LessonsEternal Knowledge, Power, Life, Will and Their RelationsQuiz

Objection: human hearing requires ears, and vision requires eyes and light. How then can hearing and sight be affirmed of God?

Reply: a particular created mechanism for possessing a perfection is not necessarily part of the perfection in every case. Human hearing depends on ears, sound transmission and other conditions; transferring these material requirements to eternal divine attributes would assimilate God to creatures.

Likewise, relating to sensory objects does not require the Creator to have a physical organ undergoing stimulation. Affirming an attribute and affirming the creaturely method of its operation are different claims; the former does not entail the latter.

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The objection from organs and sensory media

Eternal Knowledge, Power, Life, Will and Their Relations

Objection: human hearing requires ears, and vision requires eyes and light. How then can hearing and sight be affirmed of God?

Reply: a particular created mechanism for possessing a perfection is not necessarily part of the perfection in every case. Human hearing depends on ears, sound transmission and other conditions; transferring these material requirements to eternal divine attributes would assimilate God to creatures.

Likewise, relating to sensory objects does not require the Creator to have a physical organ undergoing stimulation. Affirming an attribute and affirming the creaturely method of its operation are different claims; the former does not entail the latter.