Viewpoint: God, by definition, cannot be ‘all powerful’

The traditional definition of God credits him with three attributes: moral perfection, omniscience, and omnipotence.

…

But is that right? Does God have every power? He has the power to create and destroy universes, but does he have the power to sneeze or digest food or pick his nose? Those powers require possession of a body with a certain anatomy, but God has no such body, being disembodied. Does he have the power to decay or split or emit radiation? How could he have these powers given his immaterial nature?

…

Related on the SLP

Transhumanism and inequality: Enhancing human life could bring dystopian consequences More than three-quarters of Americans still believe a god created humans in some form. Believe it or not, that’s an all-time low

Viewpoint: 4 very real AI doomsday scenarios

After Idaho criminalized abortion providers in 2022, one-third of obstetricians fled. Health care advocates are making rural health the case for repealing the ban

Anti-GMO activists in Pakistan rev up their campaign of dire warnings

So it is wrong to say that God is by definition all powerful; he is only powerful within the limits of his nature. With respect to the powers he has by that nature, he is limitlessly powerful, but he does not have every power that everything in the world has—for that he would have to be the world. But God stands apart from the world, having a different nature from that of the world; he is a being unto himself.

If we want God to be literally all-powerful, we will end up with a Spinozistic pantheism, which is tantamount to the denial of God’s existence as traditionally conceived.

Read full, original post: A Disproof of God’s Existence