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The Paradox of Omniscience and Omnipotence

15 October 202522 October 2025

If God is truly omniscient—meaning he knows everything, including the past, present, and all that will ever happen—then he must already know how he will act in every moment of the future. If he plans to intervene in history, then that plan must already be known to him, down to the finest detail.

But here’s where the tension begins. If his future interventions are already known—even to himself—then he cannot not do them. He can’t wake up tomorrow and decide to do something different. That would mean his knowledge was incomplete, or wrong. And if he can’t choose otherwise, then he’s not all-powerful.

This leads us into a philosophical knot: if God is omniscient, then the future is fixed—even for him. And if the future is fixed, then he cannot truly act freely or change his mind. But if he can change his mind, then he didn’t fully know the future to begin with. So, which is it?

This paradox challenges traditional ideas of divine perfection. It forces us to ask: can perfect knowledge and perfect power really exist in one being without contradiction? Or are these concepts—omnipotence and omniscience—incompatible by nature?

Just something to think about.

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