History Analysis / TheOmnipotent

* '''Unconstrained even by logic.''' This is where God can do anything, even things that are logically self-contradictory. This kind of God could create a stone so heavy he can't lift it and [[MindScrew then lift it anyway while it still genuinely was too heavy for him to lift]]. A "milder" version would be where God got to decide what was going to be logically possible in the world he created, which might or might not mean he can break the rules now; if not, the practical effect would be the same as in the next option.
* '''Constrained only by logic.''' God can do anything; however, he can't do self-contradictory things, because those aren't "things"; there are only self-contradictory linguistic constructions that refer to no possible state of affairs. God couldn't create a square circle because the phrase "square circle" doesn't refer to anything, the same way as he couldn't sploorxz because "sploorxz" is a nonsense word that doesn't mean anything. God also probably couldn't create a stone too heavy for himself to lift because, he being omnipotent, that description refers to an inherently impossible object. For this reason, it's also difficult to depict truly logic-defying powers in fiction.
* '''Constrained only by logic, but with extra stipulations.''' God can do anything that lacks a contradiction, but some [[MagicAIsMagicA extra limits]] are brought in that aren't immediately obvious just on that basis. For example, it could be said that human free will must be absolutely indeterministic, at most probabilistic[[hottip:*:which is far from obvious, because it would lead to us acting randomly, with the will only rolling dice]], and so God can't both give humans true free will and maintain control over what they do and what happens to them, which suddenly leaves quite a lot of things beyond his control. This kind of thing can be done to excuse the imperfection of the world. The stipulation in Christianity that God had to sacrifice Jesus Christ, and/or incarnate as him, to atone humanity also goes on this level. It's not a logical necessity without first stipulating a lot of concepts that imply it. Not to be confused with merely self-imposed limits; God's own will "limiting" itself is a whole other debate not included here because it would make this much more complicated while adding little value.
* '''Not actually omnipotent, but we're saying that anyway.''' This is when limitations like the above are taken so far that God honestly can't do all that much, maybe just vaguely nudge history in a desired direction or something, but is [[InNameOnly called omnipotent anyway because that's part of the traditional definition]]. Definitely not SuperWeight class 7 any more, and may not even be TheOmnipotent in trope terms. It isn't really until this level that another entity may be imagined as challenging God.

* '''Constrained only by logic, but with extra stipulations.''' God can do anything that lacks a contradiction, but some [[MagicAIsMagicA extra limits]] are brought in that aren't immediately obvious just on that basis. For example, it could be said that human free will must be absolutely indeterministic, at most probabilistic[[hottip:*:which is far from obvious, because it would lead to us acting randomly, with the will only rolling dice]], and so God can't both give humans true free will and maintain control over what they do and what happens to them, which suddenly leaves quite a lot of things beyond his control. This kind of thing can be done to excuse the imperfection of the world. The stipulation in Christianity that God had to sacrifice Jesus Christ, and/or incarnate as him, to atone humanity also goes on this level. It's not a logical necessity without first stipulating a lot of concepts that imply it. Not to be confused with merely self-imposed limits; God's own will "limiting" itself is a whole other debate not included here, as it would make this much more complicated while adding little value.

* '''Constrained only by logic, but with extra stipulations.''' God can do anything that lacks a contradiction, but some [[MagicAIsMagicA extra limits]] are brought in that aren't immediately obvious just on that basis. For example, it could be said that human free will must be absolutely indeterministic, at most probabilistic[[hottip:*:which is far from obvious, because it would lead to us acting randomly, with the will only rolling dice]], and so God can't both give humans true free will and maintain control over what they do and what happens to them, which suddenly leaves quite a lot of things beyond his control. This kind of thing can be done to excuse the imperfection of the world. The stipulation in Christianity that God had to sacrifice Jesus Christ, and/or incarnate as him, to atone humanity also goes on this level. It's not a logical necessity without first stipulating a lot of concepts that imply it. That said, these limits are often self-imposed, so arguably they are not truly "limits" ''per say''.

* '''Constrained only by logic, but with extra stipulations.''' God can do anything that lacks a contradiction, but some [[MagicAIsMagicA extra limits]] are brought in that aren't immediately obvious just on that basis. For example, it could be said that human free will must be absolutely indeterministic, at most probabilistic[[hottip:*:which is far from obvious, because it would lead to us acting randomly, with the will only rolling dice]], and so God can't both give humans true free will and maintain control over what they do and what happens to them, which suddenly leaves quite a lot of things beyond his control. This kind of thing can be done to excuse the imperfection of the world. The stipulation in Christianity that God had to sacrifice Jesus Christ, and/or incarnate as him, to atone humanity also goes on this level. It's not a logical necessity without first stipulating a lot of concepts that imply it.

* '''Constrained only by logic.''' God can do anything; however, he can't do self-contradictory things, because those aren't "things"; there are only linguistic constructions that refer to no possible state of affairs. God couldn't create a square circle because the phrase "square circle" doesn't refer to anything, the same way as he couldn't sploorxz because "sploorxz" is a nonsense word that doesn't mean anything. God also probably couldn't create a stone too heavy for himself to lift because, he being omnipotent, that description refers to an inherently impossible object. For this reason, it's also difficult to depict truly logic-defying powers in fiction.

* '''Unconstrained even by logic.''' This is where God can do anything, even things that are logically contradictory. This kind of God could create a stone so heavy he can't lift it and [[MindScrew then lift it anyway while it still genuinely was too heavy for him to lift]]. A "milder" version would be where God got to decide what was going to be logically possible in the world he created, which might or might not mean he can break the rules now; if not, the practical effect would be the same as in the next option.
* '''Constrained only by logic.''' God can do anything; however, he can't do contradictory things, because those aren't "things"; there are only linguistic constructions that refer to no possible state of affairs. God couldn't create a square circle because the phrase "square circle" doesn't refer to anything, the same way as he couldn't sploorxz because "sploorxz" is a nonsense word that doesn't mean anything. God also probably couldn't create a stone too heavy for himself to lift because, he being omnipotent, that description refers to an inherently impossible object. For this reason, it's also difficult to depict truly logic-defying powers in fiction.

* '''Constrained only by logic.''' God can do anything; however, he can't do contradictory things, because those aren't "things"; there are only some linguistic constructions that refer to no possible state of affairs. God couldn't create a square circle because the phrase "square circle" doesn't refer to anything, the same way as he couldn't sploorxz because "sploorxz" is a nonsense word that doesn't mean anything. God also probably couldn't create a stone too heavy for himself to lift because, he being omnipotent, that description refers to an inherently impossible object. For this reason, it's also difficult to depict truly logic-defying powers in fiction.

* '''Constrained only by logic.''' God can do anything; however, he can't do contradictory things, because those aren't "things"; they're only linguistic constructions that refer to no possible state of affairs. God couldn't create a square circle because the phrase "square circle" doesn't refer to anything, the same way as he couldn't sploorxz because "sploorxz" is a nonsense word that doesn't mean anything. God also probably couldn't create a stone too heavy for himself to lift because, he being omnipotent, that description refers to an inherently impossible object. For this reason, it's also difficult to depict truly logic-defying powers in fiction.

* '''Not actually omnipotent, but we're saying that anyway.''' This is when limitations like the above are taken so far that God honestly can't do all that much, maybe just vaguely nudge history in a desired direction or something, but is called omnipotent anyway because that's part of the traditional definition. Definitely not SuperWeight class 7 any more, and may not even be TheOmnipotent in trope terms. It isn't really until this level that another entity may be imagined as challenging God.

* '''Not actually omnipotent, but we're saying that anyway.''' This is when limitations like the above are taken so far that God honestly can't do all that much, maybe just vaguely nudge history in a desired direction or something, but is called omnipotent anyway because that's part of the traditional definition. Definitely not SuperWeight level 7 any more, and may not even be TheOmnipotent in trope terms. It isn't really until this level that another entity may be imagined as challenging God.

* '''Not actually omnipotent, but we're saying that anyway.''' This is when limitations like the above are taken so far that God honestly can't do all that much, maybe just vaguely nudge history in a desired direction or something, but is called omnipotent anyway because that's part of the traditional definition. Definitely not SuperWeight level 5 any more, and may not even be TheOmnipotent in trope terms. It isn't really until this level that another entity may be imagined as challenging God.

* '''Constrained only by logic.''' God can do anything; however, he can't do contradictory things, because those aren't "things"; they're only linguistic constructions that refer to no possible state of affairs. God couldn't create a square circle because the phrase "square circle" doesn't refer to anything, the same way as he couldn't sploorxz because "sploorxz" is a nonsense word that doesn't mean anything. God also probably couln't create a stone too heavy for himself to lift because, he being omnipotent, that description refers to an inherently impossible object. For this reason, it's also difficult to depict truly logic-defying powers in fiction.

* '''Constrained only by logic, but with extra stipulations.''' God can do anything that lacks a contradiction, but some [[MagicAIsMagicA extra limits]] are brought in that aren't immediately obvious just on that basis. For example, it could be said that human free will must be absolutely indeterministic, at most probabilistic[[hottip:*:which is far from obvious because it would lead to us acting randomly, with the will only rolling dice]], and so God can't both give humans true free will and maintain control over what they do and what happens to them, which suddenly leaves quite a lot of things beyond his control. This kind of thing can be done to excuse the imperfection of the world. The stipulation in Christianity that God had to sacrifice Jesus Christ, and/or incarnate as him, to atone humanity also goes on this level. It's not a logical necessity without first stipulating a lot of concepts that imply it.

* '''Constrained only by logic.''' God can do anything; however, he can't do contradictory things, because those aren't "things"; they're only linguistic constructions that refer to no possible state of affairs. God couldn't create a square circle because the phrase "square circle" doesn't refer to anything, the same way as he couldn't sploorxz because "sploorxz" is a nonsense word that doesn't mean anything. God also probably couln't create a stone too heavy for himself to lift because, he being omnipotent, that description refers to an inherently impossible object. For this reason it's also difficult to depict truly logic-defying powers in fiction.

* '''Constrained only by logic.''' God can do anything; however, he can't do contradictory things, because those aren't "things"; they're only linguistic constructions that refer to no possible state of affairs. God couldn't create a square circle because the phrase "square circle" doesn't refer to anything, the same way as he couldn't sploorxz because "sploorxz" is a nonsense word that doesn't mean anything. God also probably couln't create a stone too heavy for himself to lift because, he being omnipotent, that description refers to an inherently impossible object.

* '''Constrained only by logic, but with extra stipulations.''' God can do anything that lacks a contradiction, but some [[MagicAIsMagicA extra limits]] are brought in that aren't immediately obvious just on that basis. For example, it could be said that human free will must be absolutely indeterministic, at most probabilistic (which is far from obvious because it would lead to us acting randomly, with the will only rolling dice), and so God can't both give humans true free will and maintain control over what they do and what happens to them, which suddenly leaves quite a lot of things beyond his control. This kind of thing can be done to excuse the imperfection of the world. The stipulation in Christianity that God had to sacrifice Jesus Christ, and/or incarnate as him, to atone humanity also goes on this level. It's not a logical necessity without first stipulating a lot of concepts that imply it.

* '''Unconstrained even by logic.''' This is where God can do anything, even things that are logically contradictory. This kind of God could create a stone so heavy he can't lift it and [[MindScrew then lift it anyway while it still genuinely was too heavy for him to lift]]. A "milder" version would be where God decided what was going to be logically possible in the world he created, which might or might not mean he can break the rules now; if not, the practical effect would be the same as in the next option.

* '''Unconstrained even by logic.''' This is where God can do anything, even things that are logically contradictory. This kind of God could create a stone so heavy he can't lift it and then lift it anyway while it still genuinely was too heavy for him to lift. A "milder" version would be where God decided what was going to be logically possible in the world he created, which might or might not mean he can break the rules now; if not, the practical effect would be the same as in the next option.

Philosophers and theologians have come up with different interpretations for what it means for a subject (usually {{God}}, whom we'll refer to from now on for simplicity) to actually be omnipotent. The following is a crude overview of different possible levels of conceived omnipotence. Note that the trope TheOmnipotent concerns not only characters that are actually omnipotent but also those that are virtually so, so the different levels given on the main page are for that reason quite different from these. Logical (im)possibility is also treated less strictly there than here.

* '''Constrained only by logic, but with extra stipulations.''' God can do anything that lacks a contradiction, but some [[MagicAIsMagicA extra limits]] are brought in that aren't immediately obvious just on that basis. For example, it could be said that human free will must be absolutely indeterministic, at most probabilistic (which is far from obvious because it would lead to us acting randomly, with the will only rolling dice), and so God can't both give humans true free will and maintain control over what they do and what happens to them. This kind of thing can be done to excuse the imperfection of the world. The stipulation in Christianity that God had to sacrifice Jesus Christ, and/or incarnate as him, to atone humanity also goes on this level. It's not a logical necessity without first stipulating a lot of concepts that imply it.

Philosophers and theologians have come up with different interpretations for what it means for a subject (usually {{God}}, whom we'll refer to from now on for simplicity) to actually be omnipotent. The following is a crude overview of different possible levels of conceived omnipotence. Note that the trope TheOmnipotent concerns not only characters that are actually omnipotent but also those that are virtually so, so the different levels given on the main page are for that reason quite different from these.

* '''Constrained only by logic, but with extra stipulations.''' God can do anything that lacks a contradiction, but some extra limits are brought in that aren't immediately obvious just on that basis. For example, it could be said that human free will must be absolutely indeterministic, at most probabilistic (which is far from obvious because it would lead to us acting randomly, with the will only rolling dice), and so God can't both give humans true free will and maintain control over what they do and what happens to them. This kind of thing can be done to excuse the imperfection of the world. The stipulation in Christianity that God had to sacrifice Jesus Christ, and/or incarnate as him, to atone humanity also goes on this level. It's not a logical necessity without first stipulating a lot of concepts that imply it.

* '''Not actually omnipotent, but we're saying that anyway.''' This is when limitations like the above are taken so far that God honestly can't do all that much, maybe just vaguely nudge history in a desired direction or something, but is called omnipotent anyway because that's part of the traditional definition. Definitely not SuperWeight level 5 any more, and may not even be TheOmnipotent in trope terms. It isn't really until this level that another entity may be imagined as challenging God in power.

* '''Not actually omnipotent, but we're saying that anyway.''' This is when limitations like the above are taken so far that God honestly can't do all that much, maybe just vaguely nudge history in a desired direction or something, but is called omnipotent anyway because that's part of the traditional definition. Definitely not SuperWeight level 5 any more, and may not be TheOmnipotent in trope terms either. It isn't really until this level that another entity may be imagined as challenging God in power.

* '''Not actually omnipotent, but we're saying that anyway.''' This is when limitations like the above are taken so far that God honestly can't do all that much, maybe just vaguely nudge history in a desired direction or something, but is called omnipotent anyway because that's part of the traditional definition. Definitely not SuperWeight level 5 any more. It isn't really until this level that another entity may be imagined as challenging God in power.

Philosophers and theologians have come up with different interpretations for what it means for a subject (usually {{God}}, whom we'll refer to from now on for simplicity) to actually be omnipotent. The following is a crude overview of different possible levels of conceived omnipotence. Note that in the trope TheOmnipotent, which concerns characters that are virtually omnipotent but don't have to be actually so, the different levels given are for that reason quite different from these.

* '''Not actually omnipotent, but we're saying that anyway.''' This is when limitations like the above are taken so far that God honestly can't do all that much, maybe just vaguely nudge history in a desired direction, but is called omnipotent anyway because that's part of the traditional definition. Definitely not SuperWeight level 5 any more. It isn't really until this level that another entity may be imagined as challenging God in power.

* '''Not actually omnipotent, but we're saying that anyway.''' This is when limitations like the above are taken so far that God honestly can't do all that much, but is called omnipotent anyway because that's part of the traditional definition. Definitely not SuperWeight level 5 any more. It isn't really until this level that another entity may be imagined as challenging God in power.

* '''Constrained only by logic, but with extra stipulations.''' God can do anything that lacks a contradiction, but some extra limits are brought in that aren't immediately obvious just on that basis. For example, it could be said that human free will must be absolutely indeterministic, at most probabilistic (which is far from obvious because it would lead to us acting randomly, with the will only rolling dice), and so God can't both give humans true free will and maintain control over what they do and what happens to them. This kind of thing can be done to excuse the imperfection of the world. The stipulation in Christianity that God had to sacrifice Jesus Christ, and/or incarnate as him, to atone humanity also goes on this level. It's not a logical necessity without at first stipulating a lot of concepts that imply it.

* '''Constrained only by logic, but with extra stipulations.''' God can do anything that lacks a contradiction, but some extra limits are brought in that aren't immediately obvious just on that basis. For example, it could be said that human free will must be absolutely indeterministic, at most probabilistic (which is far from obvious because it would lead to us acting randomly, with the will only rolling dice), and so God can't both give humans true free will and maintain control over what they do and what happens to them. This kind of thing can be done to excuse the imperfection of the world. The stipulation in Christianity that God had to sacrifice Jesus Christ, and/or incarnate as him, to atone humanity also goes on this level. It's not logical necessity without at first stipulating a lot of concepts that imply it.