Sample Solution

The genocidal and discriminatory murders of the Holocaust proved to be one of the ultimate tests of the role of God and the experience of suffering to the Jewish population. They began to question whether the God they believed in was truly the omniscient, omnibenevolent, and omnipotent being they once saw. The problem with this assumption of the characteristics of God is that it is paradoxical for Him to be all three at one moment. A large portion of the persecuted Jews believed that if God was omnibenevolent, then there would be no reason that the human race He created would have to endure suffering. Those who suffered came to the understanding that God could not be omniscient since He would have prevented the Holocaust in some way, knowing every event and action that has happened and will happen. However, the trait that should be rejected as a Divine characteristic is omnipotence because through trials such as these, God has shown that He simply does not have the extreme power others claim He does.

Omnipotence warrants the power to produce any state of affairs that can be logically possible to accomplish. Omnipotence must include the possibility of actualizing a world where the omnipotent being is able to commit acts of evil. Assuming that this God is actually omnibenevolent, God is unable to commit any evil deeds, rendering God incapable of being omnipotent. If an all-powerful God created suffering and pain for others while it also holds the capability of creating life and happiness for others, He cannot be benevolent. Being an omnipotent creature simply contradicts logic in itself. It assumes that whatever actions that being takes on must involve rationale and logic, meaning that these concepts predate any omnipotent being. It proves that God cannot be the creator of such concepts and laws but also have to obey them at the same time. Obviously, God is seen as extremely powerful for the purposes of being the God of people but not enough to be omnipotent. One common argument is one concerning God creating a rock so heavy that He cannot lift it. This entire situation is a paradox, considering that if He can create an unliftable rock, then He is not omnipotent, but if He cannot create the rock, then it also renders him not omnipotent. The entire concept of this characteristic is ironically limited by logical pos