-Deuteronomy 22:23-24
This should hopefully be a short post. A long time ago, back before disco was popular, there was this dude named Aristotle. He figured out that you can't both be something and not be that same something at the same time, meaning the properties you have can't contradict themselves. For example, you can't be a married bachelor, because the term "bachelor" requires that you not be married. You cannot be both married and not married at the same time (I'm sure there are ways around this...don't bring them up ahaha). The point is, he realized that you can't have property A and also not have property A at the same time. This was titled "Aristotle's Principle of Non-contradiction" and he gets all kinds of credit for something that should be obvious. This does actually provide an important premise in disproofs of certain gods, however. For example, God is often referred to as "transcendent" and "omnipresent," however it can be shown that these two properties are mutually exclusive. That is, a being cannot satisfy both conditions, and therefore a god that is both transcendent and omnipresent cannot exist.
P1: If God exists, then he is transcendent (i.e., outside space and time).
P2: If God exists, then he is omnipresent.
P3: To be transcendent, a being cannot exist anywhere in space.
P4: To be omnipresent, a being must exist everywhere in space.
C1: Hence, it is impossible for a transcendent being to be omnipresent (from P3 and P4).
C2: Therefore, it is impossible for a transcendent omnipresent God to exist (from P1, P2, and C1).
C2: Therefore, it is impossible for a transcendent omnipresent God to exist (from P1, P2, and C1).
This is a mostly trivial example, not very earth-shattering, but it is a good example to illustrate the Principle of Non-contradiction. A being cannot be simultaneously everywhere in space and nowhere in space and time/outside of space and time. Whether you are a theist or an atheist, this holds true. Whether you are a theist or an atheist, next time you hear someone say their god is both omnipresent and transcendental, call them on it!
 |
| qwantz.com |
I don't think omnipresence is ever meant literally, unless you want to think of God as the Higgs Boson. All that "omnipresent" means is omniscent and all-powerful, both of which can be true while still existing outside of space and time, compacted into one handy word.
ReplyDelete1. I'm aware this is partly a semantics argument and I wasn't really trying to prove anything, just provide an example c:
ReplyDelete2. You'd be surprised how many people believe it literally.
Hmmmm... good point. Really made me think. However, Transcendence does not exclude physical reality. It only includes metaphysical reality.
ReplyDeleteLet me put it this way. If a lamb is standing in a doorway, the lamb is both inside and outside the house at the same time. Please, correct me if I'm wrong. Quite a crude example, considering God cannot be equated solely to physical terms. But I think you get my point.
On to omnipotence... If God created physical laws, then wouldn't it require that he be superior to those laws? Meaning that, it would be impossible to put God solely in physical terms (Example: God is a physical being who can literally pick up a rock), since he is also metaphysical. So it would not be a logistical problem on God's part, because he is not bound to physical reality's laws, since he is also and originally outside of and beyond them.
So yes, it would be impossible for God to create a rock he couldn't lift, but that wouldn't diminish his omnipotence. It would only prove his omnipotence, because he is above the laws of physical reality (which he would have originally created).
In the end, it seems like your argument breaks down. Please, once again, correct me if I'm wrong. :)