I considered omnipotence as god being more powerful than anyone who might oppose him. Kind of like the Incredible Hulk, who would get angrier and angrier until he was "the strongest one there is." I saw the "nothing is impossible for god" argument the same way-- no one could foil his plans because he was stronger than anyone else. The stuff like squared circles or a rock he couldn't lift seemed irrelevant in that context.
Person A: So god, I hear you're a pretty tough guy. Omnipotent and all that.
God: That sounds about right.
Person A: Right, right. But check it-- can you make a rock so heavy that even you can't lift it?
God: Hmmm. Good question. Gimme a second.
*fashions a massive flaming boulder from his left pinkie, drops it on Person A, annihilating him*
God: Whoops! That must've slipped. I guess I don't have to bother with your question now, though.
*lengthy pause*
*maniacal laughter*
Person A: So god, I hear you're a pretty tough guy. Omnipotent and all that.
God: That sounds about right.
Person A: Right, right. But check it-- can you make a rock so heavy that even you can't lift it?
God: Hmmm. Good question. Gimme a second.
*fashions a massive flaming boulder from his left pinkie, drops it on Person A, annihilating him*
God: Whoops! That must've slipped. I guess I don't have to bother with your question now, though.
*lengthy pause*
*maniacal laughter*
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
-Stephen Jay Gould
-Stephen Jay Gould
