God unchanging - 23 November 2009 |
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Here are the questions for session 7 of the Guided Reading Course.
John Frame, No Other God, chs 9-11
Chapter 9: Is God in time?
1. What does it mean to say that God is ‘eternal’ or ‘supratemporal’ (pp. 143-146)?
2. How does Frame respond to Richard Swinburne’s critique of divine eternity (pp. 148-149)? What does this response tell us about Frame’s understanding of divine eternity?
3. What do the arguments on pp. 153-156 tell us about God’s relationship to time? Do you agree with Frame’s conclusion (p. 156-157)?
4. In what sense(s), according to Frame, is God ‘temporal’ (pp. 157-159)?
Chapter 10: Does God change?
5. How does Frame understand those biblical texts that appear to challenge God’s immutability (pp. 161-170)? Do you find his interpretation tenable? What might Calvin’s understanding of accommodation contribute to the discussion?
6. In what ways, according to Frame, is God immutable (pp. 170-175)?
7. In what ways does God change (pp. 175-178)? Does this imply that a change takes place in God? Why or why not?
8. Do you think Frame’s phrase ‘temporal omnipresence’ (p. 175) is a helpful way of describing God’s immutability? Why or why not?
Chapter 11: Does God suffer?
9. How does the doctrine of divine aseity define and support the doctrine of divine impassibility (pp. 179)?
10. What kind of emotions does God experience, and in what way (pp. 180-185)?
11. In what sense(s) did God suffer at the cross, and in what sense(s) did he not (pp. 187-190)?
12. How does the doctrine of divine eternity clarify the meaning of divine impassibility?
Posted by Steve Jeffery · Topics: Guided Reading Course, Minister's Blog