756 CATHAR LITERATURE
book of Wisdom, "God has not made death, and he does not rejoice at the loss
of the living."^25 There exists, then, with no doubt whatsoever, another creature
or factor, who is the principle and cause of death, of perdition, and of all evil,
as we have explained above with sufficient clarity.
ON THE OMNIPOTENCE OF
THE TRUE LORD GODI wish to speak now of the omnipotence of the true lord god, which so often
permits our adversaries^26 to play the glorious one when they claim against us
that there is no other force or power than theirs.
Although in the testimony of the holy scriptures, the true lord god may be
called all powerful, one must not believe that he is called that because he can
do and does all evils, because there exist many evils that the lord cannot and
will never do. As the Letter to the Hebrews says, "It is impossible for god to
lie."^27 And the same messenger declares in the Second Letter to Timothy, "If
we are unfaithful to him, he will not cease being faithful, since he cannot deny
himself."^28 Nor must one believe that this good god has the power to destroy
himself, and to commit all kinds of wickedness against wisdom and justice.
That is even more impossible for him, since he is not the absolute cause of evil.
And if one objects to us, saying, "We have the right to say that the true lord god
is all powerful, and not only because he can do and does all the good things,
but also because he could do all the wicked things, if he wanted to, even to lie
and destroy himself, if he cared to. But he does not want to," the answer to
them is easy.
THAT GOD CANNOT DO EVIL
If god does not want to do all the wicked things, if he does not want to lie or
destroy himself, surely he cannot. Because what god in his unity does not
want to do, he cannot do. And what he cannot do, he does not want to do.
And in this sense, one must say that the power of sinning and of doing evil
does not belong to the true lord god. All that is thought to be god's attributes
and conduct is not accidental, as the learned know. It necessarily follows,
- Wisdom of Solomon 1:13.
- Roman Catholic clergy, usually referred to as les romains.
- Hebrews 6:18.
- 2 Timothy 2:13.