Is God Omnipotent?

[goldie08]

I don't see any problem. God is Omnipresent, there is nowhere where God is not. If God is not omnipresent then He isn't God, eh? You need to see it in another light.

God, or First Cause, is the Source of all that is created both seen and unseen, for GOD IS LIFE. We as individuals partake of this Universal Life. Just as the drop is in the Ocean and the Ocean is in the drop, so is it with us, the essence is the same, only differing in degree.

[siliconwafer]

Thank you for the replies.

So in other words.. the fact that evil is not overcome is not evidence that God is not Omnipotent. Because God still has the power to overcome evil if He chose to do it. It is just evidence that God, in the Universe He created, has chosen to not use His powers to overcome evil at this moment in time

OK, so if God is 100% good and does not do anything "bad", ie "a good tree bears good fruit" and (Jesus:)"noone is good except God" then if God had omnipotence he would get rid of evil, death and destruction right this minute. While I agree that God is omniscent and omnipresent, I remain unconvinced that he is omnipotent :-)

That doesn't mean that I think he is therefore unworthy; not at all!

I think the argument that God is not 100% omnipotent explains why evil is in our world.

Just because God is 100% good and omnipotent does not mean that He would rid the world of evil, death, and destruction right now. God has a good reason for allowing those things to exist.

This is a false assumption: Since God is all-good and all-powerful, He would rid the world of evil, death, and destruction right now.

Just because God allows evil does not mean that God is evil or that God is lacking in power. God has good reasons for allowing evil. He allows evil for a greater good.

[lee_merrill]

For such questions, I recommend a good Systematic Theology book! They go over such questions in detail. But for starters, how about the great commision: "All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me." And then the term "pantokrator" in Revelation 1:8 has very much the sense of "omnipotent" as a title.

But Grudem defines omnipotence in perhaps an unexpected way:

Grudem, Systematic Theology

God’s omnipotence means that God is able to do all his holy will.

© source where applicable

Given this definition, then Scripture is replete with references to God's omnipotence:

Grudem

God is “The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle!” (Ps. 24:8). The rhetorical question, “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” (Gen. 18:14; Jer. 32:27) certainly implies (in the contexts in which it occurs) that nothing is too hard for the LORD. In fact, Jeremiah says to God, “nothing is too hard for you” (Jer. 32:17).

© source where applicable

And then a caution:

Grudem

... it is not entirely accurate to say that God can do anything. Even the Scripture passages quoted above that use phrases similar to this must be understood in their contexts to mean that God can do anything he wills to do or anything that is consistent with his character. Although God’s power is infinite, his use of that power is qualified by his other attributes (just as all God’s attributes qualify all his actions).

© source where applicable

Blessings,
Lee

[Cerebrum123]

No it does not.

An omnipotent God would not covet another man's woman for reproduction nor would he act like the deadbeat dad that scriptures show God being.

An omnipotent God has no need to drop into what he would see as bestiality to reproduce a half breed chimera of a son. He would reproduce pure with his Asherah.

Regards
DL

Since no sex was involved there would be no "coveting", and since Jesus IS God, then it is very different then what you are trying to portray. Also, Jesus was both FULLY God, and FULLY human, not a chimera, you need to take Christian Theology 101. So far your remarks identify you as a troll, I hope that you prove through future actions to be otherwise.

[FarEastBird]

Thank you for the replies.

So in other words.. the fact that evil is not overcome is not evidence that God is not Omnipotent. Because God still has the power to overcome evil if He chose to do it. It is just evidence that God, in the Universe He created, has chosen to not use His powers to overcome evil at this moment in time

OK, so if God is 100% good and does not do anything "bad", ie "a good tree bears good fruit" and (Jesus:)"noone is good except God" then if God had omnipotence he would get rid of evil, death and destruction right this minute. While I agree that God is omniscent and omnipresent, I remain unconvinced that he is omnipotent :-)

That doesn't mean that I think he is therefore unworthy; not at all!

I think the argument that God is not 100% omnipotent explains why evil is in our world.

One of the defenses against the existence of evil is that evil is not made by God, but of men. But, with regards to the effect of evil/suffering towards the innocents, Romans says,

“ALL things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28

Does not the statement answer the issue of any existing undesirable that exist in this world?

In other places, we’ll read:

2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations,
3 knowing this: that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing. – James 1:2-4

I say then: Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid! But rather, through their fall salvation has come unto the Gentiles to provoke them to jealousy. Romans 11:11

Allowing evil to exist does not meant that He cannot get rid of it. Rather getting rid of the evil and of its greater good results is rather evil for God to do.

FEB

[The Remonstrant]

Do you think the NT supports the idea that God is not Omnipotent, until the end times. If the NT supports the idea that evil will not be overcome until the "end times", God cannot be omnipotent. This word also does not occur in the NT, nor does "all powerful". Neither do I remember any verses that support omnipotentence off the top of my head.

What you guys think on a TEXT level (rather than a personal opinion or 'feeling'); does the NT support omnipotence or not, and which NT verses back up your answer?

Thanks

Divine Self-Limitation & Creaturely Free Will

I think it is best to say that God is not currently exercising his power or dominion completely. This is part and parcel of the "already-not yet" inaugurated eschatology which has been made much of by various theologians from the 20th century to present. From a freewill theistic perspective, God is allowing, to some level or another, his creatures (corporeal and incorporeal) influence over the cosmos. Angels, demons, Satan ("spirit" or "spiritual beings") and humanity are given somewhat free (but not unlimited) reign over what transpires between now and the Parousia. Evidently there is a kind of cosmic conflict or spiritual warfare taking place from now until the advent of Christ when all of creation will be in complete subjection to him (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:24-27). "[I]n putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him [i.e., Jesus]. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone" (Hebrews 2:8, 9; ESV [emphasis added]).

Of course we are left with questions still regarding the extent God has allowed, is presently allowing and will allow his creatures to oppose his kingdom, but we know eventually all opposition will be put to an end (though we are not given the "how" or "when"). The (partial) answer, again, is in God's self-limitation and allowance of freewill creatures to freely obey him or freely run amok (as it were). In this, I agree on many points (though certainly not exhaustively [least of all his views pertaining to divine foreknowledge]) with Gregory A. Boyd's discussion in Satan and the Problem of Evil: Constructing a Trinitarian Warfare Theodicy (IVP Academic, 2001).