Is God Truly All Powerful?
- Thread starter Ninjashadow
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Why would an almighty and holy God be in such a place?
He goes to great lengths in the bible trying to get across to us how much He cannot look upon sin. Hell is a place prepared for those who want nothing to do with God. It's a place where they will be seperated from Him for all eternity. Why would He want to go to such a place?
logos_x
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He is also a God of salvation and mercy...and is quick to do just that, if one is repentant and will call upon Him.
Does God cease being God merely because someone failed to recieve Him in this evil age?
His mercy endures forever...and I see no biblical statement that says that a person who goes to Hell must remain there if they repent and turn to His salvation...even there.
If Hell is corrective punishment, rather than the continuation of sin and rebellion under conditions of burning and torture that affects nothing in it's inhabitants...then God is at work even there to bring about salvation for those who respond to His offer of life.
Does God cease being God merely because someone failed to recieve Him in this evil age?
His mercy endures forever...and I see no biblical statement that says that a person who goes to Hell must remain there if they repent and turn to His salvation...even there.
If Hell is corrective punishment, rather than the continuation of sin and rebellion under conditions of burning and torture that affects nothing in it's inhabitants...then God is at work even there to bring about salvation for those who respond to His offer of life.
God exists in an everlasting duration of time (sequence, succession). He is not timeless or in an 'eternal now' (this would make Him impersonal). He is from everlasting to everlasting (Ps. 90:2), but this does not mean He experiences past, present, and future in one eternal now moment. The past, present, and future are distinct for God as it is for us. He is the God of history. He is from all eternity and will exist trillions of years from now. Only the present is real. The past is a fixed memory; the future is not yet and only potential. Rev. 1:8 uses tensed expressions about God. He was, is now, and is to come (does not mean He is already there in the future).
logos_x
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I would tend to agree with this on principle..if for no other reason than that history is as it is..and if God were somehow in some sort of "eternal now" meaning actively present in the past...why would he not change the timeline to His liking?
At the same time...there is knowledge about the past and future that God posseses that is well beyond our timeline. He is both part of history..and also beyond it. He knows the end...and He knew it from the beginning, and is beyond our space-time experience.
freelight
Eclectic Theosophist
limited omnipresence/power reviewed
limited omnipresence/power reviewed
If God is truly omnipresent, there is no place empty of Him. If we then consider omnipotence which is the subject of this thread...then we must consider divine presence being all-powerful......being the Supreme Power/Reality in all dimensions. God is the only ONE BEING. There is no other. This is true omni-presence/power/science.
David was convinced that if he made his bed in 'hell' (Sheol)...there God would BE. {psalm 139}. There are no degrees to Gods presence. God IS. Nothing can prevent, thwart, annul, cancel out...the IS-ness that IS! This Aliveness of BEING is divine Presence, ever-Being Itself......and is the Sole ONE (all things/beings inhere and have their existence in this ONE...who is the Ground of Being,....therefore it is impossible for anything to exist outside of God).
God remains All-powerful for He is the Infinite, the All-pervading, the Sole Presence, the ONE. God is this Now. This Now-ness pervades all dimensions within the Undimensional ONE. There is no other. This is the View from the Absolute...which posits that 'God is All' , 'God is All there IS'.....and upholds the 3 omni's in their total sense.
From the Relative view wherein all relationships within space and time appear to exist....there is dimension/degree.........apparent limitations on the presumed omni's......qualifications put on God. In this relative View....there are many 'others', 'powers', etc. existing alongside Gods omni-power. Many of these relative views are maintained amid religious beliefs/paradigms.....which deny the Supremacy of the Absolute ONE.
If God fills all that exists....as the ALL,........then how can there be anyone or thing outside of omni-presence/power/science? A presumed 'hell' imagined to be an absence of God could not exist in Truth......where God is Truth...and this living truth is omni. But human minds would object otherwise and make claims based on religious doctrines and traditional ideas about God.
The common christian notion of an eternal 'hell'('hell' as they interpret such) challenges and refutes the very omni's of God that they claim to uphold. It denies Omnipresence and forfeits omnipotency. It claims one can be forever seperated from the ONE! Does anything exist outside of God? How could one escape from omnipresence? How could one eternally combat, withhold itself from omnipower? Furthermore as we consider omniscience....how can anyone/anything be obscured or expunged from the Consciousness of God....as Consciousness(God) includes all things/beings!
I realize that these quest-ions and perspectives will be derived from certain premises - among these being the perspective of the Absolute and the Relative on many planes or dimensions of perception. These considerations may challenge human thoughts, opinions, beliefs........yet God forever remains the Unchallenged ONE...whose infinite fullness, perfection, Love and Light ARE.
Where does hell exist but in the human mind and therefore imposes its play upon the screen of experience. However,...does hell exist in God? Does hell exist in Love, Light, Truth, Heaven? Is not God All-Light? In this Light...there may appear to be dimensions or gradations of light/darkness/shades, etc. - but the darkness and the light are both alike to God....who dwells in all, whose power is all, and who knows all! To deny this...is to deny Gods Omni-ness.....to deny Truth.
God is Now........All. God is ONE. (not two, three or many!). He is the Totality of Existence...forever Being True to Itself....the One Consciousness/Intelligence that perceives/conceives all....the Great Spirit....Mind. Who dreams up a place called 'hell' which denies the omni-ness of God?
At last.......who or what could deny omnipotence, regulate omnipresence or obscure omniscience?
paul
limited omnipresence/power reviewed
If God is truly omnipresent, there is no place empty of Him. If we then consider omnipotence which is the subject of this thread...then we must consider divine presence being all-powerful......being the Supreme Power/Reality in all dimensions. God is the only ONE BEING. There is no other. This is true omni-presence/power/science.
David was convinced that if he made his bed in 'hell' (Sheol)...there God would BE. {psalm 139}. There are no degrees to Gods presence. God IS. Nothing can prevent, thwart, annul, cancel out...the IS-ness that IS! This Aliveness of BEING is divine Presence, ever-Being Itself......and is the Sole ONE (all things/beings inhere and have their existence in this ONE...who is the Ground of Being,....therefore it is impossible for anything to exist outside of God).
God remains All-powerful for He is the Infinite, the All-pervading, the Sole Presence, the ONE. God is this Now. This Now-ness pervades all dimensions within the Undimensional ONE. There is no other. This is the View from the Absolute...which posits that 'God is All' , 'God is All there IS'.....and upholds the 3 omni's in their total sense.
From the Relative view wherein all relationships within space and time appear to exist....there is dimension/degree.........apparent limitations on the presumed omni's......qualifications put on God. In this relative View....there are many 'others', 'powers', etc. existing alongside Gods omni-power. Many of these relative views are maintained amid religious beliefs/paradigms.....which deny the Supremacy of the Absolute ONE.
If God fills all that exists....as the ALL,........then how can there be anyone or thing outside of omni-presence/power/science? A presumed 'hell' imagined to be an absence of God could not exist in Truth......where God is Truth...and this living truth is omni. But human minds would object otherwise and make claims based on religious doctrines and traditional ideas about God.
The common christian notion of an eternal 'hell'('hell' as they interpret such) challenges and refutes the very omni's of God that they claim to uphold. It denies Omnipresence and forfeits omnipotency. It claims one can be forever seperated from the ONE! Does anything exist outside of God? How could one escape from omnipresence? How could one eternally combat, withhold itself from omnipower? Furthermore as we consider omniscience....how can anyone/anything be obscured or expunged from the Consciousness of God....as Consciousness(God) includes all things/beings!
I realize that these quest-ions and perspectives will be derived from certain premises - among these being the perspective of the Absolute and the Relative on many planes or dimensions of perception. These considerations may challenge human thoughts, opinions, beliefs........yet God forever remains the Unchallenged ONE...whose infinite fullness, perfection, Love and Light ARE.
Where does hell exist but in the human mind and therefore imposes its play upon the screen of experience. However,...does hell exist in God? Does hell exist in Love, Light, Truth, Heaven? Is not God All-Light? In this Light...there may appear to be dimensions or gradations of light/darkness/shades, etc. - but the darkness and the light are both alike to God....who dwells in all, whose power is all, and who knows all! To deny this...is to deny Gods Omni-ness.....to deny Truth.
God is Now........All. God is ONE. (not two, three or many!). He is the Totality of Existence...forever Being True to Itself....the One Consciousness/Intelligence that perceives/conceives all....the Great Spirit....Mind. Who dreams up a place called 'hell' which denies the omni-ness of God?
At last.......who or what could deny omnipotence, regulate omnipresence or obscure omniscience?
paul