Religious Paradox proving god doesnt exist?

Question

I'm sure you all heard this before. "Could an omnipotent being create a stone so heavy that even that being could not lift it?" If so, then it seems that the being could cease to be omnipotent; if not, it seems that the being was not omnipotent to begin with"

Your thoughts?

Answer 1

This one goes around too much. Also, its a misconception that this fallacious argument holds any water.

I am an athiest, and not to keen on religion, but if there was an omnipotent being, he would not be subject to the laws of logic or the laws of our observable, physical universe. He COULD create an unliftable rock, unliftable to even himself, but he could still lift it, and still be omnipotent.

Answer 2

Oh, Lordy. PLEASE look at the previous answers.

I'm answering this from the POV of traditional, personalistic theism, although I am not this sort of theist.

God cannot do the logically impossible. This is not because there is some specifiable action of which God is incapable, but because a logical contradiction does not specify any action at all. "A stone so heavy that it cannot be lifted by a being capable of lifting anything" is an incoherent concept -- it does not specify any actually conceivable object. As C.S. Lewis said, nonsense does not acquire sense because the words "God can" are prefixed to it.

Answer 3

It's the wrong "omni-" to attack - mostly because it uses pure abstractions which invite even more ethereal retorts.

A juicier one is "omniscience." This involves a god who can see everything, including the future, and a creature, man, who has been given "free will" by the god in question. Now assume that our non-abstract man commits a sin for which there is hell to pay. So far, no problemo, right? WRONG!

Didn't god KNOW the man was going to sin? It doesn't matter a hoot that the guy had free will, the point is he sinned and god knew he was going to sin. Isn't that like me pushing you over a cliff and then asking you not to fall?

And wait till you see the counter-arguments on this one! Some people even want to attribute psychological problems to god by saying, he "could know but chooses not to." You'll get 42 kinds of soft-shoe routines that will have you wondering how some people get through the day.

Answer 4

Here is the real paradox.

If the human mind has a natural predisposition against God. Will the human mind try to love and understand God ?

Here is another...

It is the motive for reading the Bible that determines whether one will understand or misunderstand the Bible.

Wrong motives = wrong understanding
Right motives = right understanding

God can do what He chooses to do and yet there are things that He chooses not to do such as override your free will to indulge idle speculation or He can choose to answer questions that may ultimately contribute to the development of your character.

Show N Tell

Answer 5

Quite simply, there are better paradoxes out there. The free will/omnipotence/creator one I think personally is the best one. The existence of evil is another classic.

"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?"
- Epicurus

Answer 6

While it doesn't exactly disprove god, it does disprove omnipotence. It's easy to see with that example that omnipotence simply isn't possible. Just like an omniscient creator and free will can't coexist.

Answer 7

there is actual evidence of a God that exists or existed. That evidence is us. Now seem at it this style: we are here, alive and respiration. some form of existence source had to of created our existence rigidity. no count if God is a skill in area or another being, he does exist. human beings like p.c. to assert it grow to be the super bang that created each little thing. yet how approximately this: What if the super bang grow to be God? mild count and darkish count colliding, would reason the advent of each little thing. besides the fact that it is going previous our comprehension. existence can no longer come from some thing that would not encompass existence. If there grow to be no existence, then there may well be no existence. Our physique is created from skill and that's what God is created from. that's how we are in his photograph. that would desire to be how he's with everyone in any respect time. as quickly as we die, our soul (skill) can no longer die. It would desire to the two bypass into yet another existence (Reincarnation) or decrease back to the main source. skill would desire to proceed to be shifting by way of fact lifeless products do no longer incorporate skill.

Answer 8

Could it be possible that your little pea-sized brain is simply incapable of coming anywhere close to grasping the meaning of words such as omnipotent or omniscient or omnipresent or eternal?
"For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through through the preaching (of the cross) to save those who believe....Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men" ( I Corinthians 1:21,25)

Answer 9

My thought is that the "paradox" holds no water, as do most of those present on this site:
http://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/vstenger/Godless/Summary.htm

The problem with them is that they're attempting to put human limits on something that is distinctly NOT human. What purpose would creating such a stone prove? That the being is God, or is not God? Did God not already PROVE He is God?

Answer 10

I think a better question is, "If God is omnipotent, He knew you were going to ask this question, so why did He allow you to be born in the first place?" I guess it's just a good thing that I am not God....................good for you, anyway.