Omnipotence Paradox
Copyright 2021 by Heather Rose Brown
This is my response to a paradox I heard a long time ago. It may not be a great answer, or even a good one, but it was fun to think up, so I thought I'd share. Enjoy! :)
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Once upon a time, a clever man said, "God, if you're really omnipotent, create a stone that's too heavy for you to lift."
God thought for a moment, then created a stone that blotted out the sky. "Okay," he said as he brushed his hands with satisfaction. "That's a stone too big for me to lift."
"Hah!" said the man. "If you can't lift the stone, then that means you're not really omnipotent."
"But I can lift it up," God said as he picked up the stone with one hand.
The man grinned and said, "if you can't create a stone that's too big for you to lift, that also means you're not omnipotent."
"Ah, but it is too big for me to lift."
The clever man frowned as he asked, "How is it possible to lift something too big for you to lift?"
God smiled as he set the stone back down, then said, "I am God. I can do the impossible."
Comments
Paradox? or choosing a point of reference....
A young person, able to do a hand stand and a single 'press' by straightening his arms... If you the observer are sitting on the planet, he lifted himself...if you were sitting on his head, he just lifted a planet.
Points of view ...
... can have a powerful affect on how we see things. :)
Accelerated Frames
One has to insert a fictitious force when in an accelerated frame, -Ma, object's mass * the opposite of the frame's acceleration. It's the fictitious force that lifted the planet.
-- Daphne Xu
God
…if he, she, or, indeed, it, exists, is a smartarse.
☠️
Huh ...
I wasn't really trying to portray God that way. I saw this more of a way of showing what had been presented to me as a paradox from a different perspective.
Smartarsery
I was also being a smartarse. No offence intended, and, I sincerely hope, none taken.
I thought that the paradox itself was both playful and brilliant.
Rob x
☠️
Ah!
I ain't been sleeping much lately, which is probably why the playfulness went over my head. I'm glad you liked the paradox! :)
I Agree
God is a Smart-Ass. Let's face it. He can pick it up, so he didn't create a stone that he couldn't pick up.
I've come up with a whole slough of things God can't do:
God is constrained by truth. Truth is constrained by the facts and logic. Therefore, God is constrained by the facts and logic.
-- Daphne Xu
It looks like
... my answer to the paradox wasn't as good as I thought. Oh well. It was still fun to write. :)
Sinfest
The webcomic Sinfest had a strip wherein Slick asks God if He could create a mountain that He couldn't destroy. God replies by creating a mountain, and dropping it on him. Of course, God's answer was non-responsive.
-- Daphne Xu
Superman
Here are some questions one might pose about Superman. (Child: "Superman can do anything!")
Superman is flying 650 mph. How far does he fly in two hours?
Distress Damsel has been thrown off the top of a skyscraper. If she hits the ground, she goes splat. Instead, Superman flies and lands underneath her, ready to catch her. What happens to her when she lands on his outstretched arms?
(This was a joke at one time. You never die from falling. It's hitting the ground that kills you.)
-- Daphne Xu
Except…
There is the Marvel Multiverse. All sorts of things can happen there.
If the impossible ...
... can happen in that universe, then that sounds like it'd work to me. :)
Bable fish
"The argument goes something like this: 'I refuse to prove that I exist,' says God, 'for proof denies faith, and without faith, I am nothing.' 'But, says Man, the Babel fish is a dead giveaway, isn't it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and, by your own arguments, you don't. QED.' 'Oh dear,' says God, 'I hadn't thought of that,' and vanishes in a puff of logic. -- HHGTG Douglas Adams
Your friend
Crash
Douglas Adams ...
... really knew how to write stories that were not only fun to read, but also made me think too! My brain felt a bit knotted while trying to imagine how someone could be logiced out of existence, but it was a mind expanding experience as well! :)
Hello There
That is true from a certain point of view.
That is false from a certain point of view.
You are not wrong...
but then again you are not right.
Maybe I just left?
*grins*
Emotion, yet peace.
Ignorance, yet knowledge.
Passion, yet serenity.
Chaos, yet harmony.
Contemplation, yet duty
Death, yet the Force.
Light with dark, I remain Balanced.
From a Certain Point of View
Jedi: "You see, that was true, from a certain point of view."
The Appropriate Response: "From another certain point of view, it was a blatant lie."
-- Daphne Xu