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Author Topic:   IS There only one god?
Parasomnium
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Posts: 2224
Joined: 07-15-2003


Message 3 of 20 (47684)
07-28-2003 8:29 AM
Reply to: Message 1 by Peter
07-28-2003 6:59 AM


Peter,
It depends on what kind of god you mean. Logically, there can be at most one omnipotent god. This can be demonstrated by reductio ad absurdum: Let's assume there are more than one omnipotent beings. Now, one of them, god A, can want to do something another one of them, god B, doesn't want to happen. Then, either god A has his way and god B is unable to stop him, or god B prevents whatever it is god A wants to do. Either way, one of them is not omnipotent. This contradicts the original assumption that both are omnipotent. Therefore there cannot be more than one omnipotent being.
Be my guest in trying to demonstrate that even one of them is too much for the discerning mind.
Cheers.
[This message has been edited by Parasomnium, 07-28-2003]

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1 by Peter, posted 07-28-2003 6:59 AM Peter has replied

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Parasomnium
Member
Posts: 2224
Joined: 07-15-2003


Message 7 of 20 (47712)
07-28-2003 10:53 AM
Reply to: Message 6 by Mike Holland
07-28-2003 9:38 AM


What's the fun of being a god and NOT being omnipotent? They'd have my resignation soon enough...
The stone God made but cannot move has been worn down to a pebble, I think, due to overuse. In my opinion, it's an example of playing with words, not of demonstrating anything worthwhile. But the reductio ad absurdum I sketched still holds, even if omnipotence is reduced to the logically possible. So, I think there IS something to be gained by contemplating omnipotence.
Furthermore, to say that the human mind in not designed for concepts like infinity, is to reverse things. I think that ideas like those to do with infinity are the product of the mind, rather than something out there which defies our attempts to understand it.
Cheers.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 6 by Mike Holland, posted 07-28-2003 9:38 AM Mike Holland has not replied

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 Message 9 by Peter, posted 07-28-2003 11:00 AM Parasomnium has not replied

  
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