Things God Can’t/Won’t Do Round squares and four sided triangles. What do you think God looks like? What do you think He acts like? Is He powerless to stop things like tsunamis and earthquakes? Is He like a security guard watching the surveillance tapes of all our lives? What do you think God is like? These are good questions. No matter where we are on the our spiritual journey it’s worth taking the time to explore what God’s characteristics are like. Faith Service Worship Vision There may be times when you find it difficult to reconcile God’s truth to your own opinion or worldview, God’s truth is eternal, it does not change, our understanding of the truth does change as we allow God to work in our hearts and minds. These sessions are not about opinion, they are about learning truth, the truth contained in the Bible, together we are going to focus on how we apply God’s truth, black & white in a grey world. To set godly priorities, grow in Christian character and live according to God’s standards so that we are a living witness to others.
The basis of our belief: Session 6
Ashingdon Elim Bible Study 18 May 2010
Many Christians assume God can do anything since the Bible represents Him as all-powerful. Is this a correct assumption? This assumption is incorrect. Before you call me a heretic! The God who created the physical universe is not physical - His existence is metaphysical and transcendent of the Universe. Skeptics and atheists often pose questions that seem to nullify the notion of God’s omnipotence, based on physical attributes for example, “Can God create a rock so large that He, Himself, cannot lift it?” It’s like asking, “Can God create a round square or a four-sided triangle?” No, He cannot—but not for the reasons implied by the atheist (that He does not exist or that He is not omnipotent) it is because the question is, itself, self-contradictory and incoherent. It is nonsensical terminology. Rather than saying God cannot do such things, it would be more in harmony with the truth to say simply that such things cannot be done at all! God is infinite in power, but power relates to what is possible —not to what is impossible! It is wrong to speak of any power (even infinite power) being able to do things that simply cannot be done. Logical absurdities like round squares or four sided triangles can not be possible and are not subject to any power, even the infinite power of God. Does this mean that God can not do the impossible? What about when Jesus said in Luke 18:27 “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”? The verse from Luke is speaking about salvation accomplished by God rather than man. Not things that would cause God to violate or destroy His will, ways or purposes. In reality God can do whatever is possible but He will only do what is in harmony with His nature.
God can’t go against His own nature While there is nothing that is impossible for God, God cannot be inconsistent. Another way to say this is God can’t not be God. God has to be Himself – if He is not Himself, He is not God. The decisions God makes, the way that God acts spring from His own character, from who He is. He doesn’t just do things because He wants to, He does things because that is who He is. There are loving acts that God does. Why? Because God is love. That’s his character. That’s who He is. God can’t change that and if He were to change it, He wouldn’t be God any more. 1