Omnipotence in Question

God is omnipotent… or so we are told.

Dictionary.com defines “omnipotent” as:

1. almighty or infinite in power, as God.
2. having very great or unlimited authority or power.

I’m going to go with the first definition since this is the one that would undoubtedly apply to “God” of Christianity and Catholicism and to “Allah” in Islam. I’ve never heard a religious person say that their god has only limited power, so I think it’s a fair assumption that the first definition is applicable.

The question is often posed to theists, “If God (from here on, also meaning Allah) is all-powerful, why is there disease (or imperfection or evil or disbelief, etc)?” The answer invariably boils down to a “free will” argument. Summarized, God created everything in a state of perfection, but gave man free will to choose his own actions. Man then chose the “wrong” path (eating the apple) and that was pretty much the end of perfection. After that, we basically drove off the genetic cliff which explains why some people wear glasses, some get cancer, some need braces, etc.

(I’m going to leave aside the argument that perhaps Adam wasn’t perfect if he was capable of choosing the wrong path, therefore God didn’t make a perfect creation, therefore God isn’t perfect… or omnipotent.)

I’m sure there are some theists who don’t believe in free will. In that case, God’s omnipotence can be dismissed out of hand since he created and pre-destined everything to be just as it is. I doubt there are many people who would claim that our world and everything in it is perfect in its current state. Argument over.

As for free will, the very existence of free will presupposes a non-omnipotent God. An omnipotent God is “almighty and infinite in power” and therefore knows all, which means he would clearly see all future events and know the outcome of every action (if he couldn’t, he wouldn’t be omnipotent). That is contrary to free will. If God already knows what’s going to happen, then the future is pre-destined and there is no free will.

If, on the other hand, there actually is true free will, then God doesn’t know what will happen and is therefore not omnipotent.

Any claim that “God is omnipotent” immediately eliminates the possibility of free will, thereby showing that God created imperfect things and is, therefore, not omnipotent.

I’ve never heard a refutation of this, but counter-arguments are welcome.