The Impossibility of God

I agree, God cannot be defined. You can't fit EVERYTHING in your brain.

Of course, if God is EVERYTHING, than he be the Abrahamic God as well.

It's all in a paradox. That's where you find "Him".

God is a hard topic for an ex-Christian. I don't ever want to seem like I am "bashing" or "abandoning" my former cell-mates (hehe). But, I've never really been one for a philosophical deconstruction of "God". First, God is not meant to be understood, therefore He is beyond logic. Second, he is not human, nor made of matter, so any conceptual argument within our existence is null and void unless we're talking about things we don't understand AND get it right. Highly unlikely. Therefore, there's no point in debating a "God". Why do it if you will NEVER understand the answer? I am reading a book right now by Lawrence Krauss called "A universe from nothing". It's a fabulous book that basically is saying that in the universe we currently reside in, a God was not necessary for creation. I would feel like I'm stealing if I say anymore to his reasoning. But, I'd point you in the direction of the topic I wrote on Meditation today. Also, buy the book. It WILL change your view on the Universe. I guess, though, in my case, I respect the view of an Ignostic. It makes a lot of sense and agrees with what I've stated above. An impossibility can simply be a paradox. And, there might be things that can exist inside of a paradox (seeing as this isn't Doctor Who).

A lot of people put their arguments FOR a God in the fact that God is necessary for the Universe to begin. If there was no spark of energy, then the Universe wouldn't be here. Krauss is saying that Nothing is more viable of an option than Something is. And, that Nothing COULD have started the Universe. Really, check this guy's stuff out. He's best friends with Dawkins, so any sciencey geek will enjoy it, and I think Philosophical gurus-in-training like yourself could include a unique argument in situations like this, debunking God-theories.

Here's the bottom line: Creationism is foolish. It is built under the delusions of societal conditioning, and anybody who thinks that God made the world not so long ago is denying evidence that sits up in the sky at night. Then, they say that the SAME God who made the world not too long ago, is the measure for which these obstacles (obvious ones, at that) are overcome. "Well, if the stars are so far away, then God must speed the light up"...

I'm puking. Seriously, I am. And, not from disgust, but out of the sadness in my heart when I see people who deny something sitting in front of them. My compassionate plea for humanity is that we would wake up to things we need to do, rather than what we want to do. (I also talk on this in my Meditation post).

I'd disagree with your first one, just because God can jump over anything doesnt mean God will jump over everything, such as a rock he/she/it builds specifically to not jump over. God might decide he/she/it cannot jump over that rock, despite being able too.

I'm not sure if the other one makes anysense to me as proving any aspect of all knowing because if a prior condition did not exist then the question of the conditions state is null , isnt it?

that's true only if you consider the future to be in existance. If the past and present are the only two states of existance then God can be omniscient. Furthermore, God may know that we are going to do something but that does not mean we lack free will. Consider a parent with a young child, they hold out two balls, one red, one blue. The parent knows that the child will pick the red ball because that is the child's favourite colour but the choice was still there, the child still could have picked the blue ball and the fact that the parent knew the child would pick the red one did not effect that.

Also, if you consider that the future is not yet in existance then God is still omnipotent as his omniscience is based on things happening at this very moment and everything that has happened, not on things in the future that have not happened and therefore don't exist.

"he's not omnipotent, since due to his all-knowingness, he knows exactly what will happen and can't change his mind "

1. God is perfect, he does not need to change his mind.
2. As God is perfect he is not subject to change, to change his mind would be to change which God does not do.
3. if God is omniscient what does he need to change his mind about, he knows everything so there is nothing to change (haven't you watched 'Dogma' dammit?!).
4. You might consider that God has no need to exercise his omnipotence. In the same way that we as humans have the ability to kill one another, it doesn't mean we should do it.
5. If God changed his mind then humans would not have free will.
6. God is way more bad-ass than anything the human mind can comprehend, even these words don't do justice to just how incredible he is, the guy is ineffable. To describe him as you are doing confines the inconfinable. Via negativa, saying what God is not, is perhaps a better way of describing him (ie. God is not a human being, God does not exist in time and space)

This kind of argument can go on forever..I think Anthony Flew said "God died a death by a thousand qualifications". You can try and argue with a very faithful believer but they will simply excuse everything with an illogical answer and look for a way round it. On a basic level, people used to believe that the Bible was historical fact and that the story of Genesis was how it all began. Nowadays most people will just say that it's a metaphor for the beginning of the world and evolution, each day might be a hundred million years...and so on...and so on...

Scientificus wrote: Mace, free will is impossible due to the fact he's all-knowing and knows everything past through present through future. Also, he's not omnipotent, since due to his all-knowingness, he knows exactly what will happen and can't change his mind

Just cause he know my future does not mean he has power over my free will he just knows the out come to my actions now the future is ever change.

If I knew any ones future would I have control over their free will

'always in motion, the future is'.

one can 'see' the future without having direct control over it.

Your logic is moot. In order to use it as a proof, you have to prove that he cannot do such things. But since you cannot force him to do your will- you cannot prove it.

God may be able to perform these feats, but have you considered that he just doesn't want to? We all have our own moral code, perhaps one of his is not to violate the laws of physics he has put forth.

Jacen, imagine you had designed the ultimate plan. To do so you would need to be omniscient. Omniscience means you know EXACTLY what happened. Imagine if the plan were a series of numbers as follows:

11162636475996473727272

You can't change your mind about it because at the first 1 from the left you know what will happen at the first 2 from the right. Imagine if at some point in that line one does not recognize Jesus as the savior. Then he or she goes and burns and hell and the big man up there knows it from the beginning and didn't change his mind about it.

Alethea Thompson wrote: Your logic is moot. In order to use it as a proof, you have to prove that he cannot do such things. But since you cannot force him to do your will(A)- you cannot prove it.

God may be able to perform these feats, but have you considered that he just doesn't want to(? We all have our own moral code, perhaps one of his is not to violate the laws of physics he has put forth.

(A) That is to say if he exists...

( He can't, that's why he doesn't, as I just proved above

(C) If he doesn't violate the laws he has put forward, he should move at a certain speed, which means he can't be all-present.

omniscient- having complete or unlimited knowledge, awareness, or understanding.

With that being said how can you till me this is not planned out...

How can you prove free will what if all that we are doing right now is already planned out and we have no choice there is only an illusion of choice...

Like we are all characters in a play and when we die we go back stage put on a new costume and come back out to play again.