I do believe in an omnipotent (and omniscient and omnibenevolent) God. From my experience I have even come to believe that he would not only be omnipotent, but also the source of power. This is because, if you do what is right, I believe, you become more powerful. And if you do that which is not right, you become more powerless.
Have you not seen, in my opinion, that people who have a vice, to give an example, seem incapable of getting out of it? They feel powerless and unable to stop doing the wrong (even if they want to). Because the more they do it, the less power they have.
I think it is true that:
Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
But if you avoid the wrong, I think one will feel more powerful.
So I do believe in an omnipotent God.
I can go into more detail if needed, but I think that sums it up well.
Cheers to you!
Although I don't believe in an omnipotent and omnipresent God, I wouldn't, for example, make our relationship with each other dependent on it and now attack your person because I couldn't understand why you do it, for example. I believe in a potent and powerful God which includes all traits I can imagine.
Ultimately, what exactly an individual understands by God belongs to their inner world, which is as difficult to explain as God himself. Especially as I do not understand faith as being detached from the practically real world. From faith derives the acceptance of recognising the Ten Commandments as a set of rules and the greatest realisation for me lies in seeing that I am fallible and a fool who can make a fool of himself and others. That does not make me a helpless irresponsible plaything of God, but quite the contrary, it provides me with the insight that despite my fallacies, I am still responsible for them.
I understand Christianity as an endeavour to unite people under this concept and the resulting practical actions and to offer a coherent world view. Also as a place of reflection, confidence and refuge. Many who see themselves as non-Christians forget that if Christianity didn't exist, everything else would be gone and they underestimate what they take for granted as support. In a youtube comment I read:
I fully understand what you mean with
Modern westerners tend to disagree, since they see that power lies in the hands of those who are without God. So they feel powerless. Which in a sense, is true, for power is defined as "who has the money and the influence to steer the wheel of leading the masses". It's the outward look but not the inward.
I am always happy to go into more detail since I feel every dialogue about the matter enriches you and me.
I can agree with the gist of it.
I have my own theory about the "power" of these people. It's just that, despite all the wrong things they may be doing, they had to do some right things to get to accumulate it. Not everything is black and white. Even some "not good" people can have some merit. But this enters into a different set of thoughts.
But, in my opinion, I hesitate to call it "power" altogether. I think that, perhaps, many times we not know what power is. The way I see it, power can be something even spiritual, so to speak, far removed from what is ordinarily called power. It has nothing to do with an office, a position or a popularity contest. A person who has nothing can be more powerful than a person with thousands of fortunes. But we are so used to thinking with our eyes that we do not believe in the invisible, and power is one of these unseen things. Maybe it's more something that you feel.
There is a story of a monk who was disobeying a foreign military. The military said to him, "Don't you know that you are facing a man who can kill, if he want so?" The monk replied, "Don't you know that you are facing a man who can let himself be killed, if he want so?"
Power resides in virtue, I think, or perhaps follows it. I think it was Aquinas who said that power and good are one and the same thing, although I am not sure about it. I see power as something in itself, just like good or justice, etc. It is non-physical. Being powerful is more a quality of the psyche.
But I digress.
I welcome any point of view, so you can feel free to add to it as you please.
What you said about power I actually tried to wave into my post. Though in a more implicit way.
The story of the monk reminds me of my grand dad, and his experience in prison camp. Maybe you remember it, when I talked about the historical events within my own family. It comes very close to what you have given as an anecdote about the monk.
We see that all along in movies, yet we don't apply that to our own lives, since we are usually in no way ready to face death (and I am not saying that I am that kind of human).
The term "power" is loaded, that is right.
When you are faced with what it actually is, when it is talked about one person wanting the other one to bend, submit to whatever might be the issue, the better term is probably "violence" or "coercion". Someone using violence upon you, to give into his will is one who, in principle, feels powerless to use other means than violence.
There is also the phenomena, when people feel powerless, they find the umbrella under which they want to gather, in order not having to be the ones personally to act out violence, but having others doing it for them.
So yeah, I agree with your additional thoughts on "power".
I completely agree.
Yes, I do. It is undoubtedly a impressive story. Maybe in the future we can talk more about it.
Greetings.