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Can any God truly be omnipotent?
I just thought about what it means to be omnipotent, and came up with a dilemma. If a God, any God, is omnipotent and all knowing, it would mean that He'd know what would happen to us before it happened, but we can go even deeper; He'd know, that he'd know what would happen, before he knew (paradox).
But if we ignore this paradox, it would mean that this God had to know what He'd know would happen even before he created Earth and life, and that He had to know that everything He knew, was going to happen.
This presents a problem - If a God knew what would happen, and if that which He knew would happen HAD TO HAPPEN, otherwise it would imply that He was mistaken and thus not omnipotent and all knowing, it would also imply that this God is not in control of His own fate, nor that of the life He created. He, and everything else would be on autopilot, with Him just knowing what's going to happen, unable to make any changes, since any changes would mean that his earlier thoughts of what would happen, was incorrect. This in turn points to an even higher consciousness ...
God has to have a God too?
But even the last conclusion poses the same issue, since the same would be true about this God. So can there truly be something that's 100% omnipotent, if this 'omnipotent' being, would need to be all knowing, and in the process loose control over His own fate, and therefore it's omnipotence?
What I'm getting at, is that any God, can not know the future, since if they know the future, which would include their own, it literally translates into them no longer being in control of their future. It's only by not knowing that we either have control, or have the sense of control. Once we know, any effort put in, is a waste of time, since we already know what the end result would be. Therefore even the act of 'giving up', would be a waste of time, since this too, would need to have formed part of the 'future' and lead to the 'fate' which was laid out before Him, and us.
In other words, by knowing what's going to happen, you immediately loose control over your own fate, and the fate of others, which is why I conclude that you CAN NOT be omnipotent.
@J - Omnipotent means being almighty or infinite in power.Therefore, your analogy of him only knowing the possibilities but not the actual choices is wrong. Since if he can not know the choices, he can't foresee the future, and if he
can't foresee the future, he does not possess infinite power, and is not almighty.
Therefore the term omnipotent is a paradox in itself, and can't exist.
3 Answers
- JLv 710 years ago
You've got a funny definition of omnipotence and what it means to have power over. An understandable definition, but funny nonetheless.
Think for example a 30 yr old man parked at a cross roads:
I know that
1. he can go left, and if he does he will have a flat tire, and that will result in
a. him either stopping to fix, and getting caught in the rain, or
b. in him pushing on with the flat tire, and having an accident . . .
c. and so on and so forth into the infinite future
2. he can go straight, and will come to a gas station where he will
a. meet a girl, talk with her, and fall in love
b. decide that he has enough gas and push on to the next gas station,
c. and so on and so forth into the infinite future
3. and so on and so forth into an infinite number of choices presented by this cross roads.
** And I also know, from 30 yrs of knowing this fella, that he will probably choose 1a, etc. He might not, but he probably will.
---------------
But the idea is this: I have known of the possibility of this man coming this crossroad, and of the possibility of every choice could make from that point on, and of ever possible result of every possible choice he could make into infinity, and how those choices would be affected by every possible choice any other individual could make, and all of their possible results . . .including the likelihood of each choice being made by each given individual.
All this, I have known since before humanity ever even existed. Nothing set in stone, just an endless web of possibilities.
That is what God's future foreknowledge looks like. That is what is described in the bible.
Not the "God knows everything that can happen because he is outside of time, and for him it has already happened" version of God's foreknowledge (or some version of that), that you were probably raised with along with millions of other people who inevitable end up at the wall of paradoxes that view of divine foreknowledge creates.
- Joe SLv 410 years ago
First, you are talking about omniscience and omnipotence.
Having complete foreknowledge does not mean that God has made a mistake. That is an assumption on your part that you have not proven in your thesis.
You need to prove that God has made a mistake. How do you know He did? In what way? Are you sure this wasn't His plan from the beginning?
If He is omniscient and you are a mere pile of dirt, then how could you possibly even pose this question to an omniscient, omnipotent God??
- 10 years ago
God is not making His own fate--He's making ours. God will always be. Nothing will happen to Him. As for Him going on auto-pilot. I don't think that's the case. I think He's actively involved, but He knew He'd be actively involved, and He also knows the choices we will make, based on His activity. That's just my thoughts on the matter.
