This is of utmost importance when we wonder whether we can trust (pisteuō) God.

Before I can wonder that, I have to wonder whether, when some person tells me "God has promised X," I should trust that person to have knowledge of God's promises.

Oh! Well! We'll have to wait and see. Anyway,thank you for your interest. Best wishes.

I also don't understand why you are being moderated. Maybe the length of the comment sets off some sort of automatic moderation? I can make your comment reappear by clicking on it. Maybe someone flagged it ? I've no idea why.

Thank you for replying, Michael, and of course you are correct in pointing out the various shades of meaning attributed to the notion of atheism. I would add, though, that an atheist of the weak variety is only a step away from the theist of a similarly weak variety in that, although their beliefs may lean in opposite directions, without proof to support their beliefs neither can claim to be any more than agnostic.

Having said that, my 'nit-picking' was not in connection with definitions of atheism but rather with associating it with pride. But I feel I was justified in assuming that a strong atheism was implied, first given that the title of the lead article is "How to prove that God Doesn't Exist", and second from the tone I inferred from the comment upon which I based my own comment.

Sadly, though, it seems I am transgressing a rule on this forum, because my original comment is being repeatedly removed for moderation and then classified as spam. I didn't think I was being offensive to anyone - rather, just matter of fact; and it seems in order to cite Dawkins, so I don't see why Harvey should be vetoed (unless his thesis generally is not welcome here).

Stating that you are an atheist is to make the assertion
that there is no God.

If you want to nit pick then there are a variety of definitions of atheism. A popular definition amongst atheists is that they hold no beliefs in gods. That is not making the assertion that there is no God. Just that for whatever reason (typically a perceived lack of convincing evidence) they hold no belief in any god.

The Oxford Dictionary definition of atheism for example wraps up a number of definitions in one go

Disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God or gods.

Other people have distinguished between weak and strong atheism. Richard Dawkins has gone full out with a spectrum of theistic probability.

Point taken. This definition seems to falls short by calling unwilling agents "omnipotent".

By this definition one could be omnipotent but not powerful enough to lift a feather.

I think it can be shown that God has the power to do some things He does not will. For instance, God chose to create the universe as it is, but had the power to not do so.

In that case, the definition of omnipotence is broader than I said, because God's omnipotence includes the power to do all _good_ acts, some of which he does not will. Conversely, you could define a "good" act as any act which God has the power to will.

In any case, I think the important distinction about God's power is that God can do anything he desires. In contrast, man cannot do all that he desires.

Hi David, glad to hear from you again!

I think your statement is true if contentment/beatitude is merely the power to do what you want. I suppose omnipotence is only one component of perfect contentment, but I need to think about that one.

In the relevant question on omnipotence, St. Thomas says that the ability to "sin" is to be able to fall short of a perfect action. It's more powerful to not be able to fall short of a perfect action, and therefore this ability is repugnant to omnipotence.

Similarly, if God could do things he did not will, then he would be able to fall short of what He wills. This would ironically make him less powerful. For instance, the evil magician Jafar from Aladdin had the power to turn himself into a genie and imprison himself for 10,000 in a lamp, and this corrupted power actually limited his power.

Nevertheless, your equivalency makes me reconsider this definition...