Things that god can't do!

I think the definition of omniscience you mention is something Einstein would've been comfortable with.

That is the problem with a lot of the "proofs" of god as well--all they can "prove" at most is something very unlike the personal god most believers claim. (I can remember the first time exposed to Aquinas' prime-mover argument. First, I didn't get why "infinity" was suddenly off limits. Second, all they ostensibly proved was a first cause--certainly not the god of Judeo-Christianity.)

But to continue: another issue I have is with dualism in general (the ghost in the machine that is the soul, but it fits in with the "omnipresence" aspect of most god definitions): how does something with no material reality (no mass, no matter, no energy, no anything measurable at all) affect material things?

I guess to phrase this to fit this thread: can god be immaterial and material at the same time?
 
Debates are not allowed to be over until at least one of us has questioned the heritage, cleanliness, and fashion decisions (particularly in regards to footwear) of the other. I'm pretty sure it;s in the membersip agreement somewhere.

And Nazi's. Don't forget Nazi's.
 
Debates are not allowed to be over until at least one of us has questioned the heritage, cleanliness, and fashion decisions (particularly in regards to footwear) of the other. I'm pretty sure it;s in the membersip agreement somewhere.


Your mother, unwed at the time of your conception or at any time thereto subsequent, while wearing unfashionable shoes, "did" me, and was a dirty Nazi.
 
I can think of one way to resolve this.

To be omniscient is to know all things which it is possible to know. As such, God knows everything about the present and the past, but His knowledge of the future is limited to knowledge of the probabilities of future consequences for present actions. He cannot know for certain. Still, He has the most complete knowledge possible, i.e greater than any other being does or can possess. (Note that this definition demands a non-deterministic universe.)

I do not wish to defend this position because it is a definition of omniscient I have never actually heard a theist use. They seem to insist on God's perfect knowledge of the future. By that definition, I see no possible reconciliation with human free will.

The Catholic Encyclopeida attemps to explain this, although I find it very hard to follow.

It seems to be claiming (and someone please correct me if I'm wrong) that through Divine Knowledge (ie omniscience) god knows what any person, through free will, will do in any given set of circumstances. And through Divine Will, engineers those circumstances so the outcome of the person's decision is all according to the Master Plan. So, apparently, god's omniscience is not simply limited to perfect knowledge of what could happen, but is indeed perfect knowledge of what will happen because he has, through Divine Will, caused the circumstances to generate the outcome.

This seems to me to be claiming a deterministic universe that is not in conflict with free will. Except that it is now an argument of what "free will" actually is. If you tell a person he is free to choose any door he likes, and then only offer him one door, is that still free will? If the circumstances are designed so that the person can only really make one choice, regardless that he is technically free to make any choice, does that still count?

And, if he has perfect knowledge of what any person will do in any given set of circumstances and then engineers the circumstances, is he not now responsible for the actions of the person? If this person sins as a result of the designed circumstances, isn't that now god's responsibility?
 
Well, say what one might about lordcow's punctuation, ability to use the "Shift" key(s), and apprehension of sarcastic nuance, one has to hand it to the dude that he knows how to come out swinging!


WELL I would agree with that, but as my grandpappy would have said:" A swinger always goes down in the first round!"

For all those 'struggling' to understand...For hundreds of yrs the bible has been {and still is for many} THE WORD OF GOD - to be obeyed, or else!

My 'point' henceforth is childishly simple...if it is wrong then IT, to, is wrong...But as usual we are seeing {witnessing} a complete abandonment of 'faith' in the good book. Why, 'cos science is showing it for what it is...rubbish!

'I'm standing in the Earth's shadow and it's night...' This quote from Lordcow (which at first glance I thought was an anagram of coward) shows how 'unscientific' people think...e.g. "Oh, water is wet because it's, well, water!"

You can take a horse to water, but a pencil must be lead...:eye-poppi

Oh yeh, and the classic...their language has changed sooo much that we can't correctly interpret what they said in the bible...oh well then we may as well throw it away...hang on, what a good idea!:rolleyes:

As for "is the bible the word of god"....Answer - of course not, if it were, do you think ANY of us could cross examine it?

My point. What's my point? Come on horsey...giddee up...:jaw-dropp

So Lordcow, in your new role as inquisitor royal, would you like to tell us all...are you pointing UP or DOWN ...? Since you appear so certain you know it is night, then up/down should be no problem.

Answer these also...If a THING can create everything, what created the THING? :confused: To create uses energy and the THING would deminish, so to create EVERYTHING means there'd be none of IT left...So where's god?

IT 100% doesn't exist, only in your mind...:covereyes

Griff...
 
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While I'm here...

One of those "Things that god can't do!".....Lecture anyone about morals!

Apart for being what we should think of as an extraterrestrial (ET), this THING is prone to Zoophilia as IT likes to bed animals (Mary). Not only that, the offspring of this misbegotten match was ILLEGITAMATE (born out of wedlock)...Being an IT showing Zoophilism, IT also ABDUCTS people. It's area 51 all-over-again!:yikes:


Griff...Oh. Now where's that damn sheep got to?
 
WELL I would agree with that, but as my grandpappy would have said:" A swinger always goes down in the first round!"

and lemmie guess, you're gonna be the one to take me down.

For all those 'struggling' to understand...For hundreds of yrs the bible has been {and still is for many} THE WORD OF GOD - to be obeyed, or else!

don't project your shoddy logic and inability to articulate onto me struggling. why don't you rather reply to the points in my posts?

at least now that you say this i know that you are trying to dispove the christian fundamentalist's god and this god only, which wasn't clear.

'I'm standing in the Earth's shadow and it's night...' This quote from Lordcow (which at first glance I thought was an anagram of coward) shows how 'unscientific' people think...e.g. "Oh, water is wet because it's, well, water!"

i am honoured, as a physicist, to be called unscientific for the first time. you said there is no such thing as night, which is absurd as again it is night where i am according to the global understanding of the term, and i asked what your point was other than trying to be cute.

You can take a horse to water, but a pencil must be lead...:eye-poppi

Oh yeh, and the classic...their language has changed sooo much that we can't correctly interpret what they said in the bible...oh well then we may as well throw it away...hang on, what a good idea!:rolleyes:

i never said we. my question was quite specifically directed at you, and was politely implying you were jumping the gun. you also conveniently ignore the 1st part of that paragraph of mine.

As for "is the bible the word of god"....Answer - of course not, if it were, do you think ANY of us could cross examine it?

i was trying to help you construst a proper logical argument, but suit yourself.

My point. What's my point? Come on horsey...giddee up...:jaw-dropp

thanx for clearing that up.

So Lordcow, in your new role as inquisitor royal, would you like to tell us all...are you pointing UP or DOWN ...? Since you appear so certain you know it is night, then up/down should be no problem.

i guess up according to the colloquial definition. are no now going to tell me that noone is up but everyone is infact down as you did with night?

Answer these also...If a THING can create everything, what created the THING? :confused:

i'll agree that invoking god as an explanation for existence doesn't actually serve any explanation.

To create uses energy and the THING would deminish, so to create EVERYTHING means there'd be none of IT left...So where's god?

not at all, since if god created the universe he is necessarily in a different realm. i'll reproduce my example from http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81853 :

"its like a cosmologist firing up a computer simulation of the early universe that consists of particles and the time dependent laws they must obey and watching it evolve. this is a completely consistent scenarion, it happens all the time. god, in this case the cosmologist, brought into being matter, from which point on followed the laws he decreed."

the cosmologist was perfectly able to create another world without destroying himself.

IT 100% doesn't exist, only in your mind...:covereyes

Griff...

straight back at ya i guess

Griff...Oh. Now where's that damn sheep got to?

referring to me? would you mind backing that up?
 
One other thing you said did intrigue me, though. You said that the bible only mentions the word "omnipotent" once. How many times does the bible have to say something before it is true?

i meant that more along the lines of there's only one case we need to concentrate on. and as you say the only thing we have left to debate is what that actually meant. omnipotent was a translation and i think its difficult to maintain that the original meaning included the ability to perform paradoxes or logical impossibilities, which is never explicitely stated. can't go into more detail or the rest've your post, have to run ..
 
If anyone here can act as an interpreter for Lordcow, I'd pay for a transcript of what ever is supposedly written above...Come to think of it, no I wouldn't.

Quote of the Century!
Lordcow...
"its like a cosmologist firing up a computer simulation of the early universe that consists of particles and the time dependent laws they must obey and watching it evolve. this is a completely consistent scenario, it happens all the time. god, in this case the cosmologist, brought into being matter, from which point on followed the laws he decreed."

How quaint!

Not a very good meta-for god I think. So what's going to be next? Scrambled eggs on toast, by Chef!

Your digital dictum is dilatory, not to mention a fallacy.

The computer programme, as written by the creator, would 'mimic' IT's world, and in such fashion IT would be bounded by the self same laws in IT's program. Unless IT decided to make up = down...

But all of which would be predictable...measurable.

And anyhow, what created the programmer??? Coming back at ya!

And as for the threat of taking you down....please....act your age, not your IQ.

Griff...ps. in your quote, I corrected your spelling; your grammer is another matter.
 
God can't pick up the tab.

Ever notice that?

What's with this guy? I mean, yeah, he's good for a smite, maybe a blessing or two, but you'd think he'd drop a dime into the collection plate sometime, send a check to the Christmas fund, something.

Not a drop. Guy's tighter than a sailor's hatband.

I told him, I said, I'm cutting you off. That's it. No more moochie-mooch. Busting my butt 5 days a week and on Sunday I gotta pony up for Your work? ◊◊◊◊ that noise! What about my work? That sinkhole in my back yard ain't gonna fix itself, and they don't drive fill dirt out to the county for free, y'know.

Hadn't seen Him since. Typical.
 
Lordcow's mixed up as usual, so I'll explain IT to him/she

i must've missed that



why is it certainly not true?
:confused: :confused: :confused:



Why...is...it...certainly...not...true....?:blush:

Which part didn't you understand? I'll be happy to explain!:boggled:

Oh, the bit about certainty...Well, if it were certainly true then we would all know, wouldn't we....:rolleyes:

IT can't be a half certainty, now, can IT? This wouldn't be good for god! Only half correct, half a creator....??:rolleyes:

Sooo IT is 100% non-existent. Beecaause IT is not 100% existent!;)

"Calling all hedgehogs, calling all hedgehogs. Come in hedgehogs!":p

Keep reading Lordcow, you may learn something about everything....:eye-poppi

Griff....The trouble is with physicists, they like to think they think they know it all; quite obviously they don't!:jaw-dropp
 
To 'er' is human, to correct sarcasm is, well, lacking.

"Grammar".

(Sorry, I can't help it, it was just too obvious!)


Who put the 'er' in 'grammer'? Twas I Hoky-poky to sarcastically point out said 'er' to a learned friend. Twait, I have made an tother!:rolleyes:

Griff...
 
I too apologise for criticism, I have had a migraine for 5 hours (its 04:40) and strong pain killers ain't so strong!

Griff...
 
The Catholic Encyclopeida attemps to explain this, although I find it very hard to follow.

It seems to be claiming (and someone please correct me if I'm wrong) that through Divine Knowledge (ie omniscience) god knows what any person, through free will, will do in any given set of circumstances. And through Divine Will, engineers those circumstances so the outcome of the person's decision is all according to the Master Plan. So, apparently, god's omniscience is not simply limited to perfect knowledge of what could happen, but is indeed perfect knowledge of what will happen because he has, through Divine Will, caused the circumstances to generate the outcome.

So when somebody is about to get mugged and stabbed to death, it's divine will even if I decide to join in and stab the victim some more?
 
If anyone here can act as an interpreter for Lordcow, I'd pay for a transcript of what ever is supposedly written above...Come to think of it, no I wouldn't.

Quote of the Century!
Lordcow...
"its like a cosmologist firing up a computer simulation of the early universe that consists of particles and the time dependent laws they must obey and watching it evolve. this is a completely consistent scenario, it happens all the time. god, in this case the cosmologist, brought into being matter, from which point on followed the laws he decreed."

How quaint!

Not a very good meta-for god I think. So what's going to be next? Scrambled eggs on toast, by Chef!

Your digital dictum is dilatory

i gather i don't need to reply to the patronization.

i know its dilatory, i even said so in response earlier to you:

"i'll agree that invoking god as an explanation for existence doesn't actually serve any explanation."

but that is not the point here, i was replying to your:

"To create uses energy and the THING would deminish, so to create EVERYTHING means there'd be none of IT left...So where's god?"

and was trying to show that the thing needn't not be diminshed, never mind whether it was dilatory.

not to mention a fallacy.

The computer programme, as written by the creator, would 'mimic' IT's world, and in such fashion IT would be bounded by the self same laws in IT's program. Unless IT decided to make up = down...

what're you on about, the programmer is able to create any universe with any laws he chooses, why does it have to mimic his world?

But all of which would be predictable...measurable.

what would?

And anyhow, what created the programmer??? Coming back at ya!

again, besides the point, i'm not arguing for god as an explanation for creation, i'm rebutting your claim that had he created he would've been completely diminished.

Griff...ps. in your quote, I corrected your spelling; your grammer is another matter.

apart from your ironic mispelling of grammar you're kidding right? your changing of my 'scenarion' to 'scenario' is the only instance i can see, which was quite obviously a typo and not a spelling mistake. why bother pointing it out except to aggravate? and what is wrong with my grammar? i'd be interested to see you cite an example.

Why...is...it...certainly...not...true....?

Which part didn't you understand? I'll be happy to explain!

you mean you'll be happy to scoff, mock, patronise, and then give another half-arsed reply that invalidates your cocky assurance.

Oh, the bit about certainty...Well, if it were certainly true then we would all know, wouldn't we....

IT can't be a half certainty, now, can IT? This wouldn't be good for god! Only half correct, half a creator....??

Sooo IT is 100% non-existent. Beecaause IT is not 100% existent!

as i said before, shoddy logic. here's a counter example - we do not know whether the egyptians built the pyramids, therefore it is certainly true that they didn't create the pyramids. though i'm not sure whether the absurdity of this statement will be aparent to you.

the opposite of 'certainly true', is not 'certainly not true', it is 'not certainly true'.

you might find that you are assuming that if god created the universe, he would've instilled an innate belief in all've us of this fact, which need not be true.

i was replying to your claim:

"The only truth is that there IS a Universe...its origin {by goddly creation} is certainly NOT true: yet another thing god can NOT do!"

whether the universe has a natural or supernatural origin, or whether it has an origin at all, is quite an open question. you make the strong claim that it definitely doesn't have a supernatural origin, to which you give no support when called on except meaningless wordplay, which seems to be your trend judging by the rest've your posts in this thread.

"Calling all hedgehogs, calling all hedgehogs. Come in hedgehogs!"

Keep reading Lordcow, you may learn something about everything....

Griff....The trouble is with physicists, they like to think they think they know it all; quite obviously they don't!

bored with knocking 'faithers' now you want to try your hand at generalised insults towards physicists? in my experience physicists are actually much more humble when it comes to knowledge than the average man. would you care to qualify your assertion, or at least point out where i imply i know everything? i won't hold my breath. on the contrary i am trying to ascertain how YOU seem to know everything, and am quite happy for you to teach me, but am becoming less hopefull.
 

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