Is there any limitation to the power of God?

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Can God be everywhere at once?

Can God know all the thought of every person on earth second by second, or even before we have them?

Does God know everything that will happen in the future?
 
Yes, yes, and yes. Since you’re in the Scripture forum, let’s use Scripture. .

Psalm 139: O Lord Thou has searched me and known me. Thou knowest when I rise up, Thou discernest my thoughts from afar; Thou searchest out my path and my lying down; and art acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, lo, O, Lord, Thou knowest it altogether; Thou dost beset me behind and before, and layest Thy hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it. . .for Thou didst form my inmost parts, Thou didst knit me together in my mother’s womb. . Thou knowest me right well, my frame was not hidden from Thee. .Thy eyes beheld my unformed substance; in Thy book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them. …
 
Kevin_Scott said:
Can God be everywhere at once?

Can God know all the thought of every person on earth second by second, or even before we have them?

Does God know everything that will happen in the future?
Click to expand...
The only limit on God is our free will.

God in His perfect love will NEVER take it from a soul. If a soul chooses hell, God is literally powerless to save such a soul.

God will allow a soul what it wants.​

I don’t have a complete definition of who God is, because God is completely beyond my comprehension, and will be, for eternity. ( Jesus said to St. Faustina: “Who God is in His essence, no creature, neither the mind of angels nor of man, will ever fathom.”)

However, I do have a definition of God that is based on comparisons of creation:

God cannot “not” exist. He is “necessary.” He is the “Total Other.” There is the created, and then there is the Uncreated.​

God is
  1. omnipotent (having unlimited authority/influence)
  2. Omnipresent ( present everywhere at once)
  3. omniscient (all-knowing).
  4. God is all-Holy, perfectly Just, and complete Mercy.
    Now, how can God be perfectly just, and at the same time be merciful? In a way that my mind cannot comprehend, God Himself became a Man, in the form of His Son, and bore our sin. In reality, God’s greatest attribute is His love and mercy.
    An analogy would be like this:
A judge in a courtroom is perfectly just and sentences the criminal exactly what he deserves. Then, the judge himself bears the penalty for the crime, allowing the criminal to be free.
  1. God is completely simple, meaning that there are no “parts” or “components” to Him. He cannot be “separated.” The Word of God is God. The Love of God is God.
  2. God is complete in Himself. The three Persons of the Holy Trinity make a complete “community.” Each Person loves the other two Persons perfectly and completely. God does not need us for anything at all. We exist because His Love brought us into existence.
I just want to make clear the fact that God is eternally beyond comprehension.
 
Kevin_Scott said:
Can God be everywhere at once?

Can God know all the thought of every person on earth second by second, or even before we have them?

Does God know everything that will happen in the future?
Click to expand...
As everyone said here… Yes!

We just can’t understand because as creatures, our minds are finite.
 
Well, there are certain limits, but they’re more like… definitions.

God is Love; so He can’t commit any act out of hatred.

God is Reason; so He can’t do anything unreasonable or illogical.

God is the Trinity; so the Father can’t disagree with the Son or the Holy Spirit, or do something in which the other Persons don’t participate.

But then, it’s not exactly a limitation on me that I can’t make decisions in the manner of a rock, because rocks don’t make decisions. Similarly, stuff that is purely an absence of God (like hate, unreason, etc.) doesn’t actually exist, so not being able to do it is really not any sort of disadvantage or limit.
 
I ask because I believe the answer to that question is central to the answer to almost all important questions.

One respondent said that God’s only limitation is that he can’t save a soul who chooses hell. That answer to not seem to fit will all the other responses. I can understand God deciding not to save a soul that chooses hell, but not a God who is powerless to save such a soul. God chooses to give us free will, he is not powerless against our free will.
 
This is something I’ve been thinking on for quite some time now.

If God is perfect reason, he cannot make A=0 when A=A. What I mean is, if God is perfect, God would be incapable of non-contradiction, for this would make him imperfect. (A=A refers to something being itself, which God created). For the reasoning mind always leads to the truths of God.

If God is perfect love, evil must created by spirits other than himself. (Archangel Satan or your neighbor Joe). Evil occurs when people disregard their use of reason, of their mind, and put their consciousness against logic, and thus God. God being perfect love and perfect reason reinforces itself.

So if we all strive to be like God, we must use our minds and our hearts to their fullest, just as God is infinitely just as well as infinitely merciful, respectively.

“Let the truth of love be lighted, let the love of truth shine clear.”
 
Oh, I apologies… why is this in the scripture forum? I assumed it would have been in the philosophy forum… 🤷
 
Kevin_Scott said:
Can God be everywhere at once?

Can God know all the thought of every person on earth second by second, or even before we have them?

Does God know everything that will happen in the future?
Click to expand...
RESPONSE:

God can’t make a rock so heavy that he can’t lift it.

God cannot make a square circle. (But I can!)
 
Kevin_Scott said:
I ask because I believe the answer to that question is central to the answer to almost all important questions.

One respondent said that God’s only limitation is that he can’t save a soul who chooses hell. That answer to not seem to fit will all the other responses. I can understand God deciding not to save a soul that chooses hell, but not a God who is powerless to save such a soul. God chooses to give us free will, he is not powerless against our free will.
Click to expand...
Yes, God gives us free will. You can, if you want to, interpret that as a limitation on God. Or not. It’s still what Catholics believe.
 
Kevin_Scott said:
I ask because I believe the answer to that question is central to the answer to almost all important questions.

One respondent said that God’s only limitation is that he can’t save a soul who chooses hell. That answer to not seem to fit will all the other responses. I can understand God deciding not to save a soul that chooses hell, but not a God who is powerless to save such a soul. God chooses to give us free will, he is not powerless against our free will.
Click to expand...
Why must we see God in “mechanical” ways? God is our Father.

His Love prevents Him to remove our free will. God cannot contradict His love; God cannot contradict Himself.
 
Would our having free will be God’s limitation?

(I do apologize, this thread probably does belong more in the philosophy section)

Kevin
 
The only limitations on the power of God are those which He places on Himself,
which He is free to change anytime He wants.

So there is bad in the world, and why wouldn’t a good God use His power for good?
The secret is, He is using it for good.
The good He is creating is so shockingly good, that it will be worth every bad
thing that happened, even Jesus’ crucifixion!
Keep your faith, like Joseph did when He was thrown in the well by his brothers,
and shockingly good things will happen, even if things go bad in this physical life.
 
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