The Paradox of Omnipotence

Started by mattrab13 pages

The Paradox of Omnipotence

The Paradox of Omnipotence

Can God make a boulder heavier than he can lift?

If he can make a boulder heavier than he can lift than he is not all powerful, but if he cannot lift the boulder than he is not all-powerful.

Another one which i would like to no more about is, Does the universe exist when nobody is looking? I read this in a magazine and it incoporates the idea of Quantum Mechanics, for how do you know that your living room exists when nobody is in there?

Re: The Paradox of Omnipotence

Originally posted by mattrab
The Paradox of Omnipotence

Can God make a boulder heavier than he can lift?

If he can make a boulder heavier than he can lift than he is not all powerful, but if he cannot lift the boulder than he is not all-powerful.

-anthropomorphising

-"Humans cannot comprehend God"

Originally posted by mattrab
Another one which i would like to no more about is, Does the universe exist when nobody is looking? I read this in a magazine and it incoporates the idea of Quantum Mechanics, for how do you know that your living room exists when nobody is in there?

Total, utter, absolute nonsense.

Re: The Paradox of Omnipotence

Originally posted by mattrab
The Paradox of Omnipotence

Can God make a boulder heavier than he can lift?

If he can make a boulder heavier than he can lift than he is not all powerful, but if he cannot lift the boulder than he is not all-powerful.

Another one which i would like to no more about is, Does the universe exist when nobody is looking? I read this in a magazine and it incoporates the idea of Quantum Mechanics, for how do you know that your living room exists when nobody is in there?

Your second theory is like Schrodingers cat something i barely understand as it is.

QUANTUM THEORY does NOT hold that things happen when you "look at them". Quantum theory holds that probability waves collapse with ANY interaction. In fact, to observe the very strange quantum phenomena that are described, scientists need to create situations that we as humans would never come accross in our environments.

NOT looking, interacting, and with anything. Quantum states are remarkably unstable.

Re: The Paradox of Omnipotence

Originally posted by mattrab
The Paradox of Omnipotence

Can God make a boulder heavier than he can lift?

If he can make a boulder heavier than he can lift than he is not all powerful, but if he cannot lift the boulder than he is not all-powerful.

Another one which i would like to no more about is, Does the universe exist when nobody is looking? I read this in a magazine and it incoporates the idea of Quantum Mechanics, for how do you know that your living room exists when nobody is in there?

when nobody is looking sounds ridiculous, but it could be very diffrent to other life forms other than humans, colours, shapes and sounds could be warped depending on what species of creature you are

Originally posted by mattrab
...how do you know that your living room exists when nobody is in there?
What makes you think you're talking with real people on this forum and not a computer program?

Originally posted by Mindship
What makes you think you're talking with real people on this forum and not a computer program?

thats impossible, since you are all just fragments of my consciousness projected accross space and time.

Originally posted by inimalist
thats impossible, since you are all just fragments of my consciousness projected accross space and time.
<--- one of the cooler fragments 😎

Re: The Paradox of Omnipotence

Originally posted by mattrab
The Paradox of Omnipotence

Can God make a boulder heavier than he can lift?

If he can make a boulder heavier than he can lift than he is not all powerful, but if he cannot lift the boulder than he is not all-powerful.

Another one which i would like to no more about is, Does the universe exist when nobody is looking? I read this in a magazine and it incoporates the idea of Quantum Mechanics, for how do you know that your living room exists when nobody is in there?

God is transcending not omnipotent.

The crazy guy by our movie theater thinks god is omnipotent, and he is sponsored by a missionary group.

Originally posted by Jbill311
The crazy guy by our movie theater thinks god is omnipotent, and he is sponsored by a missionary group.

😆 It's always the crazy guy. 😐

God is trancedent and omnipotent, they are two different predicates of God

Originally posted by mattrab
God is transcendent and omnipotent, they are two different predicates of God

The problem with omnipotent is that it leads to paradoxes. If God is transcendent then it is redundant to say God is omnipotent, and you don't have the paradoxes.

could god microwave a burrito untill it was so hot that He himself could not eat it?

Please, all these arguments against omnipotenence are nothing more than symantics.

Yes, an omnipotant person could create a boulder larger than they could lift. Because in order to lift something you have to move it away from something else. Imagine creating a boulder the size of the universe. Now the only reason you can't lift that is by definition of lifting something. In order to do so you'd have to move its mass away from something else. Any attempt to do so would simply result in doing a headstand on that object.

As I said its all symantic arguments. There are others which are just as ridiculous.

Originally posted by Creshosk
Please, all these arguments against omnipotenence are nothing more than symantics.

Yes, an omnipotant person could create a boulder larger than they could lift. Because in order to lift something you have to move it away from something else. Imagine creating a boulder the size of the universe. Now the only reason you can't lift that is by definition of lifting something. In order to do so you'd have to move its mass away from something else. Any attempt to do so would simply result in doing a headstand on that object.

As I said its all symantic arguments. There are others which are just as ridiculous.

Please tell us more. 😉

Originally posted by Shakyamunison
Please tell us more. 😉
Well for starters, I'm agnostic so this has nothing to do with "god" or any veiled attacks on any theist.

But alot of the challenges that are presented are nothing more than word play and how things are defined.

For example creating things that don't exist or would fall under the definition of something else.

Like creating a "square circle" is another popular dig at omnipotence. Well that one is actually easy to make Just draw a square with rounded corners. Now after that you'd have the one who posed the challenge, challenge the results. But they'd have to go off of definition. A square has for corners and a corner is a 90 degree angle... basically like a "no true scotsman" onthological argument.

There are other challenges but I can't remember them all right now.

Originally posted by Creshosk
Well for starters, I'm agnostic so this has nothing to do with "god" or any veiled attacks on any theist.

But alot of the challenges that are presented are nothing more than word play and how things are defined.

For example creating things that don't exist or would fall under the definition of something else.

Like creating a "square circle" is another popular dig at omnipotence. Well that one is actually easy to make Just draw a square with rounded corners. Now after that you'd have the one who posed the challenge, challenge the results. But they'd have to go off of definition. A square has for corners and a corner is a 90 degree angle... basically like a "no true scotsman" onthological argument.

There are other challenges but I can't remember them all right now.

I'm sorry, I misunderstood you. I thought you were saying that there are more then semantic problems other then omnipotence.

Originally posted by Shakyamunison
I'm sorry, I misunderstood you. I thought you were saying that there are more then semantic problems other then omnipotence.
Sorry, no. There are other examples, however every argument I've come across is nothing more than a semantic argument.

Like in the humorous play on the "rock too big" with the "burrito too hot".

It's not the omnipotence that's the paradox, its the burrito. The burrito cannot exist because beyond a certain point it'd be vaporized before it got to the point of being too hot for an omnipotant person being able to eat it.

Originally posted by Creshosk
Yes, an omnipotant person could create a boulder larger than they could lift.

Than he is not truly omnipotent.