The Judeo

The Judeo – Christian Concept of God

God as creator [Genesis 1-3]

Genesis chapters 1-3 contain the two traditional accounts of the creation.

Genesis 1

Chapter 1 tells us how God created the world ex nihilo (out of nothing) over a period of six days. He earth was “without form and void” as the “Sprit of God” moved over its face. Did God turn chaos into order?
After each day, he surveyed what he had created and “saw that it was good”. Thus, all that was created was created with intent.
On the sixth day, he created man “in his own image” (Genesis 1:27).
He provided them with all that they needed and made them stewards of his creation.

The Spirit of God was identified with the ‘logos’ – the Word of God, the intelligible part of God’s being. This is reflected in the way that God creates simply by command. The logos is often compared with Plato’s Forms.

The account shows that God pre-exists the creation of the world, and shows God’s complete sovereignty over the created order.

Genesis 2-3

The second part of the creation story involves the creation of Adam and Eve and their ‘Fall’.

Tree of knowledge	“You may eat the fruit of any tree in the garden, except the tree that gives knowledge of good and bad. You must not eat the fruit of that tree. If you do, you will die the same day.” (Genesis 2:16-17)
Serpent	One of God’s animals. He is not demonic, simply clever, wise and arrogant. He starts the Fall by distorting the words of God.
Eve + the serpent	Serpent tempts Eve into touching apple to prove she will not die. Serpent tells her that God forbade them from eating of the tree because he was scared that they would become more powerful than him. Woman is ‘becoming’ human through temptation.
Result of eating apple	Man and woman become human as we know. They are vulnerable and aware of nakedness and sexuality and experience guilt and shame. Man blames woman who blames serpent – more human characteristics.
God as judge	Serpent – forced to crawl on his belly. Eve – pain in child birth. Adam – will have to ‘work’ for a living.

The goodness of God [Exodus 20]

The God of the Bible is seen as the standard of morality. Goodness is defined by God. Thus, he is morally perfect and the source of human ethics. “The law of the Lord is perfect” (2 Samuel 22:31).
God is seen also as the law-giver. He gave Moses the 10 commandment (Exodus 20), which he said people must obey as part of the covenant between him and the Israelites.
He is seen as a benevolent dictator, who although fond of his children is swift to anger when disobeyed. God is a ‘jealous’ God.
God is seen as interactive and involved with his creation on a personal level. He is seen as a dynamic God.

Comparisons with Plato’s Form of the Good

The God of the Bible is shown to be personal and interactive, not separate and static as Plato’s Form of the Good is. God is shown to be compassionate to individuals in answering their prayers.
The Euthyphro Dilemma

Euthyphro asks: is an act good because God commands it or does God command it because it is good? God in the Bible is shown to be the absolute standard of morality. So, whatever God says is good is good even if that is rape. However, Plato formulated the Form of the Good, which is the absolute standard of goodness. Therefore what God says is good is not good simply because he says it is but is good because the Form of the Good determines that it is. I.e. God says that murder is wrong because it is. Therefore the standard of goodness is not God – it is external to him.

The God of the Bible is shown to perform miracles (e.g. Joshua 10). Thus, he is involved with the world of man. The Platonic version of God is in contrast external and unchanging – impersonal.

God’s activity in the world – miracles [Joshua 10:1-15]

In the Bible, God is portrayed as being:

Transcendent – external to the world
Incorporeal – without substance
Existing outside time and space

This creates a problem for philosophers. If God is so different and external to us then how can he maintain a relationship with mankind? One way is through miracles.

Joshua 10:1-15 tells the story that during a battle with various enemies, the Jewish armies are helped through the direct intervention of God – “And the Lord threw [the enemies] into a panic… The Lord threw down great stones from heaven on them… And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed…” God is attributed with the victory over the enemies of the Jews. He has performed a miracle

Defining a miracle

Acts of God
Acts which break the laws of nature
Acts which cannot be explained
Hume – “Violation of the Law of Nature by a Divine Agent (God).”

Justification for miracles

Miracles are woven into the fabric of Christian doctrine. There are many miracles stories to be found in the Bible e.g. parting of the red sea, Jesus curing blindness and raising people from the dead. The Bible is clear that miracles happen. So, to doubt in miracles is to doubt that the Bible is divinely inspired.

Criticisms of miracles

David Hume – says that by definition, miracles are very unlikely explanations for unusual events. Thus it is unreasonable to believe in them.

Rudolf Bultmann – our knowledge of science is such that we can no longer believe that miracles happened or will happen. He argued that miracles get in the way of faith.

Placing too much emphasis on miracles goes against the teachings and example of Jesus:
- The story of the temptations of Jesus

Jesus rejected throwing himself off the pinnacle of the temple and being saved by angels when tempted by Satan because he wanted nothing to do with displays of magic and ‘signs’.

Luke 16:31

Jesus says that those who took no notice of Moses and the prophets will take no notice of someone rising from the dead. This shows that the purpose of miracles is not to convince people; rather, they have a subjective meaning to the believer.

John Macquarie – Even if an event which was publicly observed and suspended the laws of nature, some people would see as an act of God, others wouldn’t.

Maurice Wiles – says that the existence of the world should be seen as an act of God and thus a miracle. He says that by definition, a miracle is a very unlikely event – if it wasn’t then there would be no rules to nature. This leaves us with the view that God only intervenes in the world occasionally – at strange and arbitrary times. However, people are being asked to believe in an omni benevolent and omnipotent God who fed 5000 people but does nothing about world starvation today. He allowed the Jews to be killed in the Holocaust but provided wine at a wedding. This degrades the classical image of an all powerful and all loving God.