Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Seven Things Even God Cannot Do
Break Point ^ | 08/18/2014 | By: Rolley Haggard

Posted on 08/18/2014 12:59:55 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

It is commonly supposed that if God can't do absolutely anything and everything, then He isn't all-powerful. Yet Scripture teaches there are some things even God cannot do, though it affirms in countless places that He is, nonetheless, “almighty.”

Here is a list of things the Bible says outright, or by necessary implication, God cannot do:

1. Lie (or do anything else immoral)—Titus 1:2

2. Deny Himself (i.e., do anything out of character)—2 Timothy 2:13

3. Remit/forgive sins without the shedding of blood (i.e., taking of life)—Hebrews 9:22

4. Avoid going to Calvary if man is to have hope of forgiveness—Matthew 26:39

5. Pardon someone who will not repent/believe—2 Peter 3:9

6. Remain righteous by passing over sins and never requiring blood atonement—Romans 3:25-26

7. Be tempted by evil—James 1:13

Can you add to the list?

Can you compose a definition of “almighty” more consonant with what the Bible says God can and cannot do?

Can you think of reasons why this might be more than an academic exercise or a needless distinction?


TOPICS: Theology
KEYWORDS: god; omnipotence
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 61-8081-100101-120121-133 next last
To: Rides_A_Red_Horse

John and Hebrews have no validity. The Hebrew Scriptures do.

Isaiah 43:11, 45:5, 46:9. Numbers 23:19. 1 Samuel 15:29. Hosea 11:9. Job 9:32.


101 posted on 08/18/2014 7:21:25 PM PDT by POWERSBOOTHEFAN (IT'S GREAT TO BE STRAIGHT!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 73 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

#7 is techically’mis-written. should be can’t commit evil. Jesus was tempted. He was tempted with various sin/evil in the desert and throughout his whole life like regular people are tempted.


102 posted on 08/18/2014 7:34:59 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man ( Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Quality_Not_Quantity

logical impossibilities are not an indication of God’s limitations.


103 posted on 08/18/2014 7:36:08 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man ( Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Blood of Tyrants

we are not privy to exactly how restricted and ‘encapsulated’ satan is if He appears before God to condemn the believers.


104 posted on 08/18/2014 7:39:00 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man ( Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: ro_dreaming

He could override humans’ free will. He will not do that though. He will sometimes directly intervene against someone’s free will.


105 posted on 08/18/2014 7:41:04 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man ( Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: I want the USA back

again, logical impossibilities do not show God is somehow deficient or can’t do something.


106 posted on 08/18/2014 7:42:03 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man ( Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: teeman8r

it was a test. success didn’t require actually killing him.


107 posted on 08/18/2014 7:42:54 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man ( Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: Secret Agent Man

Apparently he freely comes and goes.

Job\\6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan[b] also came among them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”


108 posted on 08/18/2014 7:43:58 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (The cure has become worse than the disease. Support an end to the WOD now.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 104 | View Replies]

To: POWERSBOOTHEFAN

Where is the part where the Bible says Jesus worried about sin.


109 posted on 08/18/2014 7:47:45 PM PDT by Blue Collar Christian (quod est Latine morositate)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 99 | View Replies]

To: Hegewisch Dupa

Where is the part that says Jesus worried about sin?

I know in the Gospels where Jesus was tempted by Satan, but I know He did not sin. He did not find temptation temping, so to speak. Read backthread on my comments.

This POWERSBOOTHEFAN FReeper is trying to show me where in the Bible Jesus is not God, and I want to see where He finds support for that. Especially concerning my statement earlier in the thread where he began this discussion. So far, left field or thereabouts, I guess.


110 posted on 08/18/2014 7:57:15 PM PDT by Blue Collar Christian (quod est Latine morositate)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 97 | View Replies]

To: Blue Collar Christian
He did not find temptation tempting

Then you have to believe that the Bible was lying when saying He was tempted by the tempter, which make little to no sense. He didn't sin, of course; but if He wasn't tempted, then how could He be a man?

111 posted on 08/18/2014 8:04:05 PM PDT by Hegewisch Dupa
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 110 | View Replies]

To: POWERSBOOTHEFAN

I see now what your mission is, and I cannot condemn you for it. You do not believe Jesus is Messiah. And you do not recognize the Trinity.

If a Christian denounces his Christianity, it was never there, so if you convince a “Christian” to convert to Judaism he/she was probably just not yet a Christian. However, many “Jews” become Christians, and from the perspective you have given me of yourself, you have a heart for the Lord, and search the scriptures for truth.

It is my opinion that you are yet blind to the truth, but if you continue your quest with a loving heart for the Lord, you will become a Christian.


112 posted on 08/18/2014 8:18:41 PM PDT by Blue Collar Christian (quod est Latine morositate)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 101 | View Replies]

To: Hegewisch Dupa

At least in English, the verb “to tempt” has limitations. I am not the world’s keenest wordsmith, but as best as I can put it is; Satan tempted (Satan’s action) Jesus, but Jesus was not tempted (Jesus’ reaction). Or at least He was not successfully tempted.

Jesus walked on this earth as a man and experienced all the temptations of most men, and the added temptation to abuse supernatural power. Yet He did not sin, setting an example in the Gospels, quoting scripture to repel the tempter’s invitation. We are given the same opportunity He used to escape/flee/resist sin.


113 posted on 08/18/2014 8:29:14 PM PDT by Blue Collar Christian (quod est Latine morositate)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 111 | View Replies]

To: POWERSBOOTHEFAN; SeekAndFind; CatherineofAragon; Manic_Episode; Rides_A_Red_Horse

**He cannot become a man.**

True. BUT...

God is IN a man,....with all of his fulness. God was IN Christ reconciling the world unto himself. IN Christ dwells all the fulness of the Godhead. That’s how the Son of God achieves the titles bestowed upon him in Is. 9:6, and in chapter 1 of Hebrews.

Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God. NO man hath seen God at any time. God is displaying his unlimited power and attributes TO man by being IN a man. Which is what the Christ spends a great deal of time explaining in the gospel of John; that the Father IN him is the source of EVERY divine attribute that the Son displays. Jn chap. 14 lays this out very plainly.
God the Father is a Spirit. Jesus Christ declares that to be so (Jn 4:23,24), and told his disciples that “..a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have” Lk 24:39.

He further states that the Father is the only true God. Jn 17:1-3

He tells Mary Magdalene, “..I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and to your God”. Jn 20:17

Jesus Christ is the ‘beginning of the creation of God’. Rev. 3:14

A stumbling block of the ‘three God’ folks is this: Neither Jesus Christ or his apostles EVER defined the Son as ‘God the Son’; but always as ‘the Son of God’.

ALSO,..Those that believe that the flesh of the Son...is God... are are using their carnal logic to declare that Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, is also the mother of God. In so doing they defy the Christ’s own description of God.

I wish I had more time for this, but am very busy and need rest. I drive a semi-truck, and must not fall asleep at the wheel.


114 posted on 08/18/2014 9:23:29 PM PDT by Zuriel (Acts 2:38,39....Do you believe it?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: POWERSBOOTHEFAN

**My statements are based on the Tanach and what G-d said about Himself.**

Then how do you explain Isaiah 9:6?

It’s obvious that the invisible God does choose to dwell in a man that he brought forth, and place ALL power IN that man.


115 posted on 08/18/2014 9:26:35 PM PDT by Zuriel (Acts 2:38,39....Do you believe it?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 92 | View Replies]

To: Blood of Tyrants

read it again. he freely comes and goes on the EARTH. when he is called to present himself in front of God, he submits and comes.


116 posted on 08/18/2014 9:49:49 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man ( Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 108 | View Replies]

To: reg45

I find all this superfluous simply because God IS.

That’s all we need to know.

:)


117 posted on 08/18/2014 11:27:52 PM PDT by Salamander (People will stare. Might as well make it worth their while.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

I’ve thought sometimes that God might show us all the “what ifs” when we get to heaven. He knew all things before He even created the first thing and He also is able to “make all things work together for good” for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes. I think it would be amazing to be able to look back on our lives and see the way the path would go had we chosen differently than we did. I have no Scriptural reference for this, but I know that nothing is impossible for God.


118 posted on 08/18/2014 11:57:37 PM PDT by boatbums (God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Perhaps a different perspective:

1) God can make a donkey speak
2) God can flood the entire earth
3) God can become man
4) God can make iron float
5) God can change water to wine
6) God can send darkness for three days
7) God can cause oil to pour continuously out of one jar
8) God can raise the dead
9) God can cause a people to walk between water while He drowns another
10) God can confuse our tongues
11) God can descend into hell
12) God can give superhuman strength
13) God can make a withered hand whole
14) God can put flesh on old bones
15) God can sustain us in a wilderness for forty years
16) God can make rocks cry out

If God wanted to make a square circle, He can do it.


119 posted on 08/19/2014 1:32:44 AM PDT by HarleyD ("... letters are weighty, but his .. presence is weak, and his speech of no account.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: POWERSBOOTHEFAN

RE: My statements are based on the Tanach and what G-d said about Himself.

Give us a quotation and what book and we’ll see if the exegesis is correct...


120 posted on 08/19/2014 5:03:27 AM PDT by SeekAndFind (If at first you don't succeed, put it out for beta test.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 92 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 61-8081-100101-120121-133 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson