Omnipotence Of Religion

If God exists, then he is omniscient, omnipotent, and perfectly good. If God were omniscient, omnipotent, and perfectly good, then the world would not contain evil.

Furthermore, god is supposedly full of wisdom, his wisdom is infinite, yet the world lacks heavily. One way this can be viewed is with nature, how nature scarcely tends to the need of human and animal happiness. One question that one may ask is can and is god able to prevent evil? Does he have what it takes; maybe god is impotent (lacking power, strength). According

evil in the world. A total contradiction of a all-good God. God being all- powerful means that he can make whatever he wants. So, if God can make whatever

Priya Patel Phil 104 Fall 2017 October 2, 2017 Paper 1: On Mackie’s Argument In J. L. Mackie’s “Evil and Omnipotence,” the author presents an argument detailing why belief in a both omnipotent and wholly good God is contradictory to a God who allows evil to exist. He utilizes this philosophy to show

In order to try and prove omnipotence, I believe you need to have multiple examples with explanations of how God could obtain them. Also, I believe that you could need some type of facts showing that God can do unimaginable tasks. Lastly, you should exsplain both points of view in

5. Possibly, there is a stone God cannot lift. [4, P4] 6. Therefore, God is not omnipotent. [1, 3, 5, reductio ad absurdum] (Slide 3, Omnipotence and Evil) I reject the first premise (P1) “If God is omnipotent, God can perform any action that is logically possible for someone to perform”. The definition of omnipotent is “almighty or infinite in power or having very great or unlimited authority or power (“The Definition of Omnipotent”). The typical argument following this premise is that since God has unlimited power, he should be able to create a stone large enough to the point where God could not lift it. However, I believe that the definition of omnipotence is being twisted within the paradox. I believe that the argument actually reaffirms God’s Power. Saying that God could create a stone that is too large or too heavy for him to lift would actually put a limit on God’s power, which would contradict the original definition of omnipotent. If there was a certain size stone that God could not lift, then every stone larger that that stone also would be too big for god to lift, creating a threshold of God’s power. God’s power is unlimited meaning no matter how large a stone there is, God should be able to lift it due to his unlimited power. Another objection is that the first premise (P1) “If God is omnipotent, God can perform any action that is logically possible for someone to perform” is that the act of creating a stone so large that God himself cannot lift is not a logical action. God is an omnipotent being that we have no physical evidence of. Why would God create a stone so large that he could not lift it? Who would he have to prove this action to? There is no logical answer or explanation for

and this seems to make His actions arbitrary (Leibniz 2). However, since God is understood to be a rational being in traditional monotheism, God cannot act arbitrarily, but must have a reason for His actions. If we adopt Leibniz’s view, God does have a reason for acting, which is that

God's Omnipotence The theological problem of evil is a problem that many philosophers have tried to solve. The problem is stated as, "if one believes that god is omnipotent and wholly good, why does evil still exist?" In this writing I will discuss the solutions/propositions of John L. Mackie in his work, "Evil and Omnipotence." I will do this in order to illustrate the concept of free will for understanding or resolving the problem, and to reveal how and why Mackie arrives at his conclusions.

Chapter 2 Attributes of God in Classical Christian Theism We continue our study of the history of God by looking at His attributes from a number of different viewpoints. We will first examine the view of Classical Theism, then the view of Freewill Theism, and finally that of Open Theism. We

It is difficult to provide a precise definition of religion as scholars think that there are various types of religion practices. (Sauchelli, 2016) According to Smith (1963); Wulff (1997), “religion” seemed to have a minimum of three different meanings in ancient Rome, including a superhuman power that must be respected, the feeling present in an individual observing and thinking of a superhuman power and ritual acts carried out in the name of a superhuman power. Argyle and Beit-Hallahmi (1975) stated that "religion" is a system of beliefs of a divine or superhuman power. Bellah (1970) defined "religion" as a set of symbolic forms and acts that relate man to the ultimate conditions of his

It is widely accepted in theism that God is omnipotent, meaning He is all powerful. This, however, does not mean that God can make logical impossibilities possible, like making two plus three equal six. It is important to understand that the idea is “God can do all things possible.” For example, God cannot make a square circle. This is a fact, because if He were to make a “circle” with four sides and four edges, it would no longer be, by definition, a circle. According to philosophers, a omnipotent God can do all things that do not involve a contradiction, and it is “that such things cannot be done, [not] that God cannot do them.” (Thomas Aquinas.)

Introduction In the construction of the Large Hardon Collider, physicists seek and hope to unlock the mysteries of the universe by analyzing the attributes of the most miniscule particles known to man. In the same way, theologians have argued back and forth over the course of human history with regards to

Religion has been a powerful force in human history. Mankind has longed and searched for the answers to its purpose, the reason for being and the possibility of life after physical death. They reasoned that an afterlife would be a place of accounting and reckoning for the life they lived on earth. Religious belief systems seemed to give the answers as to how to prepare for the afterlife. Religion became the means of giving answers to those basic yet deep-seated questions of both life and death. Religion provided a format of rules and laws for conduct and treatment toward others based on the desires and wishes of a god or gods that people envisioned, imagined or invented. Religious belief systems have been a powerful force for good and bad...good in the sense that it provided a measure of individual behavior and order in society for the wellbeing of the whole, but bad in the sense that men of ambition who craved power and control over others would often use religion as a tool of manipulation and fear. A casual glance of history tells us that complete civilizations have been built, grown and maintained around elaborate religious systems, ancient Egypt being a prime example.

Aquinas’ argument is contradicted by a previously learned concept called Ockham’s Razor, which focuses on the simplest reasoning without any assumptions. The text from Summa Theologica contradicts this by creating the idea of an eternal God to explain the universe. The simplest idea would be to believe that the universe is eternal itself, rather than creating an exterior being. The idea behind Ockham’s Razor is that the simplest answer is the most easily testable and most likely. Where did the idea of God creating the universe even begin? This concept is far more complex than simply the universe created itself.

Omnipotent quite literally means all powerful, Omni- all, potent-powerful. Most theists believe there to be one all-powerful, perfect being, so the idea of an omnipotent being is essential to most western religions. I will focus on Christianity, throughout my essay to allow me to focus on the question without getting sucked into discussing the different religious point of views. So the God we speak of is the traditional Christian one unless otherwise specified. There are plenty of quotes directly from the bible that promotes God as all-powerful, though omnipotent is a later word. “The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power; in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress.” (Job 37:23) The discussion of how to define God is an essential one to theists as it can cause a lot of problems. If for example, we raise questions such as if God is all powerful why is there suffering in the world? Before we can move on to problems with this definition and other definitions we first need to look at them in some more depth. In