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Essay / Omnipotence of God - 2113
IntroductionIn the construction of the Large Hardon Collider, physicists seek and hope to unravel the mysteries of the universe by analyzing the attributes of the tiniest particles known to man. Likewise, theologians have debated throughout human history the divine attributes of God, seeking and hoping to unravel the mysteries of the metaphysical universe. Although these many attributes, for example omnipresence, can be debated and dissected ad nauseum, it is within the scope of this research article to focus only on one of them. Among these many divine attributes of God, nothing seems more intriguing to me than that of God's omnipotence. This intrigues me because the exploration of this subject not only promises an exhilarating exercise of the human faculties of logic, but also offers a practical explanation, such as that of the existence of evil, in which we live every day. So, with these two elements in hand, I will take it upon myself to dig deeper into the divine attribute of omnipotence in hopes of revealing more of the glory of God, while simultaneously bringing greater humility to the human thinker. In order to better understand the subject of divine omnipotence, I will analyze four aspects of it. First, I'm going to construct a working definition of what we mean when we say God is omnipotent. Second, I will discuss the relationship between divine omnipotence and logic. Third, I will discuss the relationship between God's omnipotence and God's timelessness. Finally, I will analyze the omnipotence of God in relation to the existence of evil in the world. Through the analysis of these four subjects in relation to om...... middle of article ......translated by Sidney Norton Deane, Chicago, Open Court Publishing Co., 1903.Descartes: Philosophical Letters , translated and edited by Anthony Kenny, Oxford University Press, Inc., 1970 pp. 11f, 14f, 236f, 150f. The Philosophical Review, LXXIII, 1964, pp. 262-63. God and Timelessness, Nelson Pike, Schocken Books, Inc., 1970, p. 97. New essays in philosophical theology, ed. Anthony Flew and Alasdair MacIntyre, London, SCM Press, 1955, p. 152.Evil and the God of Love, revised edition by John Hick, Harper and Row, Publishers, Inc., 1978 p. 275. The Power of God, Readings on Omnipotence and Evil, edited by Linwood Urban and Douglas N. Walton, New York: Oxford University Press, 1978. A Natural Theology for Our Time, Charles Hartshorne, La Salle, Ill. Open Court, 1967, pp. 116-20 God, Liberty and Evil, Alvin Plantinga, New York, Harper and Row, 1974, pp.. 39-57