: general_re
Possibly another example of God changing His mind is the creation itself. Everything was "good." But then He wiped it all out in the Flood, presumably because what was created wasn't "good" any longer. I know, I know, there's the Fall, which is said to be our own fault. Still, erasing a rough draft and starting over shows a certain capacity to err -- or at least to make drastic changes.
601 posted on 05/22/2002 7:32:00 AM PDT by PatrickHenry
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To: general_re
Not at all. The ability to change one's mind and behave differently is a power. If God changes His own law, it's hardly a tacit admission that He was wrong previously.

God is eternal. Outside time. Never changing. Perfect. To be perfect God must be a simple substance. Pure act. No potency. God cannot change in any way because change necessarily implies motion (in the philosophical, Aristotelian sense) . Since God lacks potency, He cannot logically change.

To ascribe "Changing his mind" to God is simply an anthropomorphization of God and a category error.

604 posted on 05/22/2002 7:45:21 AM PDT by Aquinasfan
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To: general_re
Mi

Not at all. The ability to change one's mind and behave differently is a power.

Fine, but that does not mean that because one has the power to do something, one must exercise such power. Almost any human being has the power to murder another human being, yet very few exercise such power. Many people would under no circumstances exercise that power, yet that does not mean that they do not have the power to murder. Some may not exercise it out of fear of being caught, out of fear of God, because they think it immoral or just plainly because they see no need for it. Regardless of whether they exercise it or not, regardless of whether they wish to exercise it or not, they do have the power.

723 posted on 05/22/2002 7:37:01 PM PDT by gore3000
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