Timeline for Is it possible to have several omnipotent gods?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
8 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Aug 6, 2017 at 1:05 | comment | added | ErikE | I responded to what I perceived. If I was wrong, I apologize. I thought I explained that mere framing is not enough to decide the set of omnipotent powers. The ability to win every race is the inability to lose one. | |
| Aug 5, 2017 at 21:15 | comment | added | Pahlavan | What's with the aggression? In this context "power" usually means not just physical strength but any capability neccesssary for the task. If you use the word within a special limit that doesn't let you have the capability to do certain tasks, then you have to explain that. And the problems don't stop at absurdities like married bachelors which are why the "everything logically possible" definition exists. | |
| Aug 5, 2017 at 19:52 | comment | added | ErikE | I don't shy away from necessary work to understand reality. I don't accept some definition quickly in order to do less work when that definition is inherently unusable, self-contradictory, and ends the conversation immediately without producing any fruit. If "my definition" of power is one that must be explored, that is because God's power is not so shallowly described as "able to do anything imaginable, including the absurd." You are free to not like that, and want power to be simplistic and shallow. | |
| Aug 5, 2017 at 18:15 | comment | added | Pahlavan | I don't think a 600 character comment thread is a good place for religious discussion, but my first answer would have to be that your definition of omnipotence is empty, because it apparently relies on a very specific meaning of "power", which then would need its own definition. And this is kind of the crux, each of your statements would need me to ask several other questions potentially leading to more questions before Icould answer them, because we're largely not talking about realities we can both experience but personal interpretations of concepts. | |
| Aug 5, 2017 at 17:07 | comment | added | ErikE | I hardly think that having traits in apparent tension with each other is the same as embodying contradiction. I agree that the popularized definitions of omnipotence contain inherent contradictions, thus using that term with those meanings for God is nonsensical. My non-contradictory definition is "having sufficient power to do anything that power is sufficient to do." I'd be happy to address any contradictions you think you see. Not all paradoxes are contradictions. For example, it seems contradictory that God could be 3 and 1 at the same time, but only if he's 3 and 1 in the same way. | |
| Aug 5, 2017 at 17:03 | comment | added | Pahlavan | Apart from the inherent contradictinos within omnipotence, omnipotence and omniscience can't coexist logically in most of their forms. Then there's mercy and justice as I mentioned above. The whole origin and existence of god is also commonly described in contradictory or fallacious ways. It's hard, however, to argue against something that isn't precisely defined, so the exact list depends on what you think the words mean. Counterapologetics, by its nature, is reactive to apologetics and on their form depends the counter. | |
| Aug 5, 2017 at 16:12 | comment | added | ErikE | What are the contradictory traits of the christian god? | |
| Aug 4, 2017 at 6:42 | history | answered | Pahlavan | CC BY-SA 3.0 |