“Words have no meaning beyond that which we put into them”'- Ayer.
“Words are our slaves, not our masters”- Dawkins.
The word “omnipotent” is defined as “all powerful”, which means having the power to do ANYTHING.
If a being can do ANYTHING, then it could defy the rules of logic.
I’m not arguing that God is omnipotent, nor even that there is (or isn’t) a God.
The point is that we don’t know what we are talking about when we say that God is omnipotent, omniscient, etc.
Having the power to create the universe is not necessarily the same as being ALL-POWERFUL, having ALL power, the power to do ANYTHING.
That’s your interpretation of what “omnipotent” means. That’s your interpretation of what “all” and "powerful’ mean when placed together to form a phrase.
Somebody else will have a slightly different (very different?) interpretation.
By all means, have a discussion about it.
Somebody said that God is “omniwhatever”. He/she had something in mind but it may not have been what you have in mind now. He/she could not possibly know that God is “omniwhatever”.
If there possibly could be Something which acted as the catalyst to bring Everything into existence, is it not possible that at the very least studying the Universe could point to This as being Pure Energy?
My intuition tells me that if there is anything which can express the reality of this concept called God, it would be science - certainly not religion. People look for facts in the legal system, not hearsay and belief.
Science, as it exists right now, can’t tell us anything about God…
Perhaps the science of the future might shed light on questions pertaining to God (though I doubt it), but certainly not the science of today.
What CAN be known about God?
Well clear reason lets us deduce some things.
For example: we know that God either exists or doesn’t.
No human has ever proved, to the satisfaction of all, that there is a God, but nobody has ever proved that there is NO God either…
I thought it was obvious from the opening words of my OP (“Many religious thinkers claim”) that I was criticizing what others claim about God…
The universe is evidence of God, but it’s not proof.
This thing we call “God” seems to be beyond proof, beyond disproof…
I doubt it. What a gross waste of power there would be. The proof is in the pudding, as they say.
My intuition tells me that the human psyche needs the thought of an omnipotent God to make up for our own sense of powerlessness in such a chaotic world.