Is God omnipotent?

[Trailblazer]

Cheers. Just following orders from our Lord.

Yes, I can see that.

 

[an anarchist]

Being All Powerful, God can recreate the universe full of robots, then evil is not a problem. But Being All Loving,

I certainly believe God is all loving, and I’m not just trying to create a cycle of debate, but I do have a question. How is it more benevolent that God gave us free will? With His omniscience, surely He knew man would sin and bring suffering on themselves. The common held belief is that many, perhaps most, will burn in eternal hellfire upon death. Why is it that not creating us like animals, like “robots” is benevolent. If we were “robots”, surely we would not have brought eternal suffering on many of us. How is that not more benevolent, and freewill not cruel?
I personally don’t believe people go to hell. Only like the Illuminati type folk do

 

[Aupmanyav]

Why should God eliminate suffering just because He can?
That is the question nobody can answer.

Why do you believe in something for which nobody has answers?

 

[Trailblazer]

Why do you believe in something for which nobody has answers?

There are some answers, we just don't have all the answers. If we had all the answers we would be God.

 

[Aupmanyav]

What are those answers and their evidence?

 

[Trailblazer]

What are those answers and their evidence?

"Why should God eliminate suffering just because He can?"

The answer as to why God does not eliminate suffering just because He can is because suffering can be beneficial to man:

THE BENEFITS OF GOD TO MAN

God alone ordereth all things and is all-powerful. Why then does He send trials to His servants?

The trials of man are of two kinds. (a) The consequences of his own actions. If a man eats too much, he ruins his digestion; if he takes poison he becomes ill or dies. If a person gambles he will lose his money; if he drinks too much he will lose his equilibrium. All these sufferings are caused by the man himself, it is quite clear therefore that certain sorrows are the result of our own deeds. (b) Other sufferings there are, which come upon the Faithful of God. Consider the great sorrows endured by Christ and by His apostles!

Those who suffer most, attain to the greatest perfection.

Those who declare a wish to suffer much for Christ’s sake must prove their sincerity; those who proclaim their longing to make great sacrifices can only prove their truth by their deeds. Job proved the fidelity of his love for God by being faithful through his great adversity, as well as during the prosperity of his life. The apostles of Christ who steadfastly bore all their trials and sufferings—did they not prove their faithfulness? Was not their endurance the best proof?

These griefs are now ended.

Caiaphas lived a comfortable and happy life while Peter’s life was full of sorrow and trial; which of these two is the more enviable? Assuredly we should choose the present state of Peter, for he possesses immortal life whilst Caiaphas has won eternal shame. The trials of Peter tested his fidelity. Tests are benefits from God, for which we should thank Him. Grief and sorrow do not come to us by chance, they are sent to us by the Divine Mercy for our own perfecting.

While a man is happy he may forget his God; but when grief comes and sorrows overwhelm him, then will he remember his Father who is in Heaven, and who is able to deliver him from his humiliations.

Men who suffer not, attain no perfection. The plant most pruned by the gardeners is that one which, when the summer comes, will have the most beautiful blossoms and the most abundant fruit.

The labourer cuts up the earth with his plough, and from that earth comes the rich and plentiful harvest. The more a man is chastened, the greater is the harvest of spiritual virtues shown forth by him. A soldier is no good General until he has been in the front of the fiercest battle and has received the deepest wounds.

The prayer of the prophets of God has always been, and still is: Oh God, I long to lay down my life in the path to Thee! I desire to shed my blood for Thee, and to make the supreme sacrifice.

Paris Talks, pp. 49-51

 

[Deeje]

I certainly believe God is all loving, and I’m not just trying to create a cycle of debate, but I do have a question. How is it more benevolent that God gave us free will?

We have choices because we alone are capable of making them. We alone are made in God's image, and like our Maker, we alone have a concept of past, present and future. We alone have the capacity to imagine future happenings in our minds and to plan thoughtfully concerning them.... but we have those capacities and moral values for a reason. We have a clearly stated purpose here, and that was to represent the Creator as caretakers of this planet and as keepers, looking after all other life forms. God carefully crafted his creation with the future in mind.....all the interactive systems and laws in the universe are proof of God's existence......in the functioning of the earth itself with its closed atmosphere, it means that we are aboard a self-sustaining 'space ship', where all life can be maintained eternally, unless the systems are interfered with by intelligent beings who have the choice to do evil.
One such creature did choose to do evil in connection with the lower human life forms who would worship their Creator on Earth.
He turned their worship towards himself by becoming their god instead of Jehovah. (2 Corinthians 4:3-4) He even tried to get Jesus to worship him! (Luke 4:5-8) God allowed him to prove that he was the better god.....and his failure will serve as a warning for all time to come. It meant suffering for sure, but the pain was going to be worth the gain....and God can erase any painful memories. (Isaiah 65:17) God has ensured that nothing like this can ever happen again. Precedents are set and nothing can erase them from history.

With His omniscience, surely He knew man would sin and bring suffering on themselves. The common held belief is that many, perhaps most, will burn in eternal hellfire upon death. Why is it that not creating us like animals, like “robots” is benevolent. If we were “robots”, surely we would not have brought eternal suffering on many of us. How is that not more benevolent, and freewill not cruel?

Would you rather be a mindless performing robot, or a sentient, free will being who has a thousand choices a day to make life not just an existence, but a never ending joy? I know what I would choose.

If the devil led humans away from God, then God knew that Jesus could win them back....with love, not threats of torture in some invented "hell" of eternal torment. How could a loving God even think of such a thing? (Jeremiah 32:34-35)

I personally don’t believe people go to hell. Only like the Illuminati type folk do

It was never a Bible teaching....but found in most non-Christian religions.....funny that.

 

[Aupmanyav]

Those who suffer most, attain to the greatest perfection.
These griefs are now ended.
when grief comes and sorrows overwhelm him, then will he remember his Father who is in Heaven, and who is able to deliver him from his humiliations.
The prayer of the prophets of God has always been, and still is: Oh God, I long to lay down my life in the path to Thee! I desire to shed my blood for Thee, and to make the supreme sacrifice.

What is the evidence of this promise? Of course, all griefs come to an end with the death of a person. What is new in this?
Job and Caiphas are Bible stories, myths. Why should anyone believe in them?
Yes, the weak do that but is there any proof that God saves them? Why did he not save Bab? Why did he not save other Babists and Bahais in Iran?
What your prophets did was because of their own mentality. Why should a normal person loose his life for an imaginary entity, i.e., God, Allah?

 

[Trailblazer]

What is the evidence of this promise? Of course, all griefs come to an end with the death of a person. What is new in this?
Job and Caiphas are Bible stories, myths. Why should anyone believe in them?
Yes, the weak do that but is there any proof that God saves them? Why did he not save Bab? Why did he not save other Babists and Bahais in Iran?
What your prophets did was because of their own mentality. Why should a normal person loose his life for an imaginary entity, i.e., God, Allah?

Job may have been a mythical Bible story, but Caiphas was a real person.
God did not save the Bab because the Bab chose to be a martyr for His Cause. The same goes for the other Babists and Baha'is in Iran.

What the Bab and Baha'u'llah did was for the sake of God, as Servants of God. Others of us choose to he Servants of God.but Baha'u'llah said that there we to be no more martyrs after He died. Rather, the Baha'is were enjoined to proclaim and teach Cause of God and as such we are told to sacrifice our time, not our lives, because Baha'is are needed in this world, not in the next world.

A person who is not a Baha'i is not expected to do anything for a God they do not believe in.

 

[Aupmanyav]

All scholars do not even accept the existence of Jesus, what to talk of Caiphas?
Peter died, did he communicate with you that he has now got immortal life? Actually, no one, none of even the Saints in Christianity have got immortal life till now. They are all lying in graves. Even if I go with the Christian view, they might get immortal life only on the day of judgment and not before that. The mansions of God's heaven are lying unoccupied till now.
How does it matter if Christians make a devil out of Caiphas? Sure, they will say that for anyone who opposes their belief. That i nothing new.

 

[ChristineM]

No, that is just logic as he said. I don't know if it says that God is transcendent in the Bible but it says that in the Baha'i scriptures.

“Regard thou the one true God as One Who is apart from, and immeasurably exalted above, all created things. The whole universe reflecteth His glory, while He is Himself independent of, and transcendeth His creatures. This is the true meaning of Divine unity. He Who is the Eternal Truth is the one Power Who exerciseth undisputed sovereignty over the world of being, Whose image is reflected in the mirror of the entire creation. All existence is dependent upon Him, and from Him is derived the source of the sustenance of all things. This is what is meant by Divine unity; this is its fundamental principle.”
Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 166

With no falsifiable evidence you cannot eay that. What you can say is 'i believe'

 

[Trailblazer]

All scholars do not even accept the existence of Jesus, what to talk of Caiphas?
Peter died, did he communicate with you that he has now got immortal life? Actually, no one, none of even the Saints in Christianity have got immortal life till now. They are all lying in graves. Even if I go with the Christian view, they might get immortal life only on the day of judgment and not before that. The mansions of God's heaven are lying unoccupied till now.
How does it matter if Christians make a devil out of Caiphas? Sure, they will say that for anyone who opposes their belief. That i nothing new.

Almost all scholars accept that Jesus existed.

The Day of Judgement is already here, it arrived when the Bab appeared in the 19th century and since then God has been separating the wheat from the chaff. There is still a chance to be wheat and thereby gain eternal life.

The Day of Judgment

 

[Trailblazer]

With no falsifiable evidence you cannot eay that. What you can say is 'i believe'

Yes, I can say "I believe."

 

[LactoseIntolerant]

I certainly believe God is all loving, and I’m not just trying to create a cycle of debate, but I do have a question. How is it more benevolent that God gave us free will? With His omniscience, surely He knew man would sin and bring suffering on themselves. The common held belief is that many, perhaps most, will burn in eternal hellfire upon death. Why is it that not creating us like animals, like “robots” is benevolent. If we were “robots”, surely we would not have brought eternal suffering on many of us. How is that not more benevolent, and freewill not cruel?
I personally don’t believe people go to hell. Only like the Illuminati type folk do

I suspect that the mind, truth and love is a great part of our created purpose. Without free will, I suspect that truth and love would be quite meaningless. I am sure Alexa or whatever AI is fascinating at first but can it hold my fascination for eternity? Without free will is any endeavour at transcendence beyond the material worthy of Divine Effort. If I had no free will, I'd rather be a pulsar or a neutron star.

Hell is not Scriptural. As with all doctrines, it is created by man and must be tested against the Scriptures. The wages of sin is death not hell. As God is the Only Immortal Soul, there is no metaphysical need for hell as we are not inherently spiritually immortal. Our natural state is non-existence. Grace in the Eyes of God gives us eternal life.

Sin and evil are manifestations of our animal nature. Divine Omnibenevolence is manifested as hope and compassion among all peoples. Only the animal can transcend, as AIs have no need. Eden was the Plan A transcendence. Plan B is Jesus the Redeemer. Cruelty comes from Adam failing Plan A and we are left to our own devices and vices.

Illuminati is so passe. Deep state is where it's at!

 

[gospelsaves]

I certainly believe God is all loving, and I’m not just trying to create a cycle of debate, but I do have a question. How is it more benevolent that God gave us free will? With His omniscience, surely He knew man would sin and bring suffering on themselves. The common held belief is that many, perhaps most, will burn in eternal hellfire upon death. Why is it that not creating us like animals, like “robots” is benevolent. If we were “robots”, surely we would not have brought eternal suffering on many of us. How is that not more benevolent, and freewill not cruel?
I personally don’t believe people go to hell. Only like the Illuminati type folk do

Firstly, this is a great thread. Very interesting. I haven't been on these forums in a long while so great to be back reading such interesting topics. I hope I'll be able to participate often, lets see . To answer your overall first question, if you mean by Omnipotent that there is no other being more POWERFUL than God? Then yes, by all means God is Omnipotent! There is no other being more powerful than God, period! None is greater. However, as some have already stated there are things that God cannot, and will not do. For example, the Bible says God cannot lie. By His very nature of being all powerful, what he states shall come to pass! When he speaks it WILL HAPPEN. He is too powerful for it NOT to happen. Therefore He cannot lie.

He cannot violate His own laws that he put in place. Psalms 89:14 states "Righteousness and Justice are the foundation of Your throne; mercy and truth go before your face". If God ever fails to be Righteous and Just, He would cease to be God!

When God created mankind it says He made man in His image and he became a living being. God breathed into man life, and he became a living being, a living spirit. You are body, soul and spirit. The bible says dust you are and dust you will return, that is just your body. Your body was formed from the ground. That's why your body returns to the ground when you die. Your soul is your mind, will, thoughts, emotions, your personality. Your Spirit is the real you. You are an eternal being. A spirit that God created in His image when he breathed in you. Therefore as a spirit, you can never die. Your spirit will go on for eternity somewhere.

God is Love, but God is also Righteous. He is perfection. I do believe in Hell, and I do believe it's clearly sported in the Bible with lots of scripture verses talking about it. As a perfect judge I believe God must punish us for violating His commandments. He provided a way out (His perfect Love and Mercy demonstrated) Himself in the atonement of Jesus. If you do not accept that way out, then you are essentially taking the punishment. We understand this in the human sense. If your loved one is tortured, and murdered you want the guilty to be punished. You want justice. He is a judge and demands Justice. The bible says ALL are guilty. But He is also Love and He himself provide the way out. At some point you either take the way out, or you take the punishment. You as the guilty party don't get to tell the judge what your punishment should be.

As for the robots...angels were created to serve. We were created just to love God, and to be loved by God. In order to love someone, you know that by very nature you have to have a choice. Or else how is it love? You cannot force "robot" someone to love you. That would not be love. I have to choose to love you.

 

[Trailblazer]

Firstly, this is a great thread. Very interesting. I haven't been on these forums in a long while so great to be back reading such interesting topics. I hope I'll be able to participate often, lets see .

I sure hope so. It is always nice to see a new Christian show up here. You have so much Bible wisdom to offer.

 

[Kelly of the Phoenix]

Do you believe that the God you believe is omnipotent? Why or why not?

No.

 

[Kelly of the Phoenix]

Of course he is. He doesn't have to use his power just because he has all power. God allowed angels including fallen angels Free Will. He allows the battle to rage for a time. He allows us to choose. He could just erase all opposition but that is not he chooses to work.

So He’s not impotent, just negligent. Sounds like an improvement to me.

 

[Wildswanderer]

So He’s not impotent, just negligent. Sounds like an improvement to me.

What's negligent about allowing free will? We would not want a God who didn't.

 

[Trailblazer]

What's negligent about allowing free will? We would not want a God who didn't.

I will tell you why 'some' atheists believe God is negligent.
They believe that God should do everything that humans are responsible to do because God is omnipotent so He can...

The part that flies right over their heads is that God has entrusted humans to take care of this world. It also flies over their head that God is not their personal Superman who is obligated to save them from all suffering just because 'they don't like it'. In short, these kinds of atheists are like little babies who want a lollipop and when mommy does not give them a lollipop mommy is a bad mommy. Bad God, bad God, do exactly what I expect you to do or you are not benevolent. NOTHING could be more childish.