Conceptions of God

Religion has been a significant part of human culture since time immemorial. Different cultures have their own ways of conceptualizing their god or gods, including understanding the powers that those gods hold over humans, the world, and the universe. There are many different ways of approaching the concept of the divine. Monotheistic religions, for instance, believe in only one god. Polytheistic religions believe in many. Some of the most prevalent monotheistic religions today include Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, which are collectively known as Abrahamic religions. In these religions and others, God is considered extraordinarily powerful.

God is sometimes described as omnipotent, meaning all-powerful; omniscient, meaning all-knowing; and omnipresent, meaning present everywhere at all times. The prefix 'omni' comes from the Latin for 'all.' The attributes of God as omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent have complex philosophical questions attached.

The idea of an omnipotent god refers to a deity who is infinitely powerful. According to this approach to conceptualizing God, there is nothing that an omnipotent god cannot do. Most monotheistic traditions posit their god as the creator of the universe and the ultimate authority who can bend the entirety of creation to his will. Interestingly, omnipotence raises a paradox that philosophers have worked to solve for centuries. The paradox is if God is able to do anything, can he create a stone that is too heavy for him to lift? A simple yes or no answer to the question leads to problems with omnipotence. If yes, then there is something that God cannot do: he cannot lift the stone. If no, then there is something that God cannot do: he cannot create such a stone. St. Thomas Aquinas resolved this paradox by limiting God's omnipotence to the creation of possible situations. René Descartes resolved it differently by stating that God can create such a stone and lift it.

Examples of an Omnipotent God

The Christian Bible is full of examples of an omnipotent god. In the first book of the Bible, God's omnipotence is on full display. The opening lines of the King James Version of the Bible are:

God is powerful enough to create the entire universe, and he continues to display his power throughout the remainder of the text.

Another important tenet of the approach to God in most monotheistic religions is that God is omniscient, meaning that God is all-knowing. Unlike omnipotence, there is less scriptural precedent in Christianity to explicitly suggest omniscience. However, Christians and members of other Abrahamic religions still typically consider God omniscient because it follows logically from other elements of their conception of him. A perfect, all-powerful being should also have access to infinite knowledge because lacking knowledge would make God less powerful and less perfect. Omniscience presents fewer philosophical problems than omnipotence, but some mathematicians working with set theory have raised some objections. According to most monotheistic theologies, God knows everything about all moments in time, past, present, and future.

Examples of an Omniscient God

In Hebrew scripture, there are several names for God that suggest omniscience. In I Samuel 2:3, God is called the 'God of Knowledge.' In Genesis 22:14, God is called 'the Lord Who Sees.' Job 12:13 states that 'With Him are wisdom and might; to Him belong counsel and understanding.' These verses all suggest that God knows everything, which has become a core tenet of Jewish theology just as it has become important in Christianity and Islam. One possible way to resolve philosophical objections to the concept of omniscience, employed by some theologians, is to say that humans do not have enough knowledge to fully understand what omniscience is or how it works; only God can know those things.

The third major principle of monotheistic religions' conceptions of God is that God is omnipresent. That means that he is present everywhere at all times, from the universe's beginning until its end. Although God is immaterial according to most monotheistic conceptions, he is still considered to be present within and around all things in the universe. One potential consequence of this belief is a particular consideration of or respect for all things and all people in the world, as they contain a piece of God. Omnipresence is the least philosophically controversial of the three beliefs; few philosophers have raised major objections to it in theory, besides questions about what God is, and if he is immaterial and omnipresent. The omnipresence of God is sometimes used as a way to deter people from committing sins, as God is always present and always watching.

Examples of an Omnipresent God

As in Judaism and Christianity, God is considered omnipresent in Islam. God has no form or gender, and there is no way to see or hear God directly. However, religious faith can allow people to have a closer connection with the god that is already around them. Islam, like most other monotheistic religions, also conceives of God as omnibenevolent, meaning a god who always acts with good intentions. Omnibenevolence raises questions about why evil exists in the world, which theologians from a number of different religions have attempted to resolve in a number of different ways. Although they are distinct religions, there is a lot of overlap in the approaches that Christianity, Judaism, and Islam take in their understanding of God.