Why do most Christians -- well, most theists -- insist on the notion that God is omnipotent/all-powerful?
This generates a lot of problems, I think.
First off, there's the "Can God make a rock so heavy even He can't lift it" thing.
Second, Occam's razor -- let's suppose that I've decided through various means that I believe God created the universe. I'm positing a pretty large actor as it is there; why posit an infinitely large one?
Third, it causes untold drama, pussyfooting around word definitions, and confusion when saying God "cannot" be evil, or destroy a soul, or tell a lie, and so on.
Fourth, it makes the entire worship/praise gig look pretty weak. If you can do absolutely everything, is anything ever an effort? If nothing is ever an effort, what are we worshiping/praising here exactly? I'll spend a lot more time lauding a craftsman building a bronze statue with what resources he has in his shop than an industrialist hiring a team of engineers to do the same in series, and I'd think most if not all art critics would agree with me as to which result is more likely to count as art and which isn't.
Plus, well -- just giving the good guy unlimited superpowers makes for a lousy story, no? Even Superman has kryptonite, otherwise it'd make for some really boring comics.
So... why not just have a God that is just powerful enough to make a universe, and leave it at that? I wonder if that's what Hebrews had in mind in bible times anyway -- it's definitely more in tune with other ancient religions, and they do mention other deities without mentioning God just insta-zapping them to the recycle bin.
It gets rid of an untold amount of issues, reduces the need to split hairs and twist logic, reads better, and ultimately may even improve God's reputation.
This generates a lot of problems, I think.
First off, there's the "Can God make a rock so heavy even He can't lift it" thing.
Second, Occam's razor -- let's suppose that I've decided through various means that I believe God created the universe. I'm positing a pretty large actor as it is there; why posit an infinitely large one?
Third, it causes untold drama, pussyfooting around word definitions, and confusion when saying God "cannot" be evil, or destroy a soul, or tell a lie, and so on.
Fourth, it makes the entire worship/praise gig look pretty weak. If you can do absolutely everything, is anything ever an effort? If nothing is ever an effort, what are we worshiping/praising here exactly? I'll spend a lot more time lauding a craftsman building a bronze statue with what resources he has in his shop than an industrialist hiring a team of engineers to do the same in series, and I'd think most if not all art critics would agree with me as to which result is more likely to count as art and which isn't.
Plus, well -- just giving the good guy unlimited superpowers makes for a lousy story, no? Even Superman has kryptonite, otherwise it'd make for some really boring comics.
So... why not just have a God that is just powerful enough to make a universe, and leave it at that? I wonder if that's what Hebrews had in mind in bible times anyway -- it's definitely more in tune with other ancient religions, and they do mention other deities without mentioning God just insta-zapping them to the recycle bin.
It gets rid of an untold amount of issues, reduces the need to split hairs and twist logic, reads better, and ultimately may even improve God's reputation.
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