Re: The God Paradox

indoarsman@xxxxxxxx wrote:
The God Paradox is stated as:

"Can God create a stone so heavy He can't lift it?"

It is postulated that God is omnipotent, so we deduce that He can: (1)
create a stone of any weight, (2) lift a stone of any weight, and, by
interpreting the paradoxical statement, (3) create a stone He cannot
lift.

But deductions 2 and 3 are logically inconsistent, since they suggest
that God is both able to lift a stone and not able to lift the same
stone.

He problem here, as with so many supposed paradoxes, is inconsistency
is the use of unspoken assumptions. By requiring that these
assumptions be made explicit, we can see where the assumption is
violated.

In the God Paradox, the unspoken assumption is whether or not God is
bound by laws of logic. If yes, then we cannot say that God can do
anything. If not, then he is not limited by logic that proves that he
cannot lift the rock. In this latter case God is free to bypass the
constraints of Logic by:

(1) Increasing his strength so that he now can lift the rock.
(2) Change history so the rock in question was not made to that
specification or was never created at all.
(3) Change the meaning of words so that what he actually did was to
make a rock that is blue (and liftable.)

(What other tricks might God use in this case?)

Other famous supposed paradoxes follow this same format. The unspoken
assumption in the Unexpected Test (Hanging) paradox is whether or not
the students may expect the test on more than one morning. If yes,
then it is in fact impossible to give the test because they can expect
it every day. If no, then we can in fact give it Friday by surprise,
as they might expect it on an earlier morning and thus not be allowed
to expect it again on Friday.

Contradictory conclusions can be reached using valid rules of inference
only if we are using inconsistent assumptions. "Paradoxes" are
arguments where we fail to make those inconsistent assumptions explicit
and thus they elude many people.

C-B

Indoarsman

.

Relevant Pages

  • The God Paradox
    ... "Can God create a stone so heavy He can't lift it?" ... Since we have an apparent logical paradox, ...
    (sci.logic)
  • Re: The God Paradox
    ... "Can God create a stone so heavy He can't lift it?" ... It is postulated that God is omnipotent, so we deduce that He can: ... create a stone of any weight, lift a stone of any weight, and, by ...
    (sci.logic)
  • Re: The concept of god is a logical contradiction
    ... God is all powerful. ... he can do such a stone then... ... indeed, one could say that being able to create or uncreate the stone renders god still all powerful, even if he is unable to lift it temporarily. ... certainly if god can create a stone too massive to life, he can make the mass less while lifting, restoring the mass after, and no one would be the wiser. ...
    (sci.skeptic)
  • Re: The concept of god is a logical contradiction
    ... >> The concept of ann all-powerful god is a logical contradiction. ... >> Can god make a stone so heavy that he himself can't lift it? ... >> No, he can't make such a stone, then he is not all powerful. ... >> The concept of an all powerful being is a logical contradiction. ...
    (sci.skeptic)
  • Re: The concept of god is a logical contradiction
    ... > The concept of ann all-powerful god is a logical contradiction. ... > Can god make a stone so heavy that he himself can't lift it? ... > No, he can't make such a stone, then he is not all powerful. ... > The concept of an all powerful being is a logical contradiction. ...
    (sci.skeptic)