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As a result, when systematization is attempted, concurrences leap out. We turn next to consider
some specific examples of concurrences regarding the nature of God and his relation to the
creation. (Many, many other paradoxes have been identified in the creation itself. For a
discussion of examples, see this endnote.
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)
Concurrences in God and His Relationship to the Creation
One of the greatest puzzles regarding God concerns his infinitude. How can a single
being be infinite? Christians have long asserted that our knowledge of an infinite God can only
be partial.
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Finitum non possit capere infinitum (the finite cannot grasp the infinite). Since he
is qualitatively of a different order, we have no suitable gauge by which to measure him so as to
describe him. His being is "off the scale." Moreover, his infinite being outstrips our finite
capacities. This alone is not a paradox, but God's infinitude itself leads to concurrences in our
understanding of Him. For example, the consciousness of an omniscient, omnipresent being
does not have a single, attentional focus (like humans), but is "spread out," as it were, over all of
creation (and time), knowing all things at once. How is it that God can focus his "attention" on
all things simultaneously? Similarly, through prayer believers interact with God as a singular
person who acts in relation to them sequentially. Yet, God is interacting simultaneously with
millions of people, like some kind of multiple person or set of persons. This is due to the one
God's immensity, but for humans this paradox of God's personal but omnipresent relationality
strains our comprehension.
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A concurrence is also found at the very heart of the Christian revelation of God: God is
triune, three in one. Yet this seems, on the face of it, like a simple contradiction. With regard to
God, 3 = 1. Theologians have struggled with the doctrine of the trinity since it was first