3 ms·
If God is omnipotent, surely that would include the ability to do things that we mere mortals would construe as harmful or self-defeating, wouldn't it?
by joelshep 3y ago
If God is omnipotent, surely that would include the ability to do things that we mere mortals would construe as harmful or self-defeating, wouldn't it?
- invalidOrTaken 3y agocertainly, but Christ specifically prayed not to have to through with it (or the ordeal in the garden, depending on your interpretation), when He prayed: >Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there is further the question of our own suffering: if we're supposed to get some "good" out of it, why not just wave a wand and give us the good without the bad? I conclude that God lives in a world with rules like you and me, though they are likely quite different.
- s__s 3y agoIt seems to me that an omnipotent being could, in theory, create some environment or scenario in which events can unfold outside of their own control? Otherwise they wouldn’t truly be omnipotent?
- invalidOrTaken 3y agoI mean, that right there is sort of a logic disproof of the concept of omnipotence---"Could God make a rock so heavy He couldn't lift it," etc. But more seriously imo is the why. Why make yourself less powerful? And any answer to that faces the question: if you're so omnipotent, why not wave your hand and get that good thing without disempowering yourself?
- s__s 3y agoInteresting. As long as the limitation in power is self-imposed by the omnipotent being, I don’t find it logically inconstant at all. The “why” question is a good one. I’m not well versed in theology, but I thought the general idea was that God’s goal was to create independant beings with agency and free will. And in order to accomplish that God (an omnipotent being) would by necessity have to limit their own power. Without doing so it would be logically impossible for other free beings to exist.