Can God....

[Sundevils21]

[ QUOTE ]
What percentage of religious Christians who know that my question was proven to be impossible by mathmeticians, would still claim that God could do it?

I would say zero percent.

[/ QUOTE ]

well it can't be zero's forever becuase eventually you have to put a 1 in there- to account for me.


[ QUOTE ]
You could ask: Can he create a circle such that the circumference divided by twice the radius does NOT equal Pi?

Even the most hardcore televangelist understands that the laws of nature are laws; But God wrote them. He created a world that is (at least partially) explained by Relativity, the photoelectric effect, and a million other scientific rules.

[/ QUOTE ]

that doesn't mean God is bound by those laws. Like you said, he created them.
I can't understand how he could do some of these "logically impossible" things, but he can.
Just take "forever". I can't comprehend that God has always been there. He has no beginning. Can we logically explain that in this world where, "He created a world that is (at least partially) explained by Relativity, the photoelectric effect, and a million other scientific rules."? Is there anything else in this world/universe that has no beginning?

[David Sklansky]

"Bottom line is this. David is getting old. David is starting to realize his own mortality (ie. in relative terms he does not have much time left). David is worried that is the Christian Version of God is accurate, that he will be going to hell."

It is utterly inconceivable to me that the Christian version is accurate. The opposite has never even crossed my mind. I have at least ten reasons for believing this, some of which I have sprinkled about on posts, some of which I have not yet mentioned. I might list them one day. Most of these reasons refer to all specific religions that I know of. The Jewish version is a tad less inconcivable but still incredibly far fetched.

A more general God that cares and intercedes is a tiny bit plausible as long as he cares about aliens and animals as well as humans. Yet more plausible though still highly unlikely, is a god that started things off by creating the Higgs boson (or whatever) as long as we realize that this could be a six your old "child" in a parallel universe playing with his chemistry set who couldn't forsee or care about the ultimate result of his work.

As for life after death, those who read my last chapter in Poker Gaming and Life called "An Unexpected Ending" know I believe the concept slightly plausible. Likewise reincarnation or the ability to download yourself on a computer. I have also thought about the idea that a few seconds before death, time slows down for you such that it seems forever, giving you "eternity" to contemplate your deeds and thus allowing for a sort of heaven or hell. So you can see that I am much more open to some far out possibilities than many on these forums.

But the Christian version? Mike Caro has said that there is a thirty percent chance he is God. That number is wrong. It is less than that. But for many reasons I am sure it is no lower than the number for Jesus.

[CrisBrown]

Hi Sundevils,

[ QUOTE ]
If you want to get technical [God] didn't speak Hebrew. He spoke Aramaic. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Jewish tradition holds that, while the ancient Israelites spoke Aramic, Yahweh spoke to them in the "holy language" of Hebrew. Jesus of Nazareth, if one accepts him as "God," probably knew at least three languages: Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew.

Then of course there is my all-time favorite example of fundamentalism-without-the-fundamentals, that of a midwest state legislator who, when arguing in favor of an English-only amendment for his state, said: "If English was good enough for Jesus Christ, it's good enough for me." [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Cris

[CrisBrown]

Hi David,

[ QUOTE ]
But the Christian version? Mike Caro has said that there is a thirty percent chance he is God. That number is wrong. It is less than that. But for many reasons I am sure it is no lower than the number for Jesus.

[/ QUOTE ]

By "sure," do you mean "confident" or "know with 100% certainty?" The former is at least logically defensible. The latter is, well, as much a belief as a fundamentalist's belief to the contrary.

A friend of mine once offered one of the most compelling arguments in favor of prayer that I have ever heard. "Even if there is no god," he said, "when I pray I am reaching for that best part of myself. And that alone is enough to justify it for me."

As for me, I prefer the contemporary Catholic view of such things, which is (to paraphrase): "If anyone sincerely seeks God, by whatever spiritual path, God will find him."

Cris

[Gamblor]

Finally proof that it isn't just Christians and atheists that can't think straight.

Did you have any reasoning behind that statement?

If you believe I can't think straight, please, at least tell me where my logic is off.

Funny thing is, I'm not religious.

[David Sklansky]

But the Christian version? Mike Caro has said that there is a thirty percent chance he is God. That number is wrong. It is less than that. But for many reasons I am sure it is no lower than the number for Jesus.


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By "sure," do you mean "confident" or "know with 100% certainty?" The former is at least logically defensible. The latter is, well, as much a belief as a fundamentalist's belief to the contrary.


Even if sure meant 100% certain in this case it would not be the same as the fundamntalist's belief because I am stating that I am sure about a probalility. If other words if I say I am 100% sure that the probability God exists is 2% that means I'm not sure. I'll let Paul Phillips elaborate.

[housenuts]

this question is stupid. it's like saying can god make 2+2 (the integers, not the website) = 5. he may be able to take 2 sheep from one pen, and 2 sheep from another pen and put them together and do some magic [censored] and get 5 sheep out of it. but he can't take the number 2 and add it to the number 2 to get 5.

[flair1239]

[ QUOTE ]
"Bottom line is this. David is getting old. David is starting to realize his own mortality (ie. in relative terms he does not have much time left). David is worried that is the Christian Version of God is accurate, that he will be going to hell."

It is utterly inconceivable to me that the Christian version is accurate. The opposite has never even crossed my mind. I have at least ten reasons for believing this, some of which I have sprinkled about on posts, some of which I have not yet mentioned. I might list them one day. Most of these reasons refer to all specific religions that I know of. The Jewish version is a tad less inconcivable but still incredibly far fetched.

A more general God that cares and intercedes is a tiny bit plausible as long as he cares about aliens and animals as well as humans. Yet more plausible though still highly unlikely, is a god that started things off by creating the Higgs boson (or whatever) as long as we realize that this could be a six your old "child" in a parallel universe playing with his chemistry set who couldn't forsee or care about the ultimate result of his work.

As for life after death, those who read my last chapter in Poker Gaming and Life called "An Unexpected Ending" know I believe the concept slightly plausible. Likewise reincarnation or the ability to download yourself on a computer. I have also thought about the idea that a few seconds before death, time slows down for you such that it seems forever, giving you "eternity" to contemplate your deeds and thus allowing for a sort of heaven or hell. So you can see that I am much more open to some far out possibilities than many on these forums.

But the Christian version? Mike Caro has said that there is a thirty percent chance he is God. That number is wrong. It is less than that. But for many reasons I am sure it is no lower than the number for Jesus.

[/ QUOTE ]

Admit it David you are scared shitless. When you start quoting Mike Caro as an expert in theology, you know you are reaching.

If you argue that the Christian version of God is implausible, you are trying to comfort yourself.

I don't believe in God either, but I will at least admit the possibility that I am wrong and accept the consequences. (I have a grudge with almighty in case you could not tell.)

But trying to convince a bunch of yahoos on a poker forum that God does not exist just screams of insecurity.

[felson]

[ QUOTE ]
As for life after death, those who read my last chapter in Poker Gaming and Life called "An Unexpected Ending" know I believe the concept slightly plausible. Likewise reincarnation or the ability to download yourself on a computer. I have also thought about the idea that a few seconds before death, time slows down for you such that it seems forever, giving you "eternity" to contemplate your deeds and thus allowing for a sort of heaven or hell. So you can see that I am much more open to some far out possibilities than many on these forums.

[/ QUOTE ]

I do not understand why you regard Christianity as "inconceivable" but regard reincarnation, for example, as "slightly plausible." Even if you think the historical evidence for Christ is weak, at least evidence does exist.

On the other hand, I am not aware of any evidence for reincarnation, or time slowing as you die, or the 6-year-old child God, or the robot story in your book.

[x2ski]

What? I skipped that class (but still passed somehow [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img])