“Windows To Spirituality”
Grace In Christianity Grace in Christianity is “the love and mercy given to us by God because God desires us to have it, not necessarily because of anything we have done to earn it”. It is not a created substance of any kind. “Grace is favour, the free and undeserved help that God gives us...
Alpha And Omega Alpha (Α or α) and omega (Ω or ω) are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet and a title of Christ and God in the Book of Revelation. This pair of letters are used as a Christian symbol and is often combined with the Cross, Chi-rho, or other Christian symbols. Origin The...
Omnipotence Paradox The omnipotence paradox is a family of paradoxes that arise with some understandings of the term omnipotent. The paradox arises, for example, if one assumes that an omnipotent being has no limits and is capable of realizing any outcome, even logically contradictory ideas such as creating square circles. A no-limits understanding of omnipotence...
Transcendence (religion) In religion, transcendence is the aspect of a deity‘s nature and power that is wholly independent of the material universe, beyond all known physical laws. This is contrasted with immanence, where a god is said to be fully present in the physical world and thus accessible to creatures in various ways. In religious...
God And Eternity This article covers God And Eternity. The idea of eternity as it relates to God is an important concept in theology. Theists say that God is eternally existent. How this is understood depends on which definition of eternity is used. On one hand, God may exist in eternity. One other definition states that God exists outside...
Eternity Eternity in common parlance means the infinite time that never ends (or the quality, condition, or fact of being eternal). In classical philosophy, however, it is defined as what exists outside time as describing supranatural beings and forces, whereas sempiternity corresponds to the infinitely temporal, non-metaphoric definitions, as recited...
Immanence The doctrine or theory of immanence holds that the divine encompasses or is manifested in the material world. It is held by some philosophical and metaphysical theories of divine presence. Immanence is usually applied in monotheistic, pantheistic, pandeistic, or panentheistic faiths to suggest that the spiritual world permeates the mundane. It is often contrasted with theories of transcendence, in which...
Incorporeality Incorporeality is “the state or quality of being incorporeal or bodiless; immateriality; incorporealism.” Incorporeal (σώματοςm) means “Not composed of matter; having no material existence.” Incorporeality is a quality of souls, spirits, and God in many religions, including the currently major denominations and schools of Islam, Christianity and Judaism. In ancient...
Metaphysical Necessity In philosophy, metaphysical necessity, sometimes called broad logical necessity, is one of many different kinds of necessity, which sits between logical necessity and nomological (or physical) necessity, in the sense that logical necessity entails metaphysical necessity, but not vice versa, and metaphysical necessity entails physical necessity, but not vice versa. A proposition is...
![Countries in which apostasy or blasphemy against the local or state religion was punishable by execution under the law as of 2013. Currently, this occurs only in some Muslim-majority countries and Muslim-majority states in Northern Nigeria.[1][2][3][4]](https://slife.org/wp-content/uploads/Map_of_countries_with_death_penalty_for_atheists.svg_-520x267.png)
Discrimination Against Atheists Discrimination against atheists, both at present and historically, includes persecution of and discrimination against people identified as atheists. Discrimination against atheists may also comprise negative attitudes, prejudice, hostility, hatred, fear, or intolerance towards atheists and atheism. Because atheism can be defined in various ways, those discriminated against or persecuted on the grounds...
Antitheism Antitheism, sometimes spelled anti-theism, is the opposition to theism. The term has had a range of applications. In secular contexts, it typically refers to direct opposition to the belief in any deity. Etymology The word antitheism (or hyphenated anti-theism) has been recorded in English since 1788. The etymological roots of the word are the Greek anti and theos. Opposition to theism The Oxford English Dictionary defines antitheist...
Theory Of Everything A theory of everything (TOE or ToE), final theory, ultimate theory, or master theory is a hypothetical single, all-encompassing, coherent theoretical framework of physics that fully explains and links together all physical aspects of the universe. Finding a TOE is one of the major unsolved problems in physics. String theory and M-theory have been proposed as theories of everything. Over the past few...
Incompatible-properties Argument The incompatible-properties argument is the idea that no description of God is consistent with reality. For example, if one takes the definition of God to be described fully from the Bible, then the claims of what properties God has described therein might be argued to lead to a contradiction. Evil vs. good and omnipotence The problem...
Ultimate Boeing 747 Gambit The Ultimate Boeing 747 gambit is a counter-argument to modern versions of the argument from design for the existence of God. It was introduced by Richard Dawkins in chapter 4 of his 2006 book The God Delusion, “Why there almost certainly is no God”. The argument is a play on the notion of a...
Theological Noncognitivism Theological noncognitivism is the position that religious language – specifically, words such as “God” – are not cognitively meaningful. It is sometimes considered synonymous with ignosticism. Overview Theological noncognitivists argue in different ways, depending on what one considers the “theory of meaning” to be. One argument holds to the claim that definitions of God (Image...
Agnostic Theism Agnostic theism, agnostotheism or agnostitheism is the philosophical view that encompasses both theism and agnosticism. An agnostic theist believes in the existence of a God or gods, but regards the basis of this proposition as unknown or inherently unknowable. The agnostic theist may also or alternatively be agnostic regarding the properties of the...
Agnostic Atheism Agnostic atheism is a philosophical position that encompasses both atheism and agnosticism. Agnostic atheists are atheistic because they do not hold a belief in the existence of any deity, and are agnostic because they claim that the existence of a deity is either unknowable in principle or currently unknown in fact. The agnostic atheist may be...
Atheist’s Wager The Atheist’s Wager, popularised by the philosopher Michael Martin and published in his 1990 book Atheism: A Philosophical Justification, is an atheistic response to Pascal’s Wager regarding the existence of God. One version of the Atheist’s Wager suggests that since a kind and loving god would reward good deeds – and that if no gods exist, good deeds...
Russell’s Teapot Russell’s teapot is an analogy, formulated by the philosopher Bertrand Russell (1872–1970), to illustrate that the philosophic burden of proof lies upon a person making unfalsifiable claims, rather than shifting the burden of disproof to others. Russell specifically applied his analogy in the context of religion. He wrote that if he were to assert, without offering...
Unknown God The Unknown God or Agnostos Theos is a theory by Eduard Norden first published in 1913 that proposes, based on the Christian Apostle Paul‘s Areopagus speech in Acts 17:23, that in addition to the twelve main gods and the innumerable lesser deities, ancient Greeks worshipped a deity they called “Agnostos Theos“; that is: “Unknown God“, which Norden called “Un-Greek”. In Athens, there...
