GOD’S OMNIPOTENCE

A young boy was waiting after church for his family. The pastor saw him standing around and struck up a conversation. Since the boy had just come from Sunday school, the pastor decided to ask him some questions to determine just how much the children were learning there. He said, “Young man, if you can tell me something that God can do, I’ll give you a big shiny apple.” Thoughtfully the boy replied, “Sir, if you can tell me something God can’t do, I’ll give you a whole box of apples.”585

“The greatest single distinguishing feature of the omnipotence of God is that our imagination gets lost when thinking about it” (Pascal, Pensees, I, XV).586

On March 5, 1979, what was called “the most powerful burst of energy ever recorded” occurred. It was described as follows:

“The burst of gamma radiation picked up by the satellites lasted for only one tenth of a second. But in that brief instant it emitted as much energy as the sun does over a period of three thousand years. If the sun had belched out the same amount of energy, the earth would have vaporized instantly.”

Reflecting on the event, astrophysicist Doyle Evans said, “Every time we think we understand the physical laws of the universe, nature seems bent on confounding us.” Nature? Or God?587