Omnipotence

From Sean's Gospel Topical Guide
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Some thoughts on the nature of omnipotence.
"The elements are eternal"
  • History of the Church 6:308-309
"Now, the word create…does not mean to create out of nothing; it means to organize; the same as a man would organize materials and build a ship. Hence, we infer that God had materials to organize the world out of chaos-chaotic matter, which is element…. Element had an existence from the time [God] had. The pure principles of element are principles which can never be destroyed; they may be organized and reorganized, but not destroyed. They had no beginning and can have no end."
"But if I am right, I might with boldness proclaim from the housetops that God never had the power to create the spirit of man at all. God himself could not create himself."

Notes

Omnipotence, as I define the term, refers to having every power, in the broadest domain possible, that it is possible to have. I consider that there may be powers which one could have, but effectively can't exercise, because they would compromise powers required to be considered properly omnipotent. I would cite History of the Church 6:308-309 to support the view that God's omnipotence is limited, in the sense that there exist hypothetical powers which are not in any way possible.

I reject the idea of unqualified omnipotence as a doctrine of man.

Cross-References