> >Q: Can God create a stone He cannot lift?
> >
> >A 1: yes. Therefore God cannot lift the stone and is thus not
> >omnipotent
> >A 2: no. Therefore God cannot do something and is thus not omnipotent
> >
> >And so neither of the /rational/ answers are acceptable if God is to
> >remain omnipotent. That's why a Christian must answer thusly:
>
> Well, a traditional Christian anyway. I'd tend to answer 2. No. 1. Because
> that makes God less impotent than than 2. :-)
I can't see how you can even call yourself a Christian now... the entire
idea of Christianity is that God is all knowing all powerful and /in
charge/. He tells you what to do and how to do it, and He is /right/
because he's all knowing/all powerful. If He isn't (as you claim) then
why not just accept any old persons idea of what justice is? Of what
sin is?
Let me try and say that again... the entire reason that Christianity is
so sucessful as a meme-complex is that it allievates people from having
to worry about whether or not they are "right" or "in the good". By
relying on God (who is all powerful and all knowing and thus /always/
right and good) to provide them with answers and a way to live their
life, they have removed the burden of /responsibility/ from of their
shoulders and unto the Godhead. But if, as you claim, God is not all
powerful and all knowing, this entire scheme fails... you can't trust
God to be right and good anymore! How can this be at all meaningful for
you?
> This is one of those issues I don't bother to concern myself with. I think
> the omnipotence issue was borne of MGCBUYG authority thinking. Kinda like a
> bunch of school kids...
>
> "My God is twice as strong as your God."
> "Nuh-uh! My God is three times as strong as your God."
> "Well, My God is two times infinity stronger than your God!"
> "Rats! I should have thought to say that..."
The reason this debate is so important is that God _has_ to be all
powerful in order for Him to be any good at all. Otherwise, why not
just trust yourself?
> Zen is Buddist. I think I got the idea from a branch of Hinduism. The
> concept was kind of a wild meme that hit me and I'm not real sure where it
> came from, except the guy formulated God & people like this:
>
> "All of the Universe is God playing a game, and each person is part of God.
> It's just that some people have gotten so involved in the game that they've
> forgotten they are actually part of God. The wisest people are the parts of
> God that remember what game he's playing."
And what a game it is! I've always liked the idea that the entire
world is but a game... I could write about it forever... but once again
I come up against your defintion of "God" as being "each person is a
part of God"... For now, all I'm going to say is that I don't really
"get it". Brief flashes from time to time, but no lasting memes.
Please, keep bringing it up so that I can think about it some more.
More meme exposure. Any good books on the subject?
ERiC
"The gods too are fond of a joke."
- Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)
(should this be "The gods are too fond of a joke"... or is it right
now?)