Is God REALLY Omnipotent? Contradictions Series

The Bible is a really big book. It was written by about 40 people spanning a period of over 1,500 years and in three different languages. Just these facts alone create a likelihood of its writings being misunderstood, misinterpreted and misrepresented. Claims that the Bible is a wildly contradictory book are numerous and easy to find. In our Contradictions Series, we continue to look at these questions and attempt to answer them one by one. Our process is to consider the immediate context of the scriptures in question and the larger context of the Bible itself. We examine the original meanings of the words involved and attempt to assign the meaning that best fits the scriptural point being made. Solving apparent biblical contradictions is possible; we just need to see the Bible as God would have us see it! Can God create a rock so heavy He can't pick it up? To be omnipotent is to be all powerful. The Bible, especially the Old Testament, frequently speaks of God as being almighty. What God does in Scripture certainly verify that power. This sounds pretty simple until you realize that philosophically, being all powerful runs into all kinds of self-contradictory problems. If God is all powerful, can He create a rock so big and heavy that He himself can’t pick it up? Skeptics gleefully pose this kind of question as proof that God cannot be all powerful. This conclusion can then bring us to the next step of God being fallible - and therefore not reliable. Suddenly we look at the Bible and its contents as questionable at best. Use the right benchmark While all of this is an amusing intellectual exercise, it completely misses the point of God and being omnipotent. The problem here is the attempt to define whether God is all powerful by the silliness of creating big rocks and having super strength. God created our universe. He is bigger and more brilliant than we can ever imagine. Why not define His being all powerful by His ability to think of and bring into existence such massive and intricate creations? Why not define His all-powerful nature by His ability to have all of these things accomplish precisely what He had planned from the very beginning? To understand the all-powerful nature of God we need to step back and try to grasp the multi-faceted nature of God. Check out our September 5, 2022 episode, “Is God REALLY Omnipotent?” for more. As part of our special Contradictions Series, we seek out answers by unearthing the details that many overlook. God’s comprehensive nature is described by the many biblical names he is called by. We look at a small sampling of these names for perspective. We then dig into other common questions regarding God’s omnipotence. How could God have ever been unhappy about His creation if He is all powerful? What about the things the Bible says that God can’t do? And what about favoritism? Wouldn’t showing favoritism imply that God that God is limited? Join us for a fascinating journey towards understanding just how supreme and powerful God really is!