The Goodness of God and the Power of God: Part 2

Col. Flagg, choosing his nature with an electric cattle prod.

So...moving on from the last post, I've hopefully established that the God of the theists (traditional Jews, Christians, and Muslims) is all-powerful, and that yes, He could stop evil if He desired to do so.  It is not a lack of power that limits God's response.

Consider the implications: if God is truly all-powerful, then either His action or inaction are equally possible for Him.  That is, acting to stop evil requires no energy, no effort for God.  Being all-powerful means that the only limitation is not ability, but desire.

Or is it?

Consider: I, as a finite being, can do certain things, but am physically incapable of other things.  With reasonably healthy legs, I can walk.  I can run.  I can splash around in a pool and call it swimming.  But lacking wings, I cannot fly.  (Even if I board a plane, my altitude and speed are limited by the technology that other humans are clever enough to design).  I can eat a large meal, but I cannot eat the world.  Such are physical limitations.

But I also have other limitations, limitations of desire of course, but also limitations of character.  I cannot not love chocolate.  I cannot choose to dislike the music of Clint Mansell.  I can force myself to listen to Kayen West, but I cannot force myself to like him.

I didn't sit down one day and say, "Here's what I'm going to choose to like, and here's what I'm going to choose to dislike."  Maybe some of my likes and dislikes were formed in the womb.  Maybe long before, with my genes being selected by a process wholly apart from my own volition.  Or maybe as I grew up, I was influenced by my environment to have certain likes and dislikes.  Whatever the cause, I never chose my likes and dislikes.  As one quote I heard years ago put it: "We can do whatever we want.  But we can't want whatever we want."  (If anyone knows who said this, I'd like to attribute the quote correctly.)

I suppose I could go through some kind of conditioning that would change my desires.  But I would first have to desire to change those desires.  And I also question the effectiveness of trying to re-make one's desires by effort.  It usually ends in bitter failure.  Alcoholics don't stop drinking because they cease to love alcohol; they stop drinking (if they do) because despite their desire, they chose another action--because of a higher desire.

So...is God limited by His nature?  Does He have some kind of nature that was not self-chosen to which He is subject?  Or does being the all-powerful Creator of the Cosmos mean that He has a self-chosen nature?  In essence, what motivates God?  What limits His choices, if not His nature?

Honestly, I can't think of a clear Biblical passage that says if God choses His own nature or not.  That question is probably beyond us (though that doesn't stop philosophers from speculating.)  But it does reveal that He has a nature, He has motivations, and He is able to accomplish what He wills.  Indeed, I cannot think of a single Biblical passage that indicates that His plans are ever frustrated.  Rather, many passages that show He is in control:

8  Let all the earth fear the Lord;

let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!

9  For uhe spoke, and it came to be;

he commanded, and it stood firm.

10  The Lord vbrings the counsel of the nations to nothing;

he frustrates the plans of the peoples.

11  wThe counsel of the Lord stands forever,

the plans of his heart to all generations.

12  xBlessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,

the people whom he has ychosen as his heritage!

13  The Lord zlooks down from heaven;

he sees all the children of man;

14  from awhere he sits enthroned he blooks out

on all the inhabitants of the earth,

15  he who fashions the hearts of them all

and observes all their deeds.

16  cThe king is not saved by his great army;

a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.

17  dThe war horse is a false hope for salvation,

and by its great might it cannot rescue. --Psalm 33:8-17

 Or this:

Why do sthe nations rage1

and the peoples plot in vain?

2  The kings of the earth set themselves,

and the rulers take counsel together,

against the Lord and against his tAnointed, saying,

3  “Let us uburst their bonds apart

and cast away their cords from us.”

4  He who vsits in the heavens wlaughs;

the Lord holds them in derision.

5  Then he will speak to them in his xwrath,

and terrify them in his fury, saying,

6  “As for me, I have yset my King

on zZion, my aholy hill.” --Psalm 2:1-6

Or this:

5  You, jLord God of hosts, are God of Israel.

Rouse yourself to punish all the nations;

spare none of those who treacherously plot evil. Selah

6  Each evening they kcome back,

howling like dogs

and prowling about the city.

7  There they are, lbellowing with their mouths

with mswords in their lips—

for n“Who,” they think,2 “will hear us?”

8  But you, O Lord, olaugh at them;

you hold all the nations in derision.

9  O my Strength, I will watch for you,

for you, O God, are pmy fortress.

10  qMy God in his steadfast love3 rwill meet me;

God will let me slook in triumph on my enemies. --Psalm 58:5-10

The plans of kings are, well, laughable to God.   All that pomp and glory of the earth, all that military might, all that wisdom and power--pfft!  He is not in the least bit concerned that His plans will go awry, that somehow evil plans will be successful.

Yet in these passages--they're not the ones we really like (or we tend to like only parts of them).  God laughing at His enemies isn't really a popular image--some might see a mocking that is unworthy of God (as they define Him) and more like a bully.  And that word "wrath" comes up, too...another word that some tend to minimize.  But that's part of the biblical message.  Maybe not an easy part, but still a part.  (Of course, if one canonizes Marcion, all bets are off...I'll address the weakness I see in that position later on.  And honestly, I think that this is a default theological position of many Christians today, both conservative and liberal.)

So...did I answer anything in today's blog?  Probably not.  But I just want to make it clear that, from a Biblical perspective, God lacks no ability to accomplish what He desires.

In future posts, I'll address the question: Ok, if God can do whatever He desires, what does He desire?  And actually, that theological question, even if it sounds innocuous  to you (and it shouldn't), is probably the single question that divides believers more than any other.  A host of other theological implications flow from how one answers that question.