Omnipotence is but one of many attributes of Yahweh.
If you have been keeping up with a few of my blog posts (or not, some people are occupied with Reddit or other tasks), you may have noticed now that I write rather apologetically or address questions concerning the validity of Christianity and religion as a whole. As I made it clear since my first blog post concerning Pascal’s Wager, I am a skeptic in many ways by heart and I too want to help my fellow Doubting Thomas companions and I discover and learn of the Majestic Kingdom that our Lord offers us.
So this week, I want to briefly (as usual, only so much a quick blog offers) mention a matter that involves the infinite power of God. One that does not believe in Christianity (or even a doubting Christian himself) might say that Christianity is invalid because an omnipotent (all-powerful) God would be able to forgive sin at his own whim. And because he does not, he is not omnipotent and therefore not real. Why would God send his own perfect Son to suffer for humanity when he could have easily forgiven sins as he pleases? I mean, he is omnipotent…right? Nonetheless, such a view ignores certain fundamental points: (1) God is not just omnipotent, but benevolent, all-knowing, and just (being just too implies “order”) and (2) Humans do not create the divine law, but are subject to it.
If the God of the bible is taken as a whole, we will learn not only that he possesses all-powerful attributes but he also exhibits great orderliness, justice, and other attributes. “The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love” (Psalm 33:5). God is not just all-powerful, but is the very essence of order and justice. If he were to merely forgive sin arbitrarily, he would be rejecting both his omni-benevolent and orderly qualities – he would very well not be God.
Therefore, being all-powerful does not imply arbitrary judgments such as forgiving human sins without a compensation – this very well lacks a framework of order. Such judgments of God turning His back on sin (without the redemption provided by Jesus) would ignore the very values he stands for and very well is – order and justice, to name a few. There is no order and balance if all is not properly judged according to what it has sown… and hence the objective view of the universe Christians embrace would crumble…
Being omnipotent does not inherently mean a deity will do things freely and chaotically at will, especially in the case of Christianity (as God has various attributes that work together).
Ultimately, in accepting Christianity, we accept the objective meaning and framework the universe obeys.