-Whether God is the fountain of all perfections
Objection 1 -
It seems that God is not all knowing, therefore not perfect. For if He did, He would have known in advance and prevented the actions of the devil and our first parents Adam and Eve, and the fact that He is in the process of remedying their actions means that He was caught off guard and He did not anticipate the actions, therefore God is not all knowing nor perfect.
Objection 2:
It seems that God is not all good, therefore not perfect. For if He was there would have been no starving children. For what kind of Father would let His children starve. But since there are starving children in the world, therefore it means God is not all together good and by extension not perfect.
On the contrary. There can be no creaturely participation in any of this attributes be it goodness or knowledge etc. if there is no fountain of such to begin with.
Reply to Objection 1:
To say that God is not all knowing is to say that God participates in knowledge just like His creation does and is not the cause of it. Which is to mean that knowledge is an effect without a cause. For if there is no fountain of knowledge in God who ranks highest in the order of being, then knowledge is a reality without a cause, a logical violation. For there has to be an ultimate reality which accounts for all other realities, knowledge included and this ultimate reality is God through whom from whom and by whom every other reality flows from.
The perfection of the being of God is such that not only does He know all things perfectly but He knows them from all eternity past. Therefore to say that God was caught off guard by the actions of the devil and Adam and Eve is to blaspheme the Holy one. For not only did God know their actions beforehand, but from all eternity past anticipated it. For scripture talks ''of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world.'' Revelations 13:8 meaning not that Christ died before the world began, but that the plan of redemption was set before the world and humanity ever began. Meaning therefore that the fall of man was not only foreknown but also anticipated, for there would have been no need for a redemption plan if there was no fall. “Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world” (Acts 15:18).
Reply to objection 2;
I answer that God is pure act (pure actuality). For the existence of goodness in reality necessitates an infinite fountain, a first cause of such goodness. Because for there to be any creaturely participation in goodness there has to be one who is the very fountain of goodness. Therefore the presence of starving children does not eradicate this fountain of all goodness. A fountain not in potentiality (room for improvement or change) but a fountain of goodness in actuality (infinite in possession), for God is infinite Himself.
The Creator is greater than the creature, and whatsoever is in his effects, is but an impression of some excellency in himself: there is, therefore, some chief fountain of goodness whence all those various goodnesses in the world do flow.
S. Charnock
I argue that, God allows the evil and pain and suffering for a while for the good that He will ultimately bring out of it. For our present sufferings are not comparable to the glory that will be revealed in us, Romans 8:18. And out of such good intentions does He allow the evil and pain in this world, not as the cause of it but as the sovereign one who in His sovereign capacity, knows each and everything that could and shall happen and prevents some from happening and allows some to happen and all out of good intentions; For man means it for evil but God means it for good Genesis 50:20, for He specializes in bringing the good even out of the bad situations. And since no evil or sinful action shall escape the perfect justice of God eventually, then His goodness is vindicated when all shall stand before His tribunal of justice to face the penalty of their actions.
The sum of all perfections.
Now God is ''that, than which nothing greater can be conceived.'' (St Anselm). All the realities in the created order trace back their origin, meaning and attributes to an explanation and purpose higher than themselves. Would a creature adorn and endow itself with anything other than what it is endowed with at creation or that which surrounds it? If all there is or ever was was pure creaturely participation in this attributes, who or what then endowed them with what they have. Do the lilies in the fields adorn themselves with such beauty, does the sun which gains nothing out of its actions endow itself with such power to warm the earth. At what point did man decide to endow himself with such intelligence, and what intelligence did he use to decide to do that. Do the birds in the air adorn themselves with such beautiful array of colours. For where did the spider learn to weave its web or the birds how to build their nest. Do they not all point to a higher explanation other than themselves.
No creaturely participation in any of these attributes would have been possible if there was no fountain for the same. For the creaturely imperfections as indicated by their inherent limitations in their abilities point to one who is not graded on a curve, one whose perfection in being admits to no degrees, one who determines the creaturely limits in their abilities but who is limited by none. One who is the sum of all perfections, and I submit to you my reader that such a one is God.