Vista House, Oregon
God's omnipotence. This is a short audio presentation.
I am only allowed 5 MB of audio space per recording and that is roughly 5 minutes and so I have had to work on getting this to fit!
God is not omnipotent because he cannot ride a bicycle, or type a blog article?
I try to avoid 'uhms and ahhs', even though they seem to work for President Obama. Over time I reason I will become a better speaker. I have also increased the volume from my previous two presentations, one of which was on this blog, the other on satire and theology. In the future I hope to have a better audio card and microphone, as I realize they are not first rate.
I agree with Phillips that it is not illogical for God as spirit to ride a physical bike. But he reasons God is therefore not omnipotent as God cannot ride a bike.
In a sense God as spirit could move the bike as if it was being ridden by a person and it could be considered ridden, although strictly speaking he would not be sitting on it and riding it. This first suggestion would not satisfy many critics, but may satisfy some theists in particular.
I can see the point that some may suggest, that it would be illogical for a being of spirit only to do anything physical. But in regard to God I lean away from this view because of my suggestions and because it appears to limit God from logically acting in the physical universe which the infinite, omnipotent God should be able to do and did in Scripture.
I therefore offer the suggestion in agreement with John Frame (I read Frame after I had come to the similar conclusion) that God could remain as spirit in nature only and yet still temporarily take some type of physical form to ride the bike/do a physical action (Phillips suggests bicycle and not Frame). This would not be the same as my other suggestion of Christ riding the bike, which could also be accomplished, as Christ has both the eternal nature of God in spirit and has taken human nature in the incarnation, although the two natures do not mix.
At the same time I can grant Frame the point that God's omnipotence should not be challenged by the physical finite actions that God does not by nature do. He is correct that it is not a weakness. God is in fact beyond physical limitations.
A critic may state that my suggestion is little different than that of the incarnate Christ riding the bicycle. Even though I reason in both scenarios God is riding a bicycle with my suggestion God does not take on a new human nature, rather he simply takes on some type of temporary physicality to perform the action while remaining spirit in nature. We need to remember that the discussion of omnipotence is concerned with God's eternal nature in spirit and not the finite human nature Christ took in the incarnation. That is important in understanding why in the context of this philosophy of religion discussion I make that as my primary suggestion along with the two other scenarios where God could be considered to be riding a bicycle.
Below is the short lecture.
affrt.mp3
FRAME, JOHN M. (2002) The Doctrine of God, P and R Publishing, Phillipsburg, New Jersey.
PHILLIPS, D.Z. (2005) The Problem of Evil and the Problem of God, Fortress Press, Minneapolis.
California
It is barbecue season.
