this post was submitted on 26 Mar 2024
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I agree with the classical interpretation of an infinitely perfect immaterial God outside of time. But the way out of the paradox is to scrutinize the question itself.
To illustrate the point, take three paradoxical questions: 1) Can God kill himself?, 2) Can God create a stone that he can't lift?, 3) Can God create a square circle?
#3 Is obviously a meaningless question. The words individually have meaning, but the "square circle" refers to an impossible object whose properties are self-contradictory. Because we interpret God's power as the ability to do all logically possible things, the inability to create this self-contradictory object is not a limit on his power.
#2 Seems better on the surface because we can posit increasingly larger stones. But the contradiction here is between the object and the nature of God. Once we accept an infinitely perfect God, there can, by definition, be nothing greater than it. If there was a stone that God couldn't lift, this would contradict the fact of God's existence. Therefore, as we are under the assumption that God exists, the object itself must be impossible.
#1 Is another form of the omnipotence paradox in #2. Can God do something that contradicts his own properties? This would make God immutable/eternal and yet not immutable/eternal. But an infinitely perfect God is, by definition, immutable/eternal! So any action that would contradict himself is a contradiction in terms and thereby logically impossible. Just like in the case of #3, the answer to the question isn't "no". Rather, the question itself is nonsensical.
For #1 "Can God kill Himself.?"This presumes God is a physical and material being. If God is a non material being, not consisting of matter, then God was never born, as no material substance was brought into being, therefore God cannot die. So the answer would be no, because God was never born.
For #2 "Can God create a stone he cannot lift?" No. If God is a non material being, that creates the potential for material objects, then God would presumably create the potential of the material stone, and then the potential for a material being, that God could then animate through consciousness. God would then be both a non material being, and a material being in which he animates, that has the potential to lift the stone. Now if you belive that every material object has consciousness, then God would be the being lifting the stone, and the stone itself, so in essence God would be lifting Himself.
For #3 "Can God create a square circle?" Yes. God is a non material being that creates the potential for material objects, form and shape. The measurement of these shapes are arbitrary, measured by material beings, of form and shape. The circle and the square are the same object, a shape, only differentiated by a distribution of points, where one object can configure itself to be the same shape as the other object, by redistributing each objects respective points. So can God create the potential of a shape that can reconfigure itself into another shape, Yes.
Think of it like this, say you have a group of nanobots that are positioned in such a way that they form a shape that we label a circle. Then those nanobots reposition themselves into a shape, that we label as a square. Now did those nanobots create 2 different shapes, or a single shape that reconfigures itself? If it's just a shape that reconfigured itself, then the shape is neither a square nor a circle, it's just simply a shape, that is arbitrarily measured, whose measurement does not change the fact that what is being measured is still just a shape.
I'm afraid I don't see why being non-physical entails being eternal. For example, couldn't God create an angel and then destroy it later? If angels are non-physical beings that can be created and destroyed, then immateriality doesn't entail eternality. Moreover, you're right that God cannot die, but it doesn't follow that the answer to question #1 is "no". If there was something that God couldn't do, then God wouldn't be omnipotent. So the question asks can God commit a logically contradictory action.
I think our starting assumptions are somewhat far apart.
Creation and destruction are bound to the material world. If God created an angel, what matter, aside from God, would be created? If no matter is created then there is no matter to destroy. If God creates an angel from what material would God create it from? God is non material. The angel would just be an expression of God, just as a wave of the sea is just an expression of the entire sea itself, the wave is the sea, and an expression of the sea. The angel would also be just an expression of God. God would not create nor destroy anything, God would just be reconfiguring itself.
God is capable of being omnipotent and commit a logically contradictory action. If God is a perfect being, and thus can only create perfect things, and then God decided to create an imperfect object, then that object would be perfectly imperfect, like the beings that are asking the logically contradictory question: Can God kill Himself? Circular logic is in itself, complete.