(January 12, 2013 at 3:22 pm)Esquilax Wrote: Sorry is this specific version of this question has already been asked here, I did search but couldn't find it, and I want to know: Theists, is your god omnipotent and infinite? Is there something he cannot do?
If he is indeed omnipotent, why does he allow suffering?
Before you answer that last one, I should tell you that I'm aware of the standard brands of apologetics: god doesn't want to interfere in free will, suffering must exist to give contrast to pleasure, etc, and that's why god allows murders and such.
Only all of that is wrong: an omnipotent god is capable of envisioning a method by which he can intervene in the world to stop suffering without interfering with free will, and has the power to employ such a strategy. An omnipotent god can envision ways to do absolutely anything regardless of whatever justification for inaction anyone can come up with, by definition.
So, what's the answer? Is god capable yet inactive, either through disinterest or malice? Or is he limited, thereby making any religious text that claims his omnipotence to be flawed?
Omnipotrence as a concept is a fallacy. This can be exposed with a simple question.
Can an omnipotent being creatre a stone it cannot lift?
If it can then it is not omnipotent because it cannot lift the stone, if it cannot then it is not omnipotent because it cannot create the stone.
For some interesting philosophy on omnipotence and the nature of god in general I can highly recommend the 12th Century Spanish Philosopher Averroes.
MM
