“Can God be omnipotent” Discuss

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4 Terms

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  1. Descartes Voluntarism

  • Believes that Gods omnipotence involves the power to do anything even the logically impossible- says that God could have made it false that 2X4=8

  • Has the power to changed mathematical, geometric and logical truths- God existed before the laws of logic and created them as is therefore not bound by them

  • Logic=human limitations

  • However:

  • Voluntarism is incoherent and undermines theodicies- if it is logically possible for God to do the logically impossible then it is not logically impossible- self defeating- destroys logical necessity

  • Undermines theodicies- why cant god give us free will and prevent evil?

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  1. Aquinas- God can only do the logically possible

  • Gods power is founded in Gods infinite nature which possess the perfection all being- Gods omnipotence Can only bring about things which are consistent with the perfection of being

  • Even though God cannot do the impossible- not limitation of his omnipotence once properly understood as power founded in the perfection of being

  • However: The paradox of the stone- “can god create a stone so heavy he cant lift is”- Aquinas’ definition is therefore too narrow

  • Mavrodes- the stone is logically self contradictory- no such thing as a stone too heavy too lift

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  1. Self Imposed Limitation

  • Augustine

  • The only limits on Gods power are limits that God chose- limited by choice- divine self limitation

  • When creating the earth- God made is logically consistent and orderly

  • If God did something logically impossible within the universe- disrupt the logical order of universe and make it chaotic

  • Free will needed to do good/evil

  • However :

  • If God can do logically impossible then no need for divine limitation

  • Reduces the number of things God can do, can’t do what he used to- not all powerful

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Conclusion:

  • God cannot be al powerful

  • God being all powerful is incompatible with other attributes or god, for the omnipotence of God to be justified- the definition of Omnipotence needs to be compromised (Anthony Kenny)