The Omnipotence of God

[Nikkolas]

I have always believed as the Scripture say that the Lord is all-powerful and through Him, all things are possible. But I’ve recently come across people who use Bible verses that bring into question His omnipotence.

Judges 1:19 “And the Lord was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.”

Exodus 32:14 “And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.”
Genesis 6:6,7 “And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth . . . And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth . . . for it repenteth me that I have made him.”
Jonah 3:10 “. . . and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.”

He went against his own word/action, indicating error. Error<Omnipotence

As I understand it, the Judges verse is only in the King James translation and not present in most other versions of the Bible.

As for the rest…I have no clue.

 

[Verbum]

Hi Mikkolas,

I’m glad you found that first quote about the chariots. I’ ve been looking for something that showed clearly that attributions to God of the actions of the Hebrews is not to be taken literally. Among Middle Eastern people, the local god was universally thought to lead his people into battle and everything that the army did was supposed to be commanded by God. Knowing this, we should not, for example, attribute to God the massacres perpetrated by the Hebrews.

Of course, when it is a question of the Hebrews, they were the chosen people and they were predestined to produce the Savior of the world. So in the more general sense, whatever happened to the Hebrews can be said to have been ordered by God, and the Bible often does this, which does not mean that God specifically ordered something.

As for the other quotes, we, as humans cannot really understand God. The only way we can talk about Him is to use terms that we would use for humans. But of course, God is unchangeable and He has not passions. He cannot be angry, or repent, or change HIs mind. This is only a human way of talking.

Verbum

 

[Nikkolas]

Yes, the bit making it out like it was God who lost to teh chariots of iron is only the King James version.

All versions I’ve seen that are more recent disagree with that translation.

New American Bible:
Judges 1:19 Since the LORD was with Judah, he gained possession of the mountain region. Yet he could not dislodge those who lived on the plain, because they had iron chariots.

New Jerusalem Bible
Judges: 1:
19And Yahweh was with Judah, who made himself master of the highlands;

19he could not, however, dispossess the inhabitants of the plain, since they had iron chariots.

Here you can see a German translation of that verse
theol.uibk.ac.at/bibel/ri1.html
on an internet page of the theological faculty of the university in Insbruck

Quote:
Der Herr war mit Juda, sodass es das Bergland in Besitz nehmen konnte. Aber die Bewohner der Ebene konnten sie nicht vertreiben, weil sie eiserne Kampfwagen hatten.
… but they couldn’t drive away the inhabitants of the valley (plains)…