The Book of Genesis recounts the creation of the world until the descent of the children of Israel into Egypt. Some of the stories lend themselves to the notion that God is omnipotent, but on the other hand there are others that if read carefully could lend themselves to the contrary. This idea of God’s divine foreknowledge has probably been argued since the discovery of a supreme and all powerful creator thousands of years ago, but what is the basis for it? One must question Gods omnipotence if we are to read the bible literally.
As a child growing up in a Roman-Catholic household I was lead to believe that at the beginning of time, when God first created the world as we recognize it, God knew everything that would be done at the time he created the world. I was also taught that we as simple human beings cannot change the fact that God knows everything that will happen tomorrow and every day afterwards. That fact that God knows what will happen tomorrow, means that it will happen. Therefore, no one can prevent doing whatever it is that they will do tomorrow; because of God’s knowledge of all future. This notion that god is Omni-knowledgeable is easily observed by recalling the opening of Sarah’s, Abraham’s wife, womb. God states “At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son,” expressing God’s foreknowledge of future events (Genesis 18:14). God also appears to know what the future holds when he states “I know however, that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders that I will perform in it; after that he will let you go,” God assures Moses that the future will go exactly as he plans it and that all the Israelites will be freed (Exodus 3:19/20). Essentially God can see all things and therefore nothing is out of his realm of vision.
But on the other hand stories such as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the execution...