“If God is all-good, he can’t be all-powerful, and if he’s all-powerful, he can’t be all-good.”
I know this is just a retread of a philosophical idea that’s been around for centuries (if not millennia), but something about the way it’s phrased really grabbed my attention and made me seriously consider it.
The closest comparison I can think of is hearing a song that’s just okay, but years later hearing a cover that’s simply incredible.
This is what made me leave religion tbh. This notion right here.
“Why do bad things happen?”
Because God has a plan for us, and he needs us to go through this for his plan to work
“But… he’s all powerful. He could change the plan and we could have the same outcome. He’s infinite, which means there’s infinite ways that he could achieve the same thing… but we wouldn’t suffer”
He’s either all-good, which means he can’t choose what happens and he just tries to do good - but that means he’s not all powerful. Or he’s all powerful, but then he is choosing not to do the good things.
So I landed on “If there’s a god, then maybe he/she is just trying their best, and hey, that’s okay, I’m just going to try my best too.”
But we’re talking about the omniscience of an all powerful entity that can create and destroy universes on a whim. Of course it’s beyond our abilities, just as dogs aren’t building steam engines, we aren’t looking at multiple timelines when we make decisions. 🤷🏻♂️
“If God is all-good, he can’t be all-powerful, and if he’s all-powerful, he can’t be all-good.”
I know this is just a retread of a philosophical idea that’s been around for centuries (if not millennia), but something about the way it’s phrased really grabbed my attention and made me seriously consider it.
The closest comparison I can think of is hearing a song that’s just okay, but years later hearing a cover that’s simply incredible.
This is what made me leave religion tbh. This notion right here.
“Why do bad things happen?”
“But… he’s all powerful. He could change the plan and we could have the same outcome. He’s infinite, which means there’s infinite ways that he could achieve the same thing… but we wouldn’t suffer”
He’s either all-good, which means he can’t choose what happens and he just tries to do good - but that means he’s not all powerful. Or he’s all powerful, but then he is choosing not to do the good things.
So I landed on “If there’s a god, then maybe he/she is just trying their best, and hey, that’s okay, I’m just going to try my best too.”
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Omniscience may not be seeing a predetermined future, but rather the knowledge of every repercussion of every possible action you could make.
Such a being could actively make choices, while knowing the future, and all other possible futures that they chose to avoid.
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But we’re talking about the omniscience of an all powerful entity that can create and destroy universes on a whim. Of course it’s beyond our abilities, just as dogs aren’t building steam engines, we aren’t looking at multiple timelines when we make decisions. 🤷🏻♂️
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Yeah, I understood you, I just didn’t agree that omniscience and omnipotence could not possibly coexist.
I lean towards this view of omniscience, if only because I can’t handle the fact that every aspect of my life is predetermined.
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