Omnipotence of God

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Introduction

In the construction of the Large Hardon Collider, physicists seek and hope to unlock the mysteries of the universe by analyzing the attributes of the most miniscule particles known to man. In the same way, theologians have argued back and forth over the course of human history with regards to the divine attributes of God, seeking and hoping to unlock the mysteries of the metaphysical universe. Although these many attributes, for example omnipresence, could be debated and dissected ad nauseum, it is within the scope of this research paper to focus but on one of them. Of these many divine attributes of God, nothing strikes me as more intriguing than that of God’s omnipotence. It is intriguing to me because the exploration of this subject not only promises an exhilarating exercise in the human faculties of logic, it also offers an explanation into the practical, such as that of the existence of evil, which we live amidst every day. So with both of these elements in hand, I am going to take on the task of digging deeper into the divine attribute of omnipotence in hopes of revealing more of the glory of God, and simultaneously bringing greater humility to the human thinker. In order to gain a better understanding on the subject of divine omnipotence, I am going to analyze four aspects of it. First, I am going to build a working definition of what we mean when we say that God is omnipotent. Second, I am going to discuss the relationship between divine omnipotence and logic. Third, I am going to discuss the relationship between God’s omnipotence and God’s timelessness. Last, I am going to analyze God’s omnipotence in relation to the existence of evil in the world. Through the analysis of these four topics in relation to om...

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...ranslated by Sidney Norton Deane, Chicago, Open Court Publishing Co., 1903.

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The Philosophical Review, LXXIII, 1964, pp. 262-63.

God and Timelessness, Nelson Pike, Schocken Books, Inc., 1970, p. 97.

New Essays in Philosophical Theology, ed. Anthony Flew and Alasdair MacIntyre, London, S.C.M. Press, 1955, p. 152.

Evil and the God of Love, Revised Edition by John Hick, Harper and Row, Publishers, Inc., 1978 p. 275.

The Power of God, Readings on Omnipotence and Evil, Edited by Linwood Urban and Douglas N. Walton, New York, Oxford University Press, 1978

A Natural Theology for Our Time, Charles Hartshorne, La Salle, Ill. Open Court, 1967, pp. 116-20

God, Freedom, and Evil, Alvin Plantinga, New York, Harper and Row, 1974, pp. 39-57

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