God is a collection of attributes. Does this not mean God depends on these attributes? And can these attributes exist without their effects? For example, can God remain a Creator without creation? Without creation, all the attributes of God are redundant. Like, He cannot hear without creation. He cannot see without creation, as there will be nothing to see. And so, the main attributes that are assigned to God by classical theism—Omnipresent (present everywhere), Omnipotent (all-powerful), Omniscient (all-knowing), Omni-benevolent (all-loving)—but without creation, they are nothing at all. But if we deny its attributes, then we only have abstraction, like most abstractions are non-existence? Like, consider an apple without all its properties. It’s nothing at all, apart from its properties, which make one thing distinct from another. For example, a tree is distinct from a rock because of differences in structure, flexibility, and growth. Similarly, if God has no attributes, you can’t even call Him God. He has nothing to distinguish Him from singularity, matter, or anything XYZ.
In response to this, many theists argue that attributes are expressions of God’s essence. For example, God’s knowledge isn’t something He possesses; it is His essence knowing. God’s power isn’t separate from Him; it is His essence being all-powerful. This avoids dependency because God’s attributes are not additions to His being; they are intrinsic to it. As for God being the Creator without creation, His ability to create doesn’t depend on the act of creating. The title “Creator” reflects His potential, not a dependency. A painter doesn’t stop being a painter if they haven’t painted yet; their ability exists before their action. So the other objection here arises that then they will have to accept that the essence of God is not eternal and can undergo change. Such as, if you say God is a potential creator, it means that there has been a change in God’s essence, from potential He has now become an actual creator, which is not compatible with the idea of the absoluteness of God. If change can occur in God, it means time passes for God, and if time passes for God, then time is something that existed before God. This would also confine Him within time. So, how could He exist? How was this proven?
So, the attribute is that of the creator of images. Now, the creator of images is the one who has created and continues to create images. If He has not created any image, how can He be the creator of images? Also, if attributes are only appearances, then God could be anything, which would not align with the concept of a religious God.
And at last, whether pure being or predicate-less existence are simply an abstraction. Does this mean God is merely an abstraction? Also, pure existence cannot easily be separated from pure non-existence. So, can we then say that God is non-existence? Also, the attributes like “Creator” and “Almighty” are two distinct attributes. You have to logically reconcile these. How is that achieved?
