Another Essay - Is God's power limited?

Is God's power limited

God has unlimited power. That’s simply the answer or is it? When we refer to unlimited anything, it would be beyond our brains limit to understand, that's just how we were created! We are limited creatures. For example, who can think about infinity as a number...try and think about it, you're going to blank out. It’s limited so we identify it by using a symbol not a number. So instead of trying to understand God's (The Creator) power or anything else regarding God, try to finish understanding his creations! There are many things that are not understood by humans. Let me demonstrate: Does the whole universe have a limit (boundaries)? Or is it unlimited? If limited, then what is after its end? If it’s unlimited, then where does it go? And many other things, even humans, like what is your soul? In general, understanding the Creator's creations before attempting to understand the Creator Himself will help us but sense we are limited this is going to be a hard thing to grasp.

The philosophers St. Anselm, Gaunilo, and Immanual Kant argued over whether or not God existed. Anselm insisted that God existed because nothing can ever be thought of or created better than God. As God is thought to be the most Supreme Being, the divine creator, an existence of such a being would require that no other being could ever be equal or better.

The German philosopher Immanuel Kant argued with Anselm about an even more specific aspect of his case. Kant said that a person cannot move straight from an idea to something existing. He said that existing is not something that someone can have as property. Kant used money as his illustration: being able to have the idea of money in one’s head is very different from holding a thousand dollars in one’s hand. Gaunilo and Kant were both able to prove that Anselm’s argument in favor of God’s existence was not an acceptable argument. (Philosophy of Religion pages 2-6)

The bible tells us that God cannot do two things, die or sin. If this is to be true then wouldn’t this prove that God’s power is limited? God is said to be omnipotent and to sin is to fall short of a perfect action but if God is a perfect being then wouldn’t he have unlimited power? God’s omnipotence is particularly shown in sharing and having mercy, because in this it is made manifest that God has supreme power, namely that He feely forgives sins. (Philosophy of Religion pages 267)

Faith is defined as, “unquestioning belief that does not require proof or evidence.” Claims of faith cannot be proven; a teacher cannot prove that her student is interested in her class; a parent cannot prove that his child, who attends church regularly with him, believes in his god.

There is no way to prove that God’s power is limited or not because this has to do with what someone believes or has faith in. While interesting and thought provoking, an argument like this will never be able to have a conclusion based on facts. We are limited creatures and feel the need to put limits on such things and grasp such things as time, space, numbers and God. With or without the words of Gaunilo and Kant, faith in and of itself is not something that can be proven and neither is Gods power

An essay from my Philosophy of Western Religion Class

Hick attempts to convince us that religious belief can be rational (or rationally justified). Do you agree? Is it rational to hold religious beliefs?


This is a very good question but I think that religious beliefs can be justified. I'm going to take a different approach on this and am more then likely going to get challenged but I'm not looking for a challenge nor will I respond to them. I just want people to look at another side for a moment and think outside the box.

We have many believes but put limitations on things so that we can understand them. If fact isn't it the human thing to put limits on things so that we can try to understand something? What if there was something out there that we couldn't fully grasp or understand, how would that go over? Lets take the universe, how big is it really? Where does it start and end? Isn't there always a beginning and an end? What if there was something so big that we couldn't grasp it or even measure it such as space? But by trying to understand space or the universe we put limits on it? For example the number one hundred to write it out it looks like this, 100. Pretty easy, but what about the number infinity? How do you write that number? You can't because its so big that we can only identify it by using a symbol. Why can't we write it out in numerical form? Do we really even fully understand infinity or by saying there is a number that is so be we just put a label on it on go with it. Personally I'm going on faith that such a number exists because I have yet to see it.

If fact what does air look like? I don't know, I can't see air but I know I need it to breath or at least that is what I am told I am breathing. You can't proof to me that air exists because your can't see air, all you can see is the effects of air. So to prove that air exists you have to use the effects that air leaves behind/ So again I am going to go on faith that such a thing really exists because I can't see it. So now my question is about God. We can't see God but if you look around at all we have, the complexity of our cellular make up, the mountains, the sea, animals, all of nature, humans, air, space or even ipods. I think we see the effects of God all around us but because we can't understand who God is we tend to put limitations on Him and that is what we base our religious beliefs on.

If you do not belief in a god or the God then you wouldn't see a reason for justification for religious beliefs. If you do then that is how you make up your beliefs.

I think faith is pretty interesting because I go on faith everyday that I will keep breathing this thing I can't see called air. I also believe in a God who is bigger then the air I breath.


I think religious beliefs are rational. Whats not rational about being kind, loving to all, respectful, honest and trying to follow in the example of Jesus Christ. Is trying to be a good person that bad?

Irrational is defined as not endowed with reason or understanding (2): lacking usual or normal mental clarity or coherence b: not governed by or according to reason.

I am proud to say I also believe in a God whom I can't fully comprehend, I think that's irrational.

Impressive Guitar Skills & Comedy...

My heart goes out to SCC and their family.

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) -- The 5-year-old daughter of Grammy-winning Christian music star Steven Curtis Chapman was struck and killed Wednesday by a sport utility vehicle driven by her brother, authorities said.

Steven Curtis Chapman's daughter was fatally struck by a sport utility vehicle driven by her brother Wednesday.

The girl, Maria Sue, was hit in the driveway of the family's home Wednesday afternoon by a Toyota Land Cruiser driven by her teenage brother, said Laura McPherson, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

The brother, whose name and exact age weren't available, apparently did not see the girl, McPherson said. No charges are expected.

"It looks like a tragic accident," she said.

Several family members witnessed the accident, which happened in Williamson County just south of Nashville. The girl died later at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, hospital spokeswoman Laurie Holloway said.

In a statement, Velvet Kelm, a publicist for Chapman, said Maria was the Chapmans' youngest daughter.

Chapman, who is originally from Paducah, Ky., and his wife have promoted international adoption and have three daughters from China, including Maria. They also have three biological children.

The singer's Web site says the couple was persuaded by their oldest daughter to adopt a girl from China. The experience led the family to adopt two more children and create Shaohannah's Hope, a foundation and ministry to financially assist thousands of couples in adoption.

The Chapmans did missionary work at Chinese orphanages in 2006 and 2007, according to the Web site.

"After our first trip to China, my wife and I knew our lives were changing -- our eyes and hearts were opening to how big God really is, and we have wanted to experience more of that," Chapman says on the Web site.

"We've really wondered whether or not we should just go to China and stay there. But I don't think so. I believe God is saying, 'I want you to go, get your heart broken, your eyes opened, and then take this story back to the church in America and around the world."'

The 45-year-old singer also has released a book about being a father titled "Cinderella: The Love of Daddy and his Princess." He has won five Grammy awards and 54 Dove awards from the Gospel Music Association, according to Kelm.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/05/22/chapman.daughter.ap/index.html

TobyMac New World - Narnia

Seattle Times Review on Price Caspian

"Prince Caspian": "Narnia" sequel is darker and less magical

By Tom Keogh

.

Movie review

"The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian," with Ben Barnes, William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes, Georgie Henley, Sergio Castellitto, Peter Dinklage, Tilda Swinton, the voices of Eddie Izzard and Liam Neeson. Directed by Andrew Adamson, from a screenplay by Adamson, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, based on the novel by C.S. Lewis. 147 minutes. Rated PG for mild scenes of violence.

"You might find that Narnia is a more savage place than you remember," says an embittered dwarf in "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian." He's speaking to the guilt-ridden Pevensie siblings, accused by Narnians of abandoning the magical kingdom they once ruled 1,300 years before and ...

OK, whoa. Let's do a little catching up.

The Pevensie kids were introduced in 2005's "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," based on the first of seven fantasy novels written by beloved author C.S. Lewis. The oldest of the children, Peter (William Moseley), led brother Edmund (Skandar Keynes) and sisters Susan (Anna Popplewell) and little Lucy (Georgie Henley) out of endangered, World War II London to a country estate.

There, the refugees discovered a passage to Narnia, a winter-locked world where a battle for control was under way.

Several fights later, the Pevensies grew up to become adult kings and queens of Narnia. Stumbling back into England, they became kids again, returned at the exact moment they'd left.

In "Prince Caspian," our now-restless young heroes, one year later in London, are called back to Narnia, where 13 centuries have passed. They learn that their disappearance all those years ago led to Narnia's fall and capture by a despotic and, oddly, Spanish-medieval warrior race.

From that race emerges young Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes), running from an uncle, Miraz (Sergio Castellitto). Miraz is trying to kill Caspian and steal the throne.

Caspian and the Pevensies gather Narnians — fauns, centaurs, gryphons, sword-wielding mice — from both sides of the conflict in the earlier "Wardrobe." Their numbers are few, but they go after Miraz and his overwhelming forces with everything they've got.

OK, we're caught up.

"Prince Caspian" is crackling fun, all right, but it's also a sequel burdened by the things that usually burden second films in long-term movie franchises. Which means it is mostly a series of battle sequences with scarce moments of character development.

That makes the film the exact opposite of the fuller, more emotionally satisfying "Wardrobe," in which Peter and the other Pevensies learned all about Narnia, formed relationships (there's nothing in "Caspian" like Lucy's beautiful friendship with James McAvoy's Mr. Tumnus, the faun) and came to understand their prophesied role as leaders.

There's no similar learning curve for the characters or audience in "Caspian." And, yet, we have to give the film a break. It is a link in a narrative chain, after all (the next "Narnia" movie is scheduled for 2010), and to get from here to where all this is going requires a little dues-paying.

Which is not to say "Caspian" is a bad movie. Far from it.

Director Andrew Adamson, who also helmed "Wardrobe," clearly relishes a return to Narnia with a different set of rules and tools. There's some fine filmmaking going on here, including fight scenes that somehow conjure up the 1950s-'60s era of widescreen epics like "El Cid" (that aforementioned Spanish influence pays off).

Much of the film has a deliberately prosaic, less-magical look than its predecessor, but that's because Miraz has chased a lot of the original magic away. The enchanted, winter-transitioning-to-spring exterior shots of "Wardrobe" give way to a more ordinary, sylvan environment of dappled light and fallen trees. Adamson makes it all quite handsome, in a downbeat way.

Fans who paid attention to the first movie and/or are familiar with Lewis' books know the "Narnia" series, in part, is about keeping faith when things become less familiar. "Caspian" requires a little of that faith.

Today's Devotion...

Just a Rabbit's Foot?
Monday, May 12th, 2008

READY: "Pray constantly." -1 Thessalonians 5:17 (HCSB)

SET: When I was playing professional lacrosse, I was the only Christian on my team (as far as I knew). I was outspoken about my faith during my four years of playing, and I felt God had placed me on the team to be a light. As the token Christian player, my teammates selected me to do the team prayer. Usually, if it was a big game, one player or another would come up to me and say something like, "Pray a GOOD one Dan. This is a huge game!" The mentality was that a "good" prayer would lead us to victory; a "bad" prayer would lead to defeat.

For luck, some people believe in carrying a good-luck charm like a rabbit's foot. In the same way, some people think of prayer as their rabbit's foot. Many athletes and coaches believe a quick prayer before a game brings a favorable outcome. But prayer is not a good-luck charm. It's so much more than that—it's a battle.

In Ephesians 6:18-20, Paul uses the word prayer four times after describing the armor of God. Once we have God's equipment, Paul urges us to pray! Not a short, rabbit's-foot type of prayer—a "Let's pray real quick before we compete real long" type of prayer. Instead, Paul challenges us to pray without ceasing. Oswald Chambers says, "Prayer is not an exercise, it is the life." Constant, ongoing, continual, pervasive prayer is tough work. Prayer is digging below the surface, and allowing God to reveal His character to us.

Let me be clear, I believe in prayer before competition. Just make sure your heart is right. Don't just ask God for His hand of blessing, ask Him to reveal Himself to you. Pray that you will know Him better after you compete. Pray that He will shine His light through you on the field. Pray that you will feel His pleasure in you as you play. Pray for protection and safety for everyone. Ask God to show you what it means to win His way.

Let us pray. . .

GO:
1. Is it hard for you to pray before competition? Is it easy? What types of prayers do you pray?
2. Have you ever viewed prayer like a rabbit's foot? When?
3. Should your prayers be focused on victory or on glorifying God? How are they different?
4. How can you develop powerful, intense, purposeful prayer?
5. Give specific ways you can honor the Lord with pre-game prayer.

WORKOUT:
John 14:13
John 16:26
Ephesians 6:18-20

OVERTIME:
"Lord Jesus, I know that I have treated prayer like my own rabbit's foot. Please forgive me. I do not want to make You, the God of the Universe, a good-luck charm. Teach me how to pray without impure motives. Show me how to pray constantly, not just when my head is bowed. May my prayers be sweet to Your ears. Help me to go deeper, Lord, when I seek Your face in prayer. Hear my prayer, hear my shout. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. "

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dan Britton serves as FCA's Senior Vice President of Ministries at the National Headquarters in Kansas City. He and his wife Dawn reside in Overland Park, Kan., with their three children: Kallie, Abby and Elijah. He still loves playing and coaching lacrosse.