The Limits of God's Power

Snow · #1 (**permalink**) 10-25-2009, 09:51 PM

I've seen some argue, wrongly, that omnipotence means that God can do absolutely anything. For example, God cannot create a 4 sided triangle... not because God is not powerful, but because the concept is meaningless. A triangle has three sides. If you create something with 4 sides then it is not 3 sided. In that sense, God is not limited - it's just a nonsensical question.

In what legitimate ways is God limited?

Justice · #2 (**permalink**) 10-25-2009, 10:05 PM

God also cannot save His children any other way than the way He is going about it.

prisonchaplain · #3 (**permalink**) 10-25-2009, 10:06 PM

I don't want to say God can't remove that annoying blinking eye avatar...but he sure hasn't done so for months, despite my fervent prayers! :-)

LostSheep · #4 (**permalink**) 10-25-2009, 10:15 PM

God cannot lie. How do we know this?...Because God said he couldn't...But what if he lied about not being able to lie?

I think that God CAN do anything, INCLUDING making laws that cannot be broken. If God has the power to create laws like that, then wouldn't HE be bound to them as well? As Homer Simpson put it, "Could God microwave a burrito so hot, that not even He could eat it?"

Dr T · #5 (**permalink**) 10-25-2009, 10:59 PM

Speculation of course but I'd say that God is only "limited" by how own nature and therefore "Cannot do anything outside what and who He is." There are many things God cannot do, not because of a limitation but because it's outside His nature. Like being evil, unjust, etc.

Gatorman · #6 (**permalink**) 10-25-2009, 11:03 PM

God could clearly make a 4 sided triangle. The only limitation is not God's power, it is our understanding of his power. If you can not imagine him being able to create a 4 sided triangle, then, you do not truly understand his greatness and your own limitations.

john doe · #7 (**permalink**) 10-25-2009, 11:19 PM

If the triangle has 4 sides it ceases to be a triangle.

I believe that God is limited by eternal laws. I believe He uses His knowledge and power to perform what we call miracles.

Dr T · #8 (**permalink**) 10-25-2009, 11:20 PM

I'm with Snow on that just being an absurd thing.

Gatorman · #9 (**permalink**) 10-25-2009, 11:27 PM

If a triangle has 4 sides, it ceases to be man's definition of a triangle. The absurdity is the aboslute belief that man truly understands God's concept of a triangle. However, I will concede that, a 4 sided object would not be man's definition of a triangle.

deseretgov · #10 (**permalink**) 10-26-2009, 11:39 AM

There already are four sides triangles. You're forgetting time.