Impossibility of Omnipotence

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Reply Sun 4 Apr, 2010 05:06 am
Can God make a wall so strong he cannot tear it down, if he cannot tear it down he is not omnipotent. If he cannot create such he isnt omnipotent either
 
wayne
 
Reply Sun 4 Apr, 2010 05:15 am
@no1author,
no1author;148154 wrote:
Can God make a wall so strong he cannot tear it down, if he cannot tear it down he is not omnipotent. If he cannot create such he isnt omnipotent either


Exactly what is this wall to be made from?
 
no1author
 
Reply Wed 14 Apr, 2010 02:17 pm
@no1author,
The Material of the wall dosent play a role in this
 
Reconstructo
 
Reply Wed 14 Apr, 2010 02:47 pm
@no1author,
no1author;148154 wrote:
Can God make a wall so strong he cannot tear it down, if he cannot tear it down he is not omnipotent. If he cannot create such he isnt omnipotent either


this is a great paradox. we did the rock-so-heavy version not long ago. i'm not a believer in god at all in the traditional sense, but I like arguing either side.

What about the possibility that God transcends the logic of man? If god is man's creator, then it can be argued that such paradoxes are just the confusions of man's inferior intelligence. this isn't my real view, but only a playful attempt to resolve the paradox.

regards, recon:)
 
Emil
 
Reply Wed 14 Apr, 2010 05:39 pm
@no1author,
Read and learn.

'The' Modal Fallacy - Prof. Norman Swartz
 
TickTockMan
 
Reply Wed 14 Apr, 2010 05:44 pm
@wayne,
wayne;148156 wrote:
Exactly what is this wall to be made from?


A whole bunch of God Particles.



Higgs boson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Krumple
 
Reply Wed 14 Apr, 2010 09:01 pm
@no1author,
I think a better one would be;

If god is omnipotent then can god destroy god?
 
Reconstructo
 
Reply Wed 14 Apr, 2010 09:50 pm
@Krumple,
Krumple;152153 wrote:

If god is omnipotent then can god destroy god?


That's pretty d*mn good. I like that.
 
Missy B
 
Reply Sat 24 Apr, 2010 04:06 pm
@no1author,
no1author;148154 wrote:
Can God make a wall so strong he cannot tear it down, if he cannot tear it down he is not omnipotent. If he cannot create such he isnt omnipotent either

I have too many replies for Your post . . .Pick anyone that suits You.

1 -What if he can do both?

2 -There's a great possibility that if I make something, I can destroy it.

3 -Have You questioned Yourself, why is it possible he can't tear down the wall [he made] if he's really omnipotent? Is it because he doesn't want to or because he simply cannot? Why can't this certain wall just be brought down by a certain person that probably created it?
 
prothero
 
Reply Sat 24 Apr, 2010 06:17 pm
@no1author,
Divine omnipotence is not only impossible and self contradictory it is silly.
Divine omnipotence is a theological mistake and a serious one at that.
If you abandon the concept of divine omnipotence, the long sequence of cosmological and biological evolution, and the serious setbacks, mass extinctions, dead end evolutionary branches and even the problem of natural evil and moral evil can be more adequately dealt with in theological terms
 
Missy B
 
Reply Sun 25 Apr, 2010 06:43 am
@prothero,
prothero;156168 wrote:
Divine omnipotence is self contradictory .
Divine omnipotence is a theological mistake and a serious one at that.

Can You throw more Light on this?
 
prothero
 
Reply Sun 25 Apr, 2010 01:59 pm
@Missy B,
[QUOTE=Missy B;156372]Can You throw more Light on this?[/QUOTE]
One of the primary reasons for lack of faith or loss of faith is the extent and severity of suffering in the world. This includes both moral evil (that due to human action and choice) and natural evil (that due to the laws and conditions of nature; floods, famines, disease, pestilence, earthquakes, etc) in which human choice and action play no role.

The traditional answers for suffering, it is for the greater good, it is the result of god giving man free will, the ways of the Lord are mysterious and beyond human understanding frequently fail to comfort or convince those confronted with severe personal misfortune, cancer, loss of child or the scale of suffering in the world (starvation, disease, the holocaust other ethnic cleansings, war etc.). For many the traditional answers fail and faith in god is lost.

Almost the entire problem of evil as a barrier to religious faith (belief in god) stems from the notion of divine omnipotence. For if god truly is all powerful that implies that such suffering is either part of the divine plan or is in some sense permitted by god.

Omnipotence is actually not a feature of the Biblical portrayal of God (after all god cannot even find Adam and Eve in the garden). Omnipotence is derived from Greek philosophical notions of perfection (actually the mistaken notion of the changeless perfection of the heavens). Such a notion might be coherent in the six day creation, fixity of species, young earth and 3 story universe of ancient times but lacks coherence in the modern world of deep cosmic time and evolution.

If instead of God acting through miracles and supernatural intervention one conceives of God as acting through nature and natural law through process (evolution is a process) and if instead of god being all powerful and acting through force or coercion one conceives of god as gentle loving persuasion, urging the universe forward through (the tender elements of creation) then many of the problems between science and religion disappear and the problem of evil disappears as well. We attribute that which is good to god and that which is not good to the formless void and the forces of chaos. Of course divine omnipotence is sacrificed but divine goodness is preserved. The universe is evolving spirit, an emanation or manifestation of the divine, bringing novelty, creativity and beauty from the formless void, the creation of value.
 
Timinater94
 
Reply Sun 25 Apr, 2010 06:15 pm
@prothero,
In my opinion if God created something just to see if he could destory it then he is not omnipotent.....

I hope that doesn't make me sound stupid....:perplexed:
 
William
 
Reply Sun 25 Apr, 2010 06:49 pm
@Krumple,
Krumple;152153 wrote:
I think a better one would be;

If god is omnipotent then can god destroy god?


Yep! Without question! Then he would put himself back together again just like any omnipotent entity. :a-ok: Question is if he ever did? Perhaps he is always putting himself together. You've said that haven't you? "let me get it together." Ha!

William

---------- Post added 04-25-2010 at 08:23 PM ----------

Reconstructo;152159 wrote:
That's pretty d*mn good. I like that.

Hello Recon. Read GOD'S DEBRIS. It's available on line in pdf version.

William
 
 

 
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