A philosophical question about God

[rosie79]

Would it be possible for God to create a rock that is too heavy for Him to lift?

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Thanks bloss!
Actually this post has helped me figure this one out...it is nonsense but I guess you have to ask the question to figure it out!
If I have more questions I'll be posting them here and will value your contributions bloss (and everyone else of course!)

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Bloss, no worries, it WAS a long time ago. My studies now are MUCH more relevant to where I want to be!

My favourite mathematical proof was that proof. I can't remember how it goes, but it was "proof by contradiction". Ie you assume something IS true, then by logically working through the answer, you arrive at a conclusion so ridiculous (like 1 = 2) that it HAS to be false.

(and now I've posted on here AGAIN!

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The Abrahamic God isn't susceptible to reason, and that includes logic. That means He can make 1=2 just by wishing it.
Actually "wishing" is a tricky one with an omnipotent God. If he's perferct than 1 already equals 2.
Given that he's supposed to be perfectly nice, then I wonder if He can have free will ?
He know in infinite detail the result of any action, and has unlimited power to deal with that.
How, then can he do anything other than the right thing ?

DominicConor, I cannot think of any place in the Bible where God is described as 'nice'.
He Is Love, Holy, and Just and Perfect, but not 'nice'

But then I am convinced you post things like this to wind up people who have faith, and that that is your highest motivation for doing so.

I meant that the Abrahmic God was indeed all the things you say. So how can such an entity have free will ?

Or are you seriously going to engage in a silly defence of certain words when the original text is so far from Engish as to make direct translation almost impossible ?

'Impossible' is an absolute term. 'Almost impossible' is a nonsense. It has no place outside of the hyperboly of the tabloid Press. Something is either possible, or it is impossible.

The Bible has been translated into English - therefore it is possible. On what basis do you say it is 'almost impossible' anyway?

If we're going to be pedantic, you can't "translate" the Bible into English.
We lack the cultural context to do this precisely, hence the "editing", even before the politics took over.

I think you grossly overstate the significance of our distance in time from the cultural context in which the Bible was written - certainly so far as translation goes. Context and literary genre is undoubtedly important, but it is much more of a consideration when it comes to how the Bible, once translated, is used and applied by Christians.

I did emphasise that in a pedantic sense we couldn't be 100% certain on the fidelity of the translation.

{butts in}
I studied New Testament Greek at university and the thing that surprised me was how accurate our current translations actually are. There are only very few 'contentious' (i.e. squabbled over) words in the NT.
What is lacking in our understanding of the Bible is not the correct meaning but the cultural nuances (eg there are lots of puns and jokes in the OT that we just don't get). However not getting these subtle nuances doesn't mean that our understanding of the meaning is invalid, IYSWIM. Reading the Bible...It's like speaking a foreign language fluently and therefore being able to follow a conversation completely but missing the odd cultural reference that you'd only understand if you'd either lived all your life in that country or read lots about it. Trust me on this - I spent 3 years declining verbs and reading commentaries...

Thank you Tex .... it's always good to get the voice of experience.

Dom, I didn't realise your comment about pedantry applied to what you were saying about accuracy of translation, sorry. It does bring us back to your original claim that translation is 'almost impossible' though. I don't believe you can substantiate that claim. We already have an expert witness in Texasrose who disagrees with you. Can you provide a link to a source who might back you up?

I'm not sure we're actually disagreeing alll that much. Texasrose has articulated the position about the IT better than I did.

Sorry guys...for an 'expert witness' (hah!) I'm a bit thick...what does IT stand for?

I think its a typo for OT!