(June 30, 2010 at 7:35 am)tackattack Wrote: 1a- I would not say God is omnipotent unless it was for ease of terminology.
Words mean things. Omnipotence necessarily means unlimited power.
(June 30, 2010 at 7:35 am)tackattack Wrote: I would be specific and say God has all power over this universe in accordance with his nature, I'm really not that concerned with things happening outside this universe. I would agree by the strictest definition you're using of omniotent God a) can't be omnipotet, or b) if he is it's unknowable. I don't feel that's a theologically sound definition though, I think I defined it well before.
So we're shifting the goalposts a bit, are we? (I'll paraphrase)
"He may not be all powerful, but he has power in this universe."
"He may have been created, but I don't care"
"He may be finite but he's infinite when you look at him from
this angle."
The being you're proposing raises lots more questions than answers. If such is the case, here are questions that should be pertinent to your basic beliefs about God:
1. What, if anything, created God?
2. Are his morals necessarily absolute because of an already existing standard, or are they absolute because he says so?
3. How can you account for his nature, or any nature at all prior to a conceivable reality?
4. Is there an author of these natures? If so, who, and why did they choose those over any others?
This leads to an infinite regress of questions. This is what happens when you have a logically invalid premise for an argument.
(June 30, 2010 at 7:35 am)tackattack Wrote: What it boils down to is if God did create this universe then he should be powerful enough to affect anything in it (similar to the clockmaker analogy). The fact he is an attributable entity we're supposing has a cosciousness (and therefore a self-identity) and can only be himself would mean he could do anything in his nature to do.
That's simply asserting a tautology. "He can only do things that he could do" isn't an argument for anything. It doesn't establish anything of explanatory merit, nor does it address any questions I've asked.
You haven't outlined WHY God's will is effective rather than ineffective, in this universe or any other, if the case is that he only operates in ours.
(June 30, 2010 at 7:35 am)tackattack Wrote: 1b- So if someone can and either has or will do every single possible action in the course of their life they're impotent? I get what you're saying but the connotation most atheists use it in is a crippled or feeble way, when all you're saying here is he's unproductive with his omnipotence.
No, the fact that he knows what he will do and cannot do anything against that knowledge is necessarily impotence. He can't do anything other than what he is already destined to do, and he does this with full knowledge the entire time. This effectively makes God somewhat of an enslaved robot. It has nothing to do with being productive, it outlines the fact that God is a logically impossible concept. You can't have a being that acts, knows everything, and has the ability to change its mind and still be right about everything.
Something's gotta give.
(June 30, 2010 at 7:35 am)tackattack Wrote: 2- I didn't say consistently demonstratable, I said objectively demonstratable. Subjectively God consistantly demonstrates his will, power and love in my personal life.
But that's hardly consistent, isn't it? How can you say something is consistent if it's not demonstrable in any other venue?
I'll give you an example.
Gravity is demonstrable in every venue in the known universe. No matter where you look in this universe, gravity can be observed, demonstrated, and measured. It also doesn't matter who does it, as measurements don't change depending on who looks at them. Gravity doesn't reverse just because people believe it to be so.
It is, in every sense of the word, demonstrable and consistent.
You believing in God's existence does not stand up to the rigors of inquiry by others, as your assertions are necessarily subjective. Being that they are not demonstrable to anyone else but yourself, they are not consistent, nor do they represent reality in any scope. This is the kind of evidence that is at best inadmissible, and at worst severely faulty and biased.
(June 30, 2010 at 7:35 am)tackattack Wrote: 3- I make the claim that matter needed a creator because to the best of our knowledge, only an infinetesimal portion of our known universe requires has shown where something comes from nothing.
There isn't a connect there.
Forget the part where you're making the claim that God willed the universe from nothing, the assertion that a small part is somehow inadmissible to the majority (and I'm granting you the vague use of terms such as "creator") is nuts.
Is the phrase "The human body is comprised of 80% water" the same as "the body is completely made of water"?
(June 30, 2010 at 7:35 am)tackattack Wrote: So to recap-
A-I admit that God may not be omnipotent, and is in fact unproductive if he is both all knowing and all powerful.
(June 30, 2010 at 7:35 am)tackattack Wrote: B- I see where you've changed my definitions of omnipotent and omniscient, but I still don't see a logical contradiction
I gave you textbook definitions, and reiterated the logical contradictions a few times now.
A being
cannot be omnipotent and omniscient at the same time.
(June 30, 2010 at 7:35 am)tackattack Wrote: To answer your question. The concept is complicated because of the complexity of the problem it answers. I don't think it's vague and I think I've been specific.
What about the complexity of the problems it creates, which are orders of magnitudes more convoluted than the original queries?
(June 30, 2010 at 7:35 am)tackattack Wrote: I don't think it's logically contradictory.
I just explained to you a few times the fallacy in such reasoning.
(June 30, 2010 at 7:35 am)tackattack Wrote: I don't ask that you should believe in it.
I didn't accuse you of preaching or proselytizing.
(June 30, 2010 at 7:35 am)tackattack Wrote: I don't believe it's imaginary because perception preempts definition. I percieve revelations that sometimes corespond to my understanding of God. Where they don't I find they either are personal epiphany or my understanding of God was lacking.
We're going back to the same argument I've heard time and time again. You attribute things in your life that you don't understand to God. The things that you can confirm become part of his will, and things that you can't rationalize are written off as lack of faith. You know what I don't see in your statement? Any room left for doubt or skepticism.