why is it nearly universally accepted that God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent?

Question

if indeed there is some being, or force, beyond our ability to fully understand or know; a being incomprehensibly powerful, and great, then how are we to know the extent of this power? how is it possible to say we know that god is "infinitely" great? infinitely aware? seeing, and having power over all things---always---and everywhere???
couldnt god be the most powerful being of all that is, and yet, might not so great a being have limits to thier power? thier understanding? thier awareness? why is required that god be perfect, and limitless???

Answer 1

Because he must create himself.

Otherwise you end up with the inevitable paradox of His own creation. Our imagination assumes great things from Beings responsible for their own creation.

Answer 2

If God is not omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent then there are limitations upon God. If there are limitations upon God, then there is something greater than God which is imposing those limitations.

Believers are not saying "God exists, and he is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent."

They are saying "The being how is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent IS God," and claiming to know that God through their faith.

Omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent are not attributes possessed by an already worshiped deity, but part of what defines that deity

You can read more about the Christian viewpoint on the nature of God in the book "Mere Christianity" by C. S. Lewis. It's very enlightening and will help you better understand the Christian viewpoint on these matters.

Answer 3

You have an excellent point, and I agree with you that it is rather foolish of anyone to think that they can have such clear knowledge of a being that is so inaccesible to us.

However, God is defined as omniscient, omnipotent, benevolent, and omnipresent. If you think that the ultimate being does not fit this description, you have every right to that opinion, but you should give that being a different name, because if you call it God people will assume you mean God as described above. It would be like saying "giraffe" when you mean "dog"- you would be using a word with one accepted definition to mean something else. The term "God" has an accepted definition, even if the actual ultimate being doesn't fit that description.

Answer 4

Because God is only understood by us as we want to understand Him. What's the point of having a God at all if he's not everything that's good about the world? If he's purely hypothetical anyway, since we know nothing about Him, why not picture him as kick-@$$ as possible? It's universally accepted because humanity wants to believe in a unified "good" force, that everything good is connected and that this force has power over everything so they can live their lives thinking that no matter how much evil there is in the world, there's more good. It's comparable to thinking no matter how powerful Satan is, god is more powerful. Believing such things gives life meaning.

Answer 5

To answer your question, let me introduce some preliminary.

* The content-reporting use of sentence: In order to tell a story, a myth, a religion, or the like, we might use some sentences:

"Cinderella married a handsome prince"
"Apollo is the sun-god"
"Jesus is the son of God"

If, by saying the senteces, we would not like to claim about the real world, but to report some content of what we're interested in, even people who don't think that there are Cinderella, Apollo, and Jesus could agree what we means if he or she knows the contents.


How could even atheist agree the following sentence?

"God is ominipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent"

It's just because what the sentence reports is the content that most people know in western culture. If we use the sentence to assert a proposition of the real world, then the sentence is not universally accepted.

Answer 6

Well, if the entity we call God was not omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, then All That Is is bigger than this "God." And, at that point, it is no great feat to concieve of an entity even greater than this limited God, who might have as attributes... oh, say omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence. Then Limited God becomes a minor player, a godling or demiurge, and the greater being becomes God.

Answer 7

Through rational inference, many have postulated that if there is a God, God must have those qualities that you list in order to be God. Those qualities are postulated to be the qualities proper to a divine nature (as distinguished from a finite, human nature). Further, these qualities are all indications that God transcends finite existence and nature-- therefore God is not a being in the world, or even a "supreme being" but something so qualitatively different, that his nature can only be expressed by way of analogy-- and these analogies are more dis-similar to the essence of who God is, than limits placed on his nature. To render God as somehow less than the qualities of that you list, including perfection and asiety, would render God less than divine-- that is why they order the language that is used when some speak about God. Of course, this particular kind of conception of the deity is not universally accepted, and there have been other ways of thinking about God. I would highly recommend Mortimer Adler's book "How to Think About God" as a helpful reference in terms of understanding what precisely is meant by the qualities you list as being proper to a divine nature, and how to think about the nature and existence of God.

Answer 8

You have posed a question after my heart .

God has to be there in the first place to acquire the virtues you are talking about .
God is a common place term used to either strengthen up your weaker moments or give credit for your own achievements , because this cruel world has always taught you to feel perennially inferior to what ever God epitomize .

Why can't you think, that if we the creation of the God supposedly, are not limitless and we know it , Why cannot the creator be bound by the same truth. God has not proclaimed himself to be limitless etc etc. We the human who have been conditioned by a few scheming minority to think always inferior to God . Take God within you and consider yourself as God incarnate . You will add immense value to your Life . Believe you me .

Answer 9

For concise answers to these questions i must refer you to
the Basic Writings of St Thomas Aquinas. Although the ancient philosophers taught what is now " universally"
accepted, the reasons for it are clear in the Thomistic
synthesis. A word of caution: There are a handful of terms
used in scholastic metaphysics which are not formally defined up front in some of the writings of Aquinas. It's possible to get their meaning from context but you might not get it all. Google scholastic metaphysics to locate commentators of St Thomas. If you want to do it right you'll have to avoid the word bite explanations and decide for yourself by examining the Basic Writings and/or the Summa Theologica, because it's all analysis.

Answer 10

Would you want a God that accidentally created a sentient cupcake that was stronger than him because he is neither omniscient nor omnipotent? I wouldn't : )

God is not limitless. You can do things God cannot. You probably do them everyday as well. Lying, adultery, stealing, and many other sins are strictly human inventions.

Answer 11

no one's perfect not even GOD. he left it up 2 us 2 take care of things n look at the results. they're not too bad given we're not all powerful, omnipotent, and super human. another thing he isn't all poweful etc. etc... if he was he wouldn't be a jealous God. I.E. thou shall not have any other GODS before me. that's not super human. he's jealous which is a totally human emotion. bottom line we're better off passing the buck to him every so often at least he's been around long enough to straighten most things out. we lose no matter what anyway. all of us die 1 day. go figure.