| | CAN GOD CREATE A ROCK SO HEAVY THAT HE CANNOT LIFT IT?
Revisiting Christian Apologetics through the blogworks of Xanga. My voice is italicized. Original post from GoodGreyPoet.
Traditionally, Christians have described God as being:
1) All Powerful (Omnipotent)
2) All Knowing (Omniscient)
3) Perfectly Good (Omnibenevolent)
4) Infinite & Eternal (without beginning or end)
It should also be noted that there is herein an assumed fifth essential
attribute of the divine: that God is constrained to human logic in his
every endeavor. This assumption will become apparent shortly.
These are the primary characteristics of God. I say "primary" because
if we were to take any of these away he would cease to be God. Atheists
[excepting those who are interested in debate as opposed to personal amusement]
love to ask the question: Can God create a rock so heavy he cannot lift
it? This is because they are convinced that the theist who tries to
answer it puts themself [should theists be likewise stereotyped for indulging in poor grammar?]
in a lose/lose situation. If they answer yes then God is not
omnipotent, for he cannot lift the rock. If they answer no then God is
still not omnipotent because he cannot create the rock to begin with.
And if God loses his omnipotence, he ceases to be God! At first glance,
answering this question does appear to be a lose/lose situation for us
as theists to answer.
But a closer examination of the question reveals that answering the
question is not the problem at all. It is the question itself that is
the problem. The question commits what logicians refer to as the
"Fallacy of Contradictory Premises." According to the laws of logic,
whenever two premises directly contradict each other, those terms
cannot be applied to the same object or event.
Much deeper lies the problem of explaining why the infinite must be
logical, or why the creator of the universe in which laws of logic
apply must himself be contained by those laws of his creation.
Other examples of these types of questions are:
Can God bake a cake so big he cannot eat it?
Can God create a star so bright he cannot look at it?
Can God draw a square circle?
Can God create a married bachelor?
Perhaps lacking in their own creative
faculties, the problem-solving Christians fail to conceive of a God
omnipotent enough to create a universe in which different laws apply
and in which square circles would be of a more feasible nature.
Like the rock question, all of these questions essentially boil down to asking the same thing: Can God do what God cannot do?
The real problem is the implication
that there is something God cannot do, by some limitation of his frame
or the universe in which he exists. Which, coincidentally, and quite
ironically, is the embedded heart of this Christian defense: that God
cannot do, what is by perspective of the laws of this universe, the
illogical.
Take for example, the last question: Can God create a married bachelor?
In this example you have two premises that contradict each other:
"married" and "bachelor," because a bachelor, by definition is an
unmarried male. Therefore these two words cannot logically be applied
to the same individual.
Unless, of course, God creates a
universe in which there is more than one traversable dimension of time,
in which case some circumstances would allow some sense to the term
"married bachelor." Or, if this man could, by truly miraculous powers,
inhabit the skulls of two separate bodies, then even in this universe
such a thing as a married bachelor could be spoken of with some sense.
For if God were to create a bachelor that was married, he would no
longer be a bachelor. Similarly, the question: Can God create a rock so
heavy he cannot lift it, commits the same logical fallacy. It is a
meaningless question...a logical absurdity. As theists we have no
reason to be intimidated by what Mr. Spock would call an "illogical
question".
Ah, but the theist fighting atheists
off in the name of Logic ought to be very intimidated by scripture,
which proposes a God so powerful that it can create beings to thwart
its own will and disturb the perfection of its own creation, and a God
so good and powerful that it would create souls it would not or cannot
save from hell (Matthew 11:21-23).
With this defense presented, the
theist merely alters the form of the question atheists among others are
curious to ask: Can God do that which is illogical? Or is Logic the
fundamental constant of the universe in which God exists?
|
| | Posted 12/2/2007 3:53 PM - 1 comments
- recommend
  - recs0
- give stars
- votes0
- email
 - sent0
|
