--Once again, the short version is that omnipotence means capable of doing anything possible or having all power, even being the very definition of power.
--In considering omnipotence, people (philosophers, like me) often raise questions such as whether God can create a rock so heavy that even He can’t lift it.
--Most of these are really quite silly (like this one) since gravity is relative to two masses close to each other, and so the rock wouldn’t even be the biggest thing on whatever planet it’s sitting. God would have to have a body (to lift with), make a super big rock and then make an even bigger planet…you get the point.
--But the (much more interesting) underlying idea is whether God can do something impossible.
--And the answer to that is a simple, “No.” God can’t do the impossible. But that’s the point.
--When we say God is all-powerful what we mean is that anything that can be done, He can do. Another way to say this is that the very defining standard for power is His Power (whatever He can do). The notion that there’s some greater power out there who is God but could also do the impossible is just nonsense speech.
--Put it a different way. If it can be done, God can do it. If it can’t be done, well of course God can’t do it. By definition, that’s what it means to be impossible. It can’t be done. And sometimes philosophers pretend that theists have been really silly in asserting that God can even do things that can’t be done at all. But they haven’t, at least not the thoughtful ones.
--In considering omnipotence, people (philosophers, like me) often raise questions such as whether God can create a rock so heavy that even He can’t lift it.
--Most of these are really quite silly (like this one) since gravity is relative to two masses close to each other, and so the rock wouldn’t even be the biggest thing on whatever planet it’s sitting. God would have to have a body (to lift with), make a super big rock and then make an even bigger planet…you get the point.
--But the (much more interesting) underlying idea is whether God can do something impossible.
--And the answer to that is a simple, “No.” God can’t do the impossible. But that’s the point.
--When we say God is all-powerful what we mean is that anything that can be done, He can do. Another way to say this is that the very defining standard for power is His Power (whatever He can do). The notion that there’s some greater power out there who is God but could also do the impossible is just nonsense speech.
--Put it a different way. If it can be done, God can do it. If it can’t be done, well of course God can’t do it. By definition, that’s what it means to be impossible. It can’t be done. And sometimes philosophers pretend that theists have been really silly in asserting that God can even do things that can’t be done at all. But they haven’t, at least not the thoughtful ones.
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