Todays Covenant WORD is: Omnipotence (from Latin: Omni Potens: all power) is unlimited power. Monotheistic religions generally attribute omnipotence to only the deity of whichever faith is being addressed. In the monotheistic philosophies of Abrahamic religions, omnipotence is often listed as one of a deitys characteristics among many, including omniscience, omnipresence, and omnibenevolence. The term omnipotent has been used to connote a number of different positions. These positions include, but are not limited to, the following: (1). A deity is able to do anything that it chooses to do. (2). A deity is able to do anything that is in accord with its own nature (thus, for instance, if it is a logical consequence of a deitys nature that what it speaks is truth, then it is not able to lie). Hold that it is part of a deitys nature to be consistent and that it would be inconsistent for said deity to go against its own laws unless there was a reason to do so. A deity is able to do anything that corresponds with its omniscience and therefore with its worldplan. Every action performed in the world is actually being performed by the deity, either due to omni-immanence, or because all actions must be supported or permitted by the deity. The word Omnipotence derives from the Latin term Omni Potens, meaning All-Powerful instead of Infinite Power implied by its English counterpart. The term could be applied to both deities and Roman Emperors. Being the one with All the power, it was not uncommon for nobles to attempt to prove their Emperors Omni Potens to the people, by demonstrating his effectiveness at leading the Empire. Omnipotence is all-sufficient power. His Omnipotence means power to do all that is intrinsically possible, not to do the intrinsically impossible. You may attribute miracles to him, but not nonsense. This is no limit to his power. If you choose to say God can give a creature free will and at the same time withhold free will from it, you have not succeeded in saying anything about God: meaningless combinations of words do not suddenly acquire meaning simply because we prefix to them the two other words God can.... It is no more possible for God than for the weakest of his creatures to carry out both of two mutually exclusive alternatives; not because his power meets an obstacle, but because nonsense remains nonsense even when we talk it about God. Some monotheists reject the view that a deity is or could be omnipotent, or take the view that, by choosing to create creatures with freewill, a deity has chosen to limit divine omnipotence. In Conservative and Reform Judaism, and some movements within Protestant Christianity, including process theology and open theism, deities are said to act in the world through persuasion, and not by coercion (for open theism, this is a matter of choice—a deity could act miraculously, and perhaps on occasion does so—while for process theism it is a matter of necessity—creatures have inherent powers that a deity cannot, even in principle, override). Deities are manifested in the world through inspiration and the creation of possibility, not necessarily by miracles or violations of the laws of nature. The rejection of omnipotence often follows from either philosophical or scriptural considerations, discussed below. Process theology rejects unlimited omnipotence on a philosophical basis, arguing that omnipotence as classically understood would be less than perfect, and is therefore incompatible with the idea of a perfect deity. The idea is grounded in Platos oft-overlooked statement that being is power. My notion would be, that anything which possesses any sort of power to affect another, or to be affected by another, if only for a single moment, however trifling the cause and however slight the effect, has real existence; and I hold that the definition of being is simply power. From this premise, Charles Hartshorne argues further that: Power is influence, and perfect power is perfect influence ... power must be exercised upon something, at least if by power we mean influence, control; but the something controlled cannot be absolutely inert, since the merely passive, that which has no active tendency of its own, is nothing; yet if the something acted upon is itself partly active, then there must be some resistance, however slight, to the absolute power, and how can power which is resisted be absolute? — Hartshorne, 89 The argument can be stated as follows: (1). If a being exists, then it must have some active tendency. (2). If a being has some active tendency, then it has some power to resist its creator. (3). If a being has the power to resist its creator, then the creator does not have absolute power. For example, though someone might control a lump of jelly-pudding almost completely, the inability of that pudding to stage any resistance renders that persons power rather unimpressive. Power can only be said to be great if it is over something that has defenses and its own agenda. If a deitys power is to be great, it must therefore be over beings that have at least some of their own defenses and agenda. Thus, if a deity does not have absolute power, it must therefore embody some of the characteristics of power, and some of the characteristics of persuasion. This view is known as dipolar theism. The most popular works espousing this point are from Harold Kushner (in Judaism). The need for a modified view of omnipotence was also articulated by Alfred North Whitehead in the early 20th century and expanded upon by the aforementioned philosopher Charles Hartshorne. Hartshorne proceeded within the context of the theological system known as process theology. In the Authorized King James Version of the Bible, as well as several other versions, in Revelation 19:6 it is stated ...the Lord God omnipotent reigneth (the original Greek word is παντοκράτωρ, all-mighty). Although much of the narrative of the Old Testament describes the Judeo-Christian God as interacting with creation primarily through persuasion, and only occasionally through force. However, it could further be argued that the ability to conflict with truth is not an appropriate representation of accepted definitions of power, which negates the assertion that a deity does not have infinite powers. Many other verses in the Christian Bible do assert omnipotence of its deity without actually using the word itself. There are several mentions of the Christian deity being referred to as simply Almighty, showing that the Christian Bible supports the belief of an omnipotent deity. Some such verses are listed below: Psalms 33:8-9: Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spoke, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast. Genesis 17:1: And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. (The Hebrew word used here is shadday) Jeremiah 32:27: Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me? At his command a storm arose and covered the sea. (Psalm 107:25) Several parts of the New Testament claim Jesus to be one with the Father, who is omnipotent, and others show Jesus to have some separation from the Father and even self-imposed limitations on his power. (Gospel of John) Can a deity create a rock so heavy that even the deity itself cannot lift it? If so, then the rock is now unliftable, limiting the deitys power. But if not, then the deity is still not omnipotent because it cannot create that rock. Augustine, in his City of God, argued, instead, that God could not do anything that would make God non-omnipotent: For He is called omnipotent on account of His doing what He wills, not on account of His suffering what He wills not; for if that should befall Him, He would by no means be omnipotent. Wherefore, He cannot do some things for the very reason that He is omnipotent. All the above stated claims of power are each based on scriptual grounds and upon empirical human perception. This perception is limited to our senses. The power of a deity is related to its existence.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Oct 2013 00:15:35 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015