God's Omnipotence

Louder Fenn responded to a blog about God's omnipotence by Den Beste:

Den Beste proves mathematically that there are, indeed, things that God cannot do. Thus, God is not omnipotent, as in "capable of doing absolutely anything." Yeah. And? I hate to burst Den Beste's bubble, but it has long been Christian dogma that there are things that God cannot do. God, you see, cannot commit evil. That is, the Faith has always contended that set G' is not empty. Russell's Paradox in fact upholds dogma. It is only a painfully literal understanding of "omnipotence" that Den Beste has disproven.

Here is a very informative article on the topic at Answers In Action, quoting several Protestant and Catholic theologians (including St. Thomas Aquinas) to show that the classical Christian understanding of God's omnipotence has never been that He is capable of doing simply anything:

"There are indeed certain problems with reference to the meaning of Omnipotence which need to be considered. In the first place, omnipotence does not mean that God can do anything, but it means that He can do with power anything that power can do. He has all the power that is or could be."

"Can God make two plus two equal six? This is a question which is frequently asked by skeptics and by children. We reply by asking how much power it would take to bring about this result. The absurdity of the question is not too difficult to see. Would the power of a ton of dynamite make two plus two equal six? or the power of an atom bomb? or of a hydrogen bomb? When these questions are asked it is readily seen that the truth of the multiplication tables is not in the realm of power. Power has nothing to do with it. When we assert that God is omnipotent, we are talking about power. In the discussion of the infinite, eternal, and unchangeable truth of God we shall show that truth is of the very essence of His character but not in the realm of power; and we shall consider those Scriptures which plainly declare that 'it is impossible for God to lie' (Heb. 6:18)"

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Wed. 06/19/02 11:23:13 AM
Categorized as Classic.

"Evil People Too Smart to Kill Themselves"

Prompted by the latest suicide-murder bombing in Israel, Susanna Cornett gives her take on their motivations:

Folks, I don't think we're seeing despair here, or even too much ideology. I think at least some of them are stupid, incompetent or naive losers who are trying to be important by this signature gesture. Kind of John Hinckley and the Columbine shooters rolled up together and wrapped in a Palestinian flag, fed poisonous rhetoric by evil people too smart to kill themselves, and turned loose on the innocents, their postmortem glory the shallow regard of a grade schooler with a new necklace. I think we're giving them too much credit even for evil. It's the "me too!" mentality gone mad. In a way, that's even scarier, because that means they're not really thinking about it in any abstract way, but rather how it places them in the group influencing them.

As far as I'm concerned, the Palestinian people are seeking collective suicide-by-cop. They just may get it, sooner rather than later.

Yes. We don't see middle-aged or elderly men and women blowing up themselves, and everybody else they can. If the situation is so desperate that it produces despair so overwhelming it drives people to suicidal homicide, one would think that the longer one is exposed, the more suicidal-homicidal one would become.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Wed. 06/19/02 09:32:27 AM
Categorized as Classic.