Transcript Omnipotence

ASPECTS OF GOD
OMNIPOTENCE
The idea of a powerful God
is a key religious belief.
Christian tradition –
God’s
power enables all
things to be
possible.
LUKE 1.37
AQUINAS –
GOD= ACTIVE
POWER
GOD HAS
POWER
BEYOND
HUMAN
COMPREHENSION
Three main ways in which
philosophers view god’s
omnipotence:
1. God’s ability to do anything,
including the logically
impossible.
2. God’s ability to do what is
logically possible for a perfect
God to do.
3. a statement of the power of God.
1. God’s ability to do anything,
including the logically impossible
Rene Descartes –
God can
change the
fundamental
laws of
physics, even
though they
are usually
unchanging
and universal.
BUT:
This view is
rejected by
many later
philosophers
who claim that
there is actually
nothing which is
‘logically
impossible’.
One such philosopher is J. L.
Mackie –
the idea of logically impossible
actions is “only a form of words
which fails to describe any state
of affairs.”
2. God’s ability to do what is
logically possible for a perfect
God to do.
• God’s power is
different from
our powers and
abilities, and
talk of God’s
omnipotence is
talk of what is
logically
possible for a
being, such as
God, to do.
• God has the power
to do whatever it is
logically possible
for God to do. E.g.
it is logically
possible for you to
climb Mount
Everest; but this
does not mean you
have the power to
do it.
• However, in God’s case,
saying God is the
omnipotent Creator is both
logically possible and saying
that God has the power to
create.
• Aquinas – God’s
power is
omnipotent
because it is
infinite; God is
not limited.
God is also
eternal and not
bound by the
limitation of
physical
existence:
“Whatever
involves a
contradiction is
not held by
omnipotence,
for it just cannot
possibly make
sense of being
possible…for a
contradiction in
terms cannot be
a word, for no
mind can
conceive it.”
This quote answers many
challenges to God’s omnipotence,
such as ‘Can God climb a tree?”
If God is eternal and not physical,
then God does not have a body
with which to climb, and thus the
idea that God is not omnipotent
because God cannot climb trees
is mistaken, because the concept
of God climbing is illogical.
Aquinas also considered
whether God could change the
past using his omnipotence, and
again rejects this as illogical.
Consider the following example:
1. The Nazis lost the Second
World War.
2. The Nazis won the Second
World war.
The first statement is true, the
second false. God could not
change the past so that
statement two is true because
this contradicts what we know
to be the case; that the Nazis
lost the Second World War:
“ If you think of it [an event] as a
past event and definitively so,
then it is not only in itself but also
absolutely impossible that it did
not take place, for it implies a
contradiction. As such it is more
impossible than the raising of the
dead to life.” (Aquinas, Summa
Theologiae)
• God’s omnipotence is an aspect of
the nature of God and so God
cannot sin because this
contradicts the nature of God as
good.
‘God cannot sin’ is more than just
saying God does not sin or
chooses not to sin; it is a
statement that the idea of God
sinning goes against God’s nature
as perfect.
Anselm – suggested that God
could not sin as sin involves a
lack of control over one’s
actions. So sinning would
indicate that God lacks power
over his/her activity.
• However,
omnipotence as
the ability of
God to do what
is logically
possible for a
perfect God to
do, has been
criticised by
philosophers
such as Peter
Geach.
Geach argues
that this
definition of
omnipotence
relies on the
view of God’s
nature as
perfect. God’s
omnipotence
might be better
understood as a
statement
concerning the
power of God.
3. A statement of the power of
God
• Philosophers
“ A being is
like Anthony
omnipotent if
Kenny have
it has every
suggested
that
power which
omnipotence
it is logically
is best
possible to
understood as
possess.”
a statement of
God’s power:
Omnipotence =
a. what is logically possible for
God,
b. but also the fact that God has
the power to do whatever is
logically possible for God.
This is different from humans
who often have the logical
capability to do something, but
lack the power necessary to
achieve the goal.
Challenges to
omnipotence
• CAN GOD CHANGE PAST
HISTORY?
Response: God cannot change
past history as this would
involve a ________of what we
know to be the case. This is
illogical. God cannot do what is
illogical unless you adopt
________’s view of omnipotence.
• CAN GOD SIN?
Response:
1. God cannot sin as this would stop
God being _______.
2. God cannot sin, as sin involves
change and an ______God cannot
change.
3. Sin involves a lack of power over
one’s ______(Anselm). An omnipotent
being has power over his/her______,
therefore an omnipotent God cannot
sin.
• CAN GOD MAKE A STONE THAT IS
TOO HEAVY FOR GOD TO LIFT?
Response: Talk of god
omnipotently making a stone that
is too heavy for the omnipotent
God to life is incoherent and
therefore________. If something is
omnipotently made immovable
then that is how the thing is – you
do not lack any possible power if
you cannot lift the stone as the
stone by nature, omnipotently,
is__________.