God and Prepunishment

Abstract

The belief that some misfortunes are punishments sent from God has been affirmed by many different cultures and religions throughout human history. The belief has proved a pervasive one, and is still endorsed today by many adherents of the great western religions of the Judaeo-Christian tradition. Invariably, what is believed is that a present misfortune is divine punishment for a past sin. But could a present misfortune in fact be divine punishment for a future sin? That is, could God prepunish people for their future transgressions? The aim of this paper will be to show that there are solid philosophical grounds for supposing that he could and would do so.     

God and Personality

Among the traditional list of divine attributes it is commonly said that God is a person. Making a distinction between being a person and having a personality, it is argued that God cannot be a person because it makes no sense to think of him as having a personality. Problems with the notion of divine personality are considered stemming from God's perfection, his infinity, his omniscience, his rationality, his morally good nature and his gender neutrality. Three generic types of response to these problems are considered, but each is found wanting. It is concluded that the problems with personality apply as much to the human case as to the divine.     

Necessity and God

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion -