material contingency

I am left to believe that matter is contingent in its being because it is subject to change.

If contingent being exists, by definition, necessary being must exist.

The implications of contingency and necessity are as significant as the implications of existence and being.

The foundation of my theology is material contingency.

 

Currently, I am left to believe that the God of the bible uniquely fulfills the implications of a necessary being. Let me be clear. I do not believe in a sovereign God (a necessary being) because I found one in the bible. I am left to believe in the God of the bible because I can find in the God of the bible a necessary being. I wouldn't even look for a "god", a necessary being if I could avoid the implications of material contingency.

To the best of my knowledge, no where in the bible does the bible imply that man should know that there is a God because of the bible. In Roman's 9, the bible implies that the contingent nature of the material universe is the observation that leads to the knowledge of God.

As a contingent being, I have contingent knowledge. I know what I know the same way you know what you know. We know what we know not-necessarily.
We know contingently. To us contingent beings, its not so much that ideas are really ever proved to us as it is that all of the other ideas, that we have considered, have been, to our satisfaction, disproved. What remains is what we are left to believe, then that's tested, and so on, and so on. Even our knowing is a process. we are defined by our changes. The closest thing we ever have to necessary knowledge is experimental repeatability.

 

The God of the bible is a jealous god, how can he be unchangeable if he is jealous?

 

The god of the Bible changed between the old and new testaments, making it a contingent being by your definition.

 

The God of the bible did not change upon incarnation anymore than an author changes when he writes himself into his novel work.
I don't see the change.

 

The god of the old testament is a vengeful prick. The god of the New Testament is loving and forgiving. The god of the Bible changed, And is therefore a contingent being using you definition.

 

Anyway in which god responds to humans would indicate he is contingent, if he is jealous, vengeful or just answers prayer he is contingent.

 

Bricklayer starts these identical threads every few months. When challenged on this nonsense, he just reasserts his premise.

 

Ok, let's go with the God of the bible for argument's sake. Personally, I don't believe in a necessary being (a sovereign God) because I found one in the bible.

Something a necessary being cannot do is to create another necessary being. In other words, a necessary being cannot create something that does not change.
Creation is a process; it is a prescribed sequence of changes. Indeed, no particle of matter can occupy the same position, relative to the balance of matter, in any two increments of time. Therefore, creation is a process; it is a prescribed sequence of changes.

If the God of the bible's purpose for His creation is necessary, rather than contingent, His purpose is self-centered. God's purpose for God's creation is God centered. God's purpose for God's creation is the revelation of God to His creation. Anything, absolutely anything, is revealed just as much by what it is not as it is by what it is. This seems to be why the God of the bible reveals both good and evil. The knowledge what a thing is not is concomitant with the knowledge of the extent of a thing. If we are to know the extent of what God is, we cannot avoid the knowledge of what He is not.

If the God of the bible's purpose for His creation is a God centered purpose, He is the standard good and evil are calibrated. Good is what God is, and evil is what God is not. The God of the bible reveals both good and evil because anything is revealed just as much by what it is not as it is by what it is, and God's purpose for His creation is to reveal Himself to His creatures.

The God of the bible revealed evil to humanity via sin. The God of the bible gave man a law to break. The devil of the bible never sinned because he was never given a law to break. Even though he was instrumental in getting humanity to sin and doing all of the evil things the humanity does, the devil never sinned. Consequently, even though the devil is the very personification of evil, evil remains unrevealed to him. To this very day, the devil is left to sincerely believe that he is as good as God. If all one knows is the good they have in common with God, that one does not know the differences between them. Ignorance of the differences between creature and Creator is pride. Sin has negative consequence, but sin is ultimately an integral part of the solution to a much bigger problem, pride. How does a God Who cannot create evil or do evil reveal evil? Sin is God's genius solution. His solution to the consequence of sin is to write Himself into His novel work as one of the characters to take on the consequence Himself.

 

An author can write a novel work in which a character knows that he is a character. The character can even know that the author is his author. They can have a dialog. Such a dialog is not a conversation; it is a literary technique called a condescension. An author can condescend to a character, and a character can pray to his author.

It is important not to confuse prayer, and answer to payer, with a conversation. Condescension and prayer do not change the author; they change the character.

 

I do not stray far from the axiomatic premises upon which what I'm left to believe are founded.

 

Should that be the case, god as an author, what of free will?

 

What about the god of the Koran?

 

con·tin·gent
kənˈtinjənt/
adjective
1.
subject to chance.
"the contingent nature of the job"
synonyms: chance, accidental, fortuitous, possible, unforeseeable, unpredictable, random, haphazard
"contingent events"

2.
occurring or existing only if (certain other circumstances) are the case; dependent on.
"resolution of the conflict was contingent on the signing of a ceasefire agreement"
synonyms: dependent on, conditional on, subject to, determined by, hinging on, resting on
"the merger is contingent on government approval"

Hmm... I don't see anywhere in the definition that a necessary being must exist.

 

If gods don't change, then why pray?

 

That depends upon how "free will" is defined. The most common definition of free will implies that we choose from undetermined possibilities.

In relationships between equals. one's responsibility for them self extends from their authority over them self. In relationships between sovereigns and subjects, such as between Creator and creature, or author and character, the subject's responsibility for them self extends from the sovereign's authority over them. The idea that we choose from undetermined possibilities extends from ignorance of our contingency.

 

If god has to change to accommodate the choices made, he still changes regardless of the nature of free will, the point is that man makes a choice god must change to accommodate it.

 

The koran may imply a sovereign god, a necessary being, but it does not satisfy the implications of the sovereign-subject relationship as well as the bible does for me.

 

That which is contingent is contingent upon something. There cannot be an infinite regression of contingency any more than there can be an infinite regression of effects without a efficient cause.

 

NO

An author does not change when his character makes choices anymore than the character chooses from undetermined possibilities.

 

That is true, but inferring that contingency is dependent on a being, is making one heck of a leap.

 

I was being sarcastic. Allah and Yahweh are myth. That either satisfies you in some way is inconsequential.

 

knowledge one acquired is not contingent.

 

Contingent being depends upon necessary being. Being is actual existence. If contingency actually exists, necessity must actually exist.

 

All acquired knowledge is contingent by definition. Necessary knowledge cannot be acquired; it is known necessarily.