Nature or attributes - omnipotence

Question 1

Introduction

Answer 1

Anselm proposed in the ontological argument the definition of God as “that than which nothing greater can be conceived

Question 2

Omnipotence

Answer 2

Is omnipotence a coherent concept – people have debated the question of whether it is possible for God to have created a stone that is too heavy for him to lift – logical contradiction?

Question 3

Omnipotence disadvantages

Answer 3

Some actions are impossible for an omnipotent being to do e.g., fail at a task – often referred to as the omnipotence paradox – where the whole notion of power seems to be a self-contraction

Incompatible with omnibenevolence (problem of evil) and omniscience (illogical for God to both be able to add to his knowledge, as he can do everything, and at the same time unable to add to his knowledge, as he already knows everything)

Question 4

Omnipotence disadvantages response

Answer 4

Epistemic distance – trying to fathom an infallible being, which is impossible as we are fallible

Question 5

Descartes

Answer 5

God can overcome everything even the logically impossible can make a square circle etc. as he is supremely perfect and thus can have no limitations at all

Question 6

Descartes advantages

Answer 6

Supported biblically “Nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:37)
the laws of mathematics only exist in the way they do because God created them that way, and God can change them or override them whenever he likes.

Question 7

Descartes disadvantages

Answer 7

Anselm - turns God into an unpredictable and arbitrary tyrant, how he might do anything- and therefore cannot be relied upon. If God is all-powerful then God has to be capable of doing evil, and could become immoral if he wished. In revelation difficult to know if he is stating truth or falsity- difficult to distinguish between nonsense and sense in religion

Question 8

Descartes further disadvantages the problem of evil

Answer 8

if Descartes is correct and God is capable of absolutely anything, such as suspending the laws of logic to allow us to have free will without the consequent evil, then the evidence of evil in the world becomes something that God could change if he wanted – goes directly against Jesus’ teachings and the idea that God is omnibenevolent

Question 9

Descartes further disadvantages the problem of evil response

Answer 9

God is perfect and flawed yet because God is omnipotent he overcomes this criticism

-Some would argue is a cop-out argument and too vague