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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   29423 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of July 31, 2023

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That there are real relationships within the universe itself, without which it would be something substantively different, indicates that this is not the answer.

I don't understand this. What's an example of a real relationship that makes the universe substantially different? How does this indicate that "time and causality are not relationships within the universe"?

There could be three fewer stars in the universe, and the universe would still make sense as a concept, but the effects of the gravity of the stars would no longer exist. Within the universe, we can talk about things having cause and effect, firing a bullet really does cause a broken window.

The imagined God would not have such cause and effect internal to it.

Are you saying that the universe could have been different (it could have had 3 fewer stars), therefore it needs an explanation for why it is the way it is, and why it isn't another way? If this is not what you're saying, than I admit I cannot follow what you write.

In this post you discuss God's nature.

The changeless thing's nature is entirely, wholly, and simply to act, to bring into existence.

Why does God's nature (to act and bring into existence) not require explanation? Couldn't its nature have been different?

I am struggling to see what value or benefit the concept of God is giving: I will admit, my general strategy is to show the universe has God-like properties, or equivalently, that God has universe-like properties.

therefore it needs an explanation for why it is the way it is, and why it isn't another way?

Yes, you understand what I'm saying. Whether I'm providing the best steelman of the argument is another question (answer is probably no.)

God's nature could not be different, or it would not be God. Philosophers call God a "Necessary Being," a Being whose nature is that it is impossible that it should not exist. If He is the answer to "why something, instead of nothing" it would be because His nature is necessary, not conditional or composite.

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