The Spirits' Book

Allan Kardec

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13. We say that God is eternal, infinite, unchangeable, immaterial, unique, all-powerful, supremely just and good. Is this not a complete impression of God’s attributes?

“From your point of view, yes, because you think that you sum up everything in those terms. However, you must understand that there are things that transcend the intelligence of even the most intelligent human being, and that your language cannot express. Reason tells you that God must possess all these qualities in the supreme degree because if one of them were short or not possessed to an infinite degree, the Creator would not be superior to everything and everyone, and thus would not be God. To be above all things, God must have no variations and must have no conceivable imperfections.”

God is eternal. If God had a beginning, it either would have had to spring from nothing, or have been created by a being that existed before God. This is how we gradually arrive at the idea of infinity and eternity.

God is unchangeable. If God were subject to change, the laws governing the universe would be unstable.

God is immaterial. God’s nature is completely different from everything that we call matter. Otherwise, God would not be unchangeable. God would be subject to the transformations of matter.

God is unique. If several Gods existed, there would be neither unity in the plans of the universe, nor power in its organization.

God is all-powerful because God is unique. Without supreme power, there would be something more powerful than, or as powerful as God. The Creator would not have created everything and those which God had not created would be the work of another God.

God is supremely just and good. The great wisdom of the Divine laws is clearly revealed in the smallest and the greatest things. This wisdom makes it impossible to doubt God’s justice or goodness.

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