# Theists: Do any of you believe God is NOT omnipotent, omniscient, or omnibenovelent?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theists-do-any-of-you-believe-god-is-not-omnipotent-omniscient-or-omnibenovelent/570078
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [February 3, 2011, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theists-do-any-of-you-believe-god-is-not-omnipotent-omniscient-or-omnibenovelent/570078 "2011-02-03T22:57:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2011, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theists-do-any-of-you-believe-god-is-not-omnipotent-omniscient-or-omnibenovelent/570078/1 "2011-02-03T22:57:09Z")
The question is specifically aimed at persons who believe a personal God exists, so there’s no poll option appropriate for atheists or agnostics. Those who object are invited to kiss my shiny metal ass. Or, more constructively, say something smart in the thread.
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### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2011, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theists-do-any-of-you-believe-god-is-not-omnipotent-omniscient-or-omnibenovelent/570078/2 "2011-02-03T23:03:17Z")
Missed the edit window.
For purposes of this poll, both polytheists and monotheists are theists.
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### Author:  [@Weedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weedy)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2011, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theists-do-any-of-you-believe-god-is-not-omnipotent-omniscient-or-omnibenovelent/570078/3 "2011-02-03T23:13:32Z")
Options 4-6 are pretty much the same as 1-3. I think maybe you meant something like
God is omniscient but not omnipotent or omnibenevolent.
etc.
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### Author:  [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2011, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theists-do-any-of-you-believe-god-is-not-omnipotent-omniscient-or-omnibenovelent/570078/4 "2011-02-03T23:26:29Z")
Why are you not content to allow anonymous polling? The combative nature of many atheists on this board will strongly discourage theists from answering honestly, or answering at all.
I’m an atheist for the record.
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### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2011, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theists-do-any-of-you-believe-god-is-not-omnipotent-omniscient-or-omnibenovelent/570078/5 "2011-02-03T23:34:02Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#):
>
> Why are you not content to allow anonymous polling? The combative nature of many atheists on this board will strongly discourage theists from answering honestly, or answering at all.
>
> I’m an atheist for the record.
Sometimes I do anonymous polls – always when it comes to things posters have actually _done_, or their feelings on actual sexual matters.
I too am an atheist. But I don’t think I, personally, am combative; I don’t think theists necessarily stupid, foolish, misguided, or malicious. (Some are, of course, but so are some atheists.)
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### Author:  [@Electric\_Warrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Warrior)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2011, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theists-do-any-of-you-believe-god-is-not-omnipotent-omniscient-or-omnibenovelent/570078/6 "2011-02-03T23:38:57Z")
Are you specifically referring to believers of Abrahamic religions? I’m not sure the question is even answerable to those who aren’t.
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### Author:  [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2011, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theists-do-any-of-you-believe-god-is-not-omnipotent-omniscient-or-omnibenovelent/570078/7 "2011-02-03T23:41:18Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#):
>
> I’m an atheist for the record.
I’m an atheist or the long haul.
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### Author:  [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2011, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theists-do-any-of-you-believe-god-is-not-omnipotent-omniscient-or-omnibenovelent/570078/8 "2011-02-03T23:42:25Z")
I said God doesn’t _necessarily_ need to be omnibenovelent. It’s simply a question of what constitutes benevolence in the big scheme of the world.
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### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2011, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theists-do-any-of-you-believe-god-is-not-omnipotent-omniscient-or-omnibenovelent/570078/9 "2011-02-03T23:44:43Z")
> [@Electric\_Warrior](#):
>
> Are you specifically referring to believers of Abrahamic religions? I’m not sure the question is even answerable to those who aren’t.
Did you not see post 2?
If I’d meant Christians, Jews, & Muslims, I’d have said so.
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### Author:  [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2011, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theists-do-any-of-you-believe-god-is-not-omnipotent-omniscient-or-omnibenovelent/570078/10 "2011-02-03T23:56:58Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#):
>
> …I don’t think I, personally, am combative; I don’t think theists necessarily stupid, foolish, **misguided** , or malicious. (Some are, of course, but so are some atheists.)
Bolding mine. As an atheist, you gotta admit you find theists misguided. Right?
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### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2011, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theists-do-any-of-you-believe-god-is-not-omnipotent-omniscient-or-omnibenovelent/570078/11 "2011-02-03T23:58:34Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#):
>
> Bolding mine. As an atheist, you gotta admit you find theists misguided. Right?
Nope. I am not infallible; it is conceivable that I am wrong about the existence of God or gods.
_Creationists_ are misguided. _Anti-vaxers_ are misguided.
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2011, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theists-do-any-of-you-believe-god-is-not-omnipotent-omniscient-or-omnibenovelent/570078/12 "2011-02-04T01:33:35Z")
> [@Weedy](#):
>
> Options 4-6 are pretty much the same as 1-3.
Yeah, I don’t think the poll options were particularly well chosen. For one thing, there’s no response for anyone who **does** believe in all three.
Although, I’m not sure how God could be omnipotent without being omniscient. Is knowing a power? If not, how do you define power? I suspect people just like the parallelism of the three "omni"s.
For that matter, how do you define any of those terms? Is God still omnipotent if he can’t do both of two mutually exclusive things? Is God omnipotent if he chooses to limit his own power? And what would omnibenevolence actually look like? How would you define it?
All I can say for sure is that the God I believe in is beyond my ability to completely comprehend. He eludes the attempt to definitively define, describe, or (forgive the pun) nail him down. I might timidly go on to say that there are _some_ understandings of the words “omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent” that I would agree apply to God.
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### Author:  [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theists-do-any-of-you-believe-god-is-not-omnipotent-omniscient-or-omnibenovelent/570078/13 "2011-02-04T01:49:01Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#):
>
> Sometimes I do anonymous polls – always when it comes to things posters have actually _done_, or their feelings on actual sexual matters.
>
> I too am an atheist. But I don’t think I, personally, am combative; I don’t think theists necessarily stupid, foolish, misguided, or malicious. (Some are, of course, but so are some atheists.)
Except that I and everyone else can see how everyone answered, and it seems like an invitation to be harassed by the atheists who ARE militant. Whether you are or not is irrelevant.
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2011, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theists-do-any-of-you-believe-god-is-not-omnipotent-omniscient-or-omnibenovelent/570078/14 "2011-02-04T08:43:07Z")
Dude, where is the “I believe God is omnipotent, omniscient and a decent feller”?
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2011, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theists-do-any-of-you-believe-god-is-not-omnipotent-omniscient-or-omnibenovelent/570078/15 "2011-02-04T11:22:59Z")
I think it depends on how you define each of those terms. God is almighty, but he does keep his word, which could be seen as a limitation of his power. He is omniscient, and yet he promises to both forgive and forget your sins. And he is Good, but this does not mean that he will 100% stop all evil.
Based on the way I’ve seen you guys define all these terms, I guess I’ll go with the first three options.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2011, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theists-do-any-of-you-believe-god-is-not-omnipotent-omniscient-or-omnibenovelent/570078/16 "2011-02-04T11:28:16Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#):
>
> Except that I and everyone else can see how everyone answered, and it seems like an invitation to be harassed by the atheists who ARE militant. Whether you are or not is irrelevant.
Meh. I think you overestimate how harassed we theists feel that have actually chosen to stick around here. Plus, I have a hard time thinking of any harassment that wouldn’t also be threadshitting or worse.
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### Author:  [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2011, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theists-do-any-of-you-believe-god-is-not-omnipotent-omniscient-or-omnibenovelent/570078/17 "2011-02-04T22:02:53Z")
> [@BigT](#):
>
> Meh. I think you overestimate how harassed we theists feel that have actually chosen to stick around here. Plus, I have a hard time thinking of any harassment that wouldn’t also be threadshitting or worse.
I still don’t see any justification for making people out themselves on this poll. Polling is by default, and generally should be, anonymous as a rule.
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### Author:  [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2011, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theists-do-any-of-you-believe-god-is-not-omnipotent-omniscient-or-omnibenovelent/570078/18 "2011-02-04T22:34:39Z")
I need a definition of omnibenevolent for the purposes of this poll.