Omnipotence (literally, "all power") is power with no limits or inexhaustible, in other words, unlimited power. Monotheistic religions generally attribute omnipotence only to God. In theology, monotheism (Greek μόνος(monos) = single and θεός(theos) = God) is the belief in the existence of one deity or God, or in the oneness of God. ... This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ...

In the philosophy of most Western monotheistic religions, omnipotence is listed as one of God's characteristics among many, including omniscience, omnipresence, and benevolence. In theology, monotheism (Greek μόνος(monos) = single and θεός(theos) = God) is the belief in the existence of one deity or God, or in the oneness of God. ... Omniscience is the capacity to know everything infinitely, or at least everything that can be known about a character including thoughts, feelings, life and the universe, etc. ... Omnipresence is the ability to be present in every place at any, and/or every, time; unbounded or universal presence. ... For the phrenological faculty, see Benevolence (Phrenology) Look up Benevolence in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Meanings of omnipotence

Between people of different faiths, or indeed even between people of the same faith, the term omnipotent has been used to connote a number of different positions. These positions include, but are not limited to, the following: Faith has two general implications which can be implied either exclusively or mutually; To Trust: Believing a certain variable will act a specific way despite the potential influence of known or unknown change. ...

1. God is able to do anything, i. e. the answer to "can God do x" is always "yes", regardless of what x may be. However this leads to obvious contradictions and is not a view held by philosophically aware theologians. Although it can be argued that to try and rationalize Gods omnipotent power is a vain undertaking, since we cannot ever really understand God's power, and is perhaps better to take it on faith.(see Kierkegaard)
2. God is able to do anything that is logically possible for God to do^[1].
3. God is able to do anything that God chooses to do^[2].
4. God is able to do anything that is in accord with his own nature (thus for instance if it is a logical consequence of God's nature that what God speaks is truth then God is not able to lie).

Under many philosophical definitions of the term "God" senses 2, 3 and 4 can be shown to be equivalent. However on all understandings of Omniopotence it is generally held that God is able to intervene in the world by superseding the laws of physics, since they are not part of his nature, but the principles on which he has created the physical world. However many modern scholars (such as John Polkinghorne) hold that it is part of God's nature to be consistent and that it would be inconsistent for God to go against His own laws unless there were an overwhelming reason to do so^[3] Averroes (1126–98), a philosopher who discussed the omnipotence paradox. ... Søren Kierkegaard Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (May 5, 1813 - November 11, 1855), a 19th century Danish philosopher, has achieved general recognition as the first existentialist philosopher, though some new research shows this may be a more difficult connection than previously thought. ... Look up lie in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... John Polkinghorne, KBE, FRS, PhD, ScD, MA, (born October 16, 1930 in Weston-super-Mare, England) is a British particle physicist and theologian. ...

Scholastic definition

Thomas Aquinas acknowledged difficulty in comprehending God's power. Aquinas wrote that while "all confess that God is omnipotent...it seems difficult to explain in what God's omnipotence precisely consists." In the scholastic understanding, omnipotence is generally understood to be compatible with certain limitations upon God's power, as opposed to implying infinite abilities. There are certain things that even an omnipotent God cannot do. Medieval theologians drew attention to some fairly trivial examples of restrictions upon the power of God. The statement "God can do anything" is only sensible with an assumed suppressed clause, "that implies the perfection of true power." This standard scholastic answer allows that creaturely acts such as walking can be performed by humans but not by God. Rather than an advantage in power, human acts such as walking, sitting or giving birth were possible only because of a defect in human power. The ability to sin, for example, is not a power but a defect or an infirmity. In response to questions of God performing impossibilities (such as making square circles) Aquinas says that "Nothing which implies contradiction falls under the omnipotence of God." [1] Saint Thomas Aquinas (also Thomas of Aquin, or Aquino; c. ... Sin is a term used mainly in a religious context to describe an act that violates a moral rule, or the state of having committed such a violation. ...

In recent times, C.S. Lewis has adopted a scholastic position in the course of his work the problem of evil. Lewis follows Aquinas' view on contradiction: Clive Staples Lewis (November 29, 1898 – November 22, 1963), commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis, was an author and scholar. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

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.

– Lewis, 18

Rejection or limitation of omnipotence

Some monotheists reject the view that God is or could be omnipotent, or take the view that, by choosing to create creatures with freewill, God has chosen to limit divine omnipotence. In Conservative and Reform Judaism, and some movements within Protestant Christianity, including process theology and open theism, God is said to act in the world through persuasion, and not by coercion (for open theism, this is a matter of choice--God could act miraculously, and perhaps on occasion does so--while for process theism it is a matter of necessity--creatures have inherent powers that God cannot, even in principle, override). God is manifest in the world through inspiration and the creation of possibility, not necessarily by miracles or violations of the laws of nature. Conservative Judaism, (also known as Masorti Judaism in Israel predominantly), is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s. ... Reform Judaism can refer to (1) the largest denomination of American Jews and its sibling movements in other countries, (2) a branch of Judaism in the United Kingdom, and (3) the historical predecessor of the American movement that originated in 19th-century Germany. ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... Process theology (also known as neoclassical theology) is a school of thought influenced by the metaphysical process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947). ... Open theism, also known as free will theism, is a theological movement that has developed within Evangelical Protestant Christianity as a response to certain ideas that are a part of the synthesis of Greek philosophy and Christian theology. ... A miracle, derived from the old Latin word miraculum meaning something wonderful, is a striking interposition of divine intervention by a god in the universe by which the ordinary course and operation of Nature is overruled, suspended, or modified. ...

The rejection of omnipotence often follows from either philosophical or scriptural considerations, discussed below.

Philosophical grounds

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 God.

The idea is grounded in Plato's 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

– Plato, 247E [2]

From this premise, Charles Hartshorne argues further that: Charles Hartshorne (June 5, 1897 – October 9, 2000) was a prominent philosopher who concentrated primarily on the philosophy of religion and metaphysics. ...

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 beings have some active tendency, then they have some power to resist God

3) If beings have the power to resist God, then God does not have absolute power

Thus, if God does not have absolute power, God must therefore embody some of the characteristics of power, and some of the characteristics of persuasion. This view is known as dipolar theism. In Process theology Dipolar theism is the position that in order to conceive a perfect God, one must conceive Him as embodying the good in sometimes-opposing characteristics, and therefore cannot be understood to embody only one set of characteristics. ...

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. Harold Kushner is a Conservative rabbi, in the liberal wing of Conservative Judaism, a member of the Rabbinical Assembly, and a long time congregational rabbi of Temple Israel in Natick, Massachusetts, USA. He is the author of the immensely popular book on liberal theology, When Bad Things Happen to Good... Alfred North Whitehead, OM (February 15, 1861 Ramsgate, Kent, England – December 30, 1947 Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA) was an English-born mathematician who became a philosopher. ...

Scriptural grounds

In the King James version of the Bible, as well as several other versions, in Revelations 19:6 it is states "...the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." Although much of the narrative of the Old Testament describes God as interacting with creation primarily through persuasion, and only occasionally through force. A primary New Testament text used to assert the limit of God's power is Paul's assertion that God cannot tell a lie [3]. Thus, it is argued, there is no scriptural reason to adhere to omnipotence, and the adoption of the doctrine is merely a result of the synthesis of Hellenic and early Christian thought. Note: Judaism commonly uses the term Tanakh. ... John 21:1 Jesus Appears to His Disciples--Alessandro Mantovani: the Vatican, Rome. ... Paul of Tarsus (b. ... The influence of Hellenic philosophy on Christianity is a subject of much dispute among philosophers, Christian thinkers, and biblical scholars. ...

Many other verses in the Bible do assert God`s omnipotence without actually using the word itself. There are several times in the Bible when God is called simply "Almighty", showing that the Bible supports the belief in an omnipotent God. 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.

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) Psalms (Tehilim תהילים, in Hebrew) is a book of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, and of the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. ...

Paradoxes of omnipotence

For further discussion, see the main article Omnipotence Paradox Averroes (1126–98), a philosopher who discussed the omnipotence paradox. ...

Belief that God can do absolutely anything can be thought to yield certain logical paradoxes. A simple example goes as follows: Can God create a rock so heavy that even he cannot lift it? If he can, then the rock is now unliftable, limiting God's power. But if he cannot, then he is still not omnipotent. This problem led in the High Middle Ages to developing the concept of mathematical infinity, and laid the basis for infinitesimal calculus. Combining omnipotence with omniscience can yield the difficulty of whether or not God can pose a question to which he would not know the answer. Look up paradox in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The cathedral Notre Dame de Paris, a significant architectural contribution of the High Middle Ages. ... The infinity symbol ∞ in several typefaces. ... Infinitesimal calculus is an area of mathematics pioneered by Gottfried Leibniz based on the concept of infinitesimals, as opposed to the calculus of Isaac Newton, which is based upon the concept of the limit. ...

Augustine, in his City of God, argued that God could not do anything that would make God non-omnipotent: “Augustinus” redirects here. ... This article is about the work by St. ...

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. ^[4]

Thus Augustine argued that God could not do anything or create any situation that would in effect make God not God.

Uncertainty and other views

All these claims of power are all based on scriptual grounds and upon human perception, and human perception is limited, if not we would not have Unsolved problems in physics. In reality we cannot see nor know what is done by God, presuming there is a god-like entity consciently taking actions, so we cannot know the limits of God's powers.^[5] All these assumptions are based on the little knowledge we have of God, and that laws of physics are the same everywhere (with this is meant the hypothetical existence of multiple universes.^[6]) This is a list of some of the unsolved problems in physics. ...

Since the current laws of physics are only known to be valid in this universe, it is possible that the laws of physics are different in parallel universes, giving a God-like entity, more power. If the number of universes is unlimited, than the power of a certain God-like entity is also unlimited, since the laws of physics may be different in other universes, and accordingly ^[7] making this entity omnipotent. Unfourtunately concerning a multiverse there is a lack of empirical correlation. To the extreme there are theories about realms beyond this multiverse (Nirvana, Chaos, Nothingness). A multiverse (or meta-universe) is the hypothetical set of multiple possible universes (including our universe) that together comprise all of physical reality. ... Buddhist concept. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... For the mathematics of nothing, see zero. ...

Also trying to develop a theory to explain, assign or reject omnipotence on grounds of logic has little base, since being omnipotent would mean the omnipotent being is above logic. A view supported by René Descartes ^[8] René Descartes (March 31, 1596 – February 11, 1650), also known as Renatus Cartesius (latinized form), was a highly influential French philosopher, mathematician, scientist, and writer. ...

It can even be debated that God, again assuming there is a God-like entity, is consciously taking actions. It could be concluded from an emanationism^{[9] [10]} point of view, that all actions and creations by God are simply flows of divine energy (the flowing Tao in conjunction with qi is often seen as a river^[11]; Dharma (Buddhism) the law of nature discovered by Buddha has no beginning or end.) Pantheism and/or panentheism sees the universe/multiverse as the body of God, making God everybody and everything. So if one does something, actually God is doing it. We are God's means according to this view. Emanationism is a component in the cosmology or cosmogony of certain religious or philosophical systems that argue that a sentient, self-aware Supreme Being, born from an unmanifested The Absolute (Root of Existence) beyond comprehension, emanated lower and lower spiritual modalities and lastly matter (the physical universe) as the resultant... This article is about the Chinese character and the philosophy it represents. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Dharma (Sanskrit: धर्म) or Dhamma (Pāli: धम्म) in Buddhism has two primary meanings: the teachings of the Buddha which lead to enlightenment the constituent factors of the experienced world In East Asia, the character for Dharma is 法, pronounced fǎ in Mandarin and hō in Japanese. ... Media:Example. ... Pantheism (Greek: πάν ( pan ) = all and θεός ( theos ) = God) literally means God is All and All is God. It is the view that everything is of an all-encompassing immanent abstract God; or that the universe, or nature, and God are equivalent. ... Panentheism (from Greek: πάν (‘pan’ ) = all, en = in, and theos = God; all-in-God) is the theological position that God is immanent within the Universe, but also transcends it. ...

In the Taoist religious or philosophical tradition, the Tao is in some ways equivalent to God or the logos. The Tao is understood to have inexhaustible power, yet that power is simply another aspect of its weakness. For other uses of the words tao and dao, see Dao (disambiguation). ... Look up logos in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Notes

1. ^ eg Aquinas Summa Theologica link here
2. ^ eg St Augustine City of God
3. ^ This is a consistent theme of Polkinghorne's work, see eg Polkinghorne's Science and Religion
4. ^ City of God, Book 5, Chapter 10
5. ^ Since this article deals on the all power of God, it would be logic to assign God both sexes. Since having only one sex would make God less powerful and thus no longer all-powerful. This article is also not (only) on omnipotence of the biblical God, there are other monotheistic religions who consider their God having both sexes (Shaktism, Shaivism, Vaishnavism). Some monotheistic religions even see their god as being neutral or unpersonal (Brahman, The Tao in taoism, although the Tao can also be seen as dual: Yin, Yang). See Hindu views on God and gender and God and gender.
6. ^ Max Tegmark, Parallel Universes, Scientific American(2003),5,40-51
7. ^ String Theory and Parallel universes
8. ^ Descartes' Ontological Argument
9. ^ Catholic view on emationism
10. ^ Hindu view on emationism
11. ^ Tao Te Ching Chapter LXI Verse 140 | Comments on the Tao Te Ching

Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225 - March 7, 1274) was a Catholic philosopher and theologian in the scholastic tradition, who gave birth to the Thomistic school of philosophy, which was long the primary philosophical approach of the Roman Catholic Church. ... “Augustinus” redirects here. ... Shaktism is a denomination of Hinduism that worships Shakti, or Devi -- the Hindu name for the Great Mother -- in all of her forms whilst not rejecting the importance of masculine and neuter divinity. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Temple dedicated to the worship of Vishnu as Venkateswara. ... Brahman (Devanagari: ब्रह्म) is the concept of the Godhead found in Hinduism. ... This article is about the Chinese character and the philosophy it represents. ... In Hinduism there are diverse approaches to the understanding of God, of Brahman, which is reflected in the gender by which God is addressed or described. ... This entry discusses how the Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity and Islam deal with God and gender. ... Max Tegmark Max Tegmark born 1967 in Sweden to Karin Tegmark and Harold S Shapiro, is a cosmologist formerly at the University of Pennsylvania and now at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as an Associate Professor. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

References

• Augustine, City of God and Christian Doctrine
• C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
• Charles Hartshorne, Man's Vision of God
• Plato, Sophist
• Tertullian, Against Praxeas
• Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica

See also

• Problem of evil
• List of omnipotent fictional characters

This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

External links

Look up omnipotence in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry
• "Does God Observe the Law of Contradiction? ... Should We?" by Richard Pratt, professor of Old Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary
• Omnipotence and Free Will in Judaism
• Problems with Divine Omnipotence