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Tuesday, November 22, 2011

The Paradox of the Stone.

God is all-powerful, or as theologians put it, “omnipotent”; there is nothing that he cannot do. This is part of the definition of “God”.
So can God create a stone that is so heavy that he cannot lift it? Either he can or he can’t.
If God can’t, then he isn’t all-powerful. If God can’t create a stone that he can’t lift, then there is something that he can’t do: create the stone.
If God can create a stone that is so heavy that he can’t lift it, though, then he also isn’t all-powerful. If God can create a stone that is so heavy that he can’t lift it, then there’s something that he can’t do: lift that stone
There is, therefore, no way of answering the question above that preserves God’s omnipotence. If there is an omnipotent God, then he neither can nor can’t create a stone so heavy that he cannot lift it. This, though, is absurd; he must be either able or unable to perform this feat.
This is the paradox of omnipotence. Many critics of theism have used it to argue that the concept of omnipotence is self-contradictory, that there can be no omnipotent being, and so that God cannot exist.
Buzzinga!  :-)

Source.

7 comments:

  1. Actually... The argument is that God is omnipotent but his omnipotency is bound by logic.
    According to a theologist, God can do anything which he can do but his limitations are only logic. It's like saying God can create a colorless red apple; God can't do that and nothing in the world can do that because it's illogical.
    I don't believe in God, but your justification of his inexistence is a fallacy

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  2. There are a lot of differences between the apple and the stone.

    There are no colorless red apple. You have never seen a colorless red apple and you will never see a colorless red apple. It is not logical.

    But you see heavy stones and you know heavy stones exist.
    So, his power is limited by his own creation (in case he creates it and can't lift it) or his creation is limited by the weight of the stone (in case he can't create it).

    Therefore, his omnipotence is not bound by logic, but by his own power.

    Omnipotence does not exist.

    The whole point of God being God is that he is omnipotent. It is how we understand the whole concept of God.
    If this concept is self-contradictory, a lot of questions can be asked about the whole existence of this God.

    Saying that God does not exist might be a little bit exaggerated but you can understand it this way:
    God cannot exist as religion defines him. Omnipotent and almighty.

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  3. Actually, not every religion or denomination believes that deities are omnipotent :P
    Stones.... well..... it's not logical to me :P
    (you're so cute when you're blaspheming)

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  4. Hmm whatever.
    Logic is objective. I'm sure you'll understand eventually. ;-)
    I try, I try...

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  5. God can do anything.. so if he were to create a stone so large that he can't lift it would be Ginormous ! However, it can never get huger than God, the bigger it gets , his strength will always be greater.. the stone could be as big as any human could ever imagine, the size of the universe is endless..but God is even greater.. that's the mystery of God.. Humans do not have the capability to understand someone who is beyond their scope of thinking and reasoning. Basically the size of the stone is never too large for God for as the Creator of all things, he is always stronger. Faith can move mountains but without faith its easy to think of the impossible.

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  6. First of all, I hope this post did not offend you. (Even though I do not see why it should)
    From your perspective, you should just see this as another paradox: Something that is true due to excessive exaggerations and generalizations.
    :)

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  7. No offense at all, its been human being's nature to question our existence, its natural. Philosophy and theology are intertwined.
    There's many things in the world that are still yet unanswered by human being or science....
    The unexplained or unknown still is greater than that which is explained. Each person can only speak from their own experience and personal feelings as to whats real to them.

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