can an omnipotent being be good?

Question

if a being CANNOT be bad, he CANNOT be omnipotent, right?

aren't omnipotent beings without limitation?

Answer 1

True, in the absolute sense of the word. Any property ascribed to God as necessary or inherent, such as omnipresence, benevolence, wisdom cause a paradox. If he has to necessarily be something, then he cannot be omnipotent as he cannot renounce any of these properties. However, there are all sorts of niftly little tweaks to get around this. They mostly involve limiting the idea of omnipotence to mean omnipotent within a certain range or within the constraints theology or the doctrine of any particular religion allows. So God is only as omnipotent as he needs to be (though what defines needs for God? Would him having needs and being constrained by the necessity of calling upon further power limit his omnipotence by definition?). Or, God is as omnipotent as can be without self contradiction (which just means he is still limited by his own nature...). Or he is as omnipotent as he can be whilst adhering to the physical constraints of the world he created, in order not to destroy it (although this still leaves a logical contradiction when discussing Gods omnipotence in realms outside our little physical corner of the multiverse....). It is not the idea of God choosing to limit his power which is the problem, it is that almost any necessary property of God when combined with omnipotence leads to a paradox.
Deists such as Leibniz edge more towards the absolute idea, with God allowing the most harmonious manifestation of the world to exist as opposed to ones built of contradicting possibilities, hence his quote "We live in the best of all possible worlds.". Of course, this is not the traditional theistic God, in whom every necessary property with the exception of omniscience limits Gods omnipotence (omniscience follows from omnipotence, and they are limited in relation to each other).
Its pretty confusing, but the Deist god/s manage omnipotence without contradiction or constraint. The Theistic God/s require a little more inventive thinking to make omnipotent, and even then it usaully ends up being "omnipotent, up to a point".

Answer 2

Yes, he can be good. Omnipotent does not mean without limitation. Such a definition is inherently self contradictory. Omnipotent as a God means all powerful to accomplish his purposes.

Answer 3

I'm sure you have already made up your mind and this may be more of a statement than a question but I will humbly disagree. The reason for this is that I have the power to do many things that I don't do. Being all powerful does not equate that you have to do everything you are capeable of. You and I would never kill someone or rob a bank, but that does not mean that we are not capeable of it. i would never run through town naked but that does not mean I don't have the power to do so-it is simply, completely opposed to my nature. So in a sense I can not do it because it is against what I am, even though technically I have the power to do it. Likewise God doing bad acts is against His very essence in theory (which I by faith believe) but just because you don't do all possible acts does not mean that you don't have the power to do it. Your definition of God is narrow and gives him less consciousness than humanity.

Answer 4

Being able to do (without limitation) is different than actually doing.

~ Eric Putkonen

Answer 5

no longer on the element of perfection in any respect... forget approximately it being in the community, it ain't even in an identical province! yet whats up, what do i comprehend? i'm purely yet another stupid mortal. :)