God paradox

The God paradox, or, the thought friction about God, is an idea in philosophy. This idea is explained here:

If God is able to do anything, may this mean He is able to make a mountain more heavy than He is able to lift?

People say this question is a paradox, or thought friction about God, because:

• If God is able to make a mountain more heavy than He is able to lift, then there may be something He is not able to do: He is not able to lift that mountain.
• If God is not able to make such a mountain, then there is something He is not able do: He is not able to make that mountain.

Answers to the God Paradox

The God paradox is a good example of a philosophical problem. This section has some answers to this paradox.

God is not able to do things that make Him not able

This answer says God is able to do only things less than God. If you say there exists a mountain that is "more heavy than anybody is able to lift," then what you say is funny: it means nothing, because God is able to lift any mountain. This is because saying a mountain is "too heavy to lift" means this mountain cannot be lifted by anybody. This does not mean that God is too weak to lift very heavy mountains. God cannot lift an "unliftable" mountain because that would not make sense. He also cannot create an "unliftable" mountain because that also would not make sense, if God can lift everything. God could still lift any mountain that is not defined as "cannot be lifted." For example, God can make a mountain as heavy as he wants, but he cannot make a round square.

God is able to do things that make Him not able

Some people think, "Yes, God is able to do things that make Him not able." They think God is able to do things that are funny to think, "Because", they say, "there is nothing God is not able to do." This idea is another way of saying "to think this about God is everybody's duty to think." Some people who believe this idea do not believe we may know God at all (agnosticism, or "not knowing"). Some other people who believe this idea believe everybody's duty is to think about God only what God has told us to think about Him (I can only read the Bible or other book to know about God, because science, philosophy, and logic cannot be applied to God).

God is infinite

God is beyond limitation. His strength is infinite. If He chooses to create a mountain that is too heavy for Him to lift he would simultaneously become strong enough to lift it. To ask if the creation of such a mountain is possible is to attempt putting a limitation on the limitless.

An answer from some analytical philosophy

In analytical philosophy, problems can be solved by breaking it into smaller pieces. One solves each of the small problems.

Let us see how one can use this for the God Paradox. The paradox is:

If God can do anything, can He make a mountain which is too heavy for Him to lift?

If one changes this question to a sentence, it becomes:

God can do anything, which means that He can make a mountain which is too heavy for Him to lift.

We can make this even more simple. First we must see that because God can do anything:

1. He can make a mountain,
2. He can lift anything.

Now we can write the sentence as these facts:

1. God can do anything.
2. God can make a mountain (because of fact 1).
3. God can lift anything (because of fact 1).
4. God cannot lift the mountain.

Facts 1, 2 and 3 must always be true. Now we must see if fact 4 is true or false:

• If 4 is true, then 3 must be false (fact 1 must also be false).
• If 4 is false, then 1 must be false.

If 4 is true or false, fact 1 is disproved. Illustrating the God paradox does make sense, or that omnipotence (being able to do anything) is impossible.

This rather simple language of logic (Primitive) does indeed rely on 1, 2 and 3 all being true, therefore 4 must be true, if it is false then either 1, 2 or 3 must also be false.

References

These references were taken from the English article. They may not be simple to understand.

• Allen, Ethan. Reason: The Only Oracle of Man. J.P. Mendum, Cornill; 1854. Originally published 1784, Available online.Accessed 19 April 2006.
• Augustine. City of God and Christian Doctrine. The Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1890 Available online. Accessed 26 September 2006.
• Burke, James. The Day the Universe Changed. Little, Brown; 1995 (paperback edition). ISBN 0-316-11704-8.
• Gleick, James. Genius. Pantheon, 1992. ISBN 0-679-40836-3.
• Haeckel, Ernst. The Riddle of the Universe. Harper and Brothers, 1900.
• Hoffman, Joshua, Rosenkrantz, Gary. "Omnipotence" The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2002 Edition). Edward N. Zalta (ed.) Available online. Accessed 19 April 2006.
• Mackie, J.L., "Evil and Omnipotence." Mind LXIV, No, 254 (April 1955).
• Wierenga, Edward. "Omnipotence" The Nature of God: An Inquiry into Divine Attributes. Cornell University Press, 1989. Available online. Accessed 19 April 2006.
• Wittgenstein, Ludwig. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. Available online via Project Gutenberg. Accessed 19 April 2006.