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Sep. 13th, 2011
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On the nature of God
Sep. 13th, 2011 02:50 amI ran into the old chestnut about "Can God create a rock to big for Him to move?"
The standard answer is that it's a nonsense question.
But then it occurred to me that if God can set rules for the universe, maybe he can set rules that he has to follow. In that case, if he created a rock with the intent that he not be able to move it, then it would indeed be immovable, because he'd made that a new rule.
Different, but plausible, yes?
Then it hit me. God created man with free will. And if the above idea is true, he's stuck with us having free will.
That explains a *lot* of things about the world that are otherwise hard to square with am "omnipotent" deity. Most of what theologians refer to as "The Problem of Evil" to name but one.
The standard answer is that it's a nonsense question.
But then it occurred to me that if God can set rules for the universe, maybe he can set rules that he has to follow. In that case, if he created a rock with the intent that he not be able to move it, then it would indeed be immovable, because he'd made that a new rule.
Different, but plausible, yes?
Then it hit me. God created man with free will. And if the above idea is true, he's stuck with us having free will.
That explains a *lot* of things about the world that are otherwise hard to square with am "omnipotent" deity. Most of what theologians refer to as "The Problem of Evil" to name but one.