Proof that the Christian god cannot exist

Discussion in 'Religion Archives' started by Cris, Jun 21, 2001.

  1. cole grey Hi Valued Senior Member

    I am saying that your definition of omnipotence includes performing a nonsense action and that nonsense is undefinable and therefore cannot be regarded as real. I can perform any nonsensical action as omnipotently as God can. Watch me hrjukl a giant trafgejsxik past the moon.

    *cole grey hrjukls a giant trafgejsxik past the moon.*

    We are all omnipotent in this sense. Please prove that I have NOT hrjukls'd that nonsensical object past the moon.
    The definition that omnipotence includes all nonsensical actions is no good, it is meaningless.
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  3. goliah Registered Senior Member

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  5. Mythbuster Mushroomed Registered Senior Member

    Stop right there - major problem. When talking about an eternal being and His relation to a world that is not, words like "before" do not belong. The closest thing you could say to express God's relation in terms of knowledge of states of affairs is that He always knows them (or knows them tenselessly).
    This does not follow - only if our actions come about through God's direct causal action does that mean they are predetermined in such a way that negates volition. In other words, any given human's salvation decision is predetermined iff 1) God does some specific act that causes the outcome of accepting or rejecting salvation or 2) salvation is not an act of choice and the saved are instead chosen by God. I reject the latter (which is Calvinism), and I see no reason to accept the former. Consequently, the rejection of Calvinism negates the "Question" section below as well, since Arminianists hold that God does not choose the elect: their fate is in their own hands.
    This also does not follow if God exists out of time and simply knows all the states of affairs tenselessly. He does not need to know them "in advance".

    And another less related point - the definition of paradox seems somewhat incomplete. As it stands, it seems synonymous with "contradiction", which is erroneous; most accurately, a paradox is a true statement that is seemingly self-contradictory (like the statement "There is a set of all possible sets").
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  7. qwerty mob Deicidal Registered Senior Member


  8. SnakeLord Valued Senior Member

    Once again you make the mistake of assuming it to be my definition. It has nothing to do with me, it falls under the meaning of the word 'omnipotence'. Who are you to assign a "nonsense" label to anything? Just because to you something is seemingly nonsense, doesn't make it nonsense to an 'omnipotent' being. By the very definition of omnipotence, even that which to you seems nonsense, is fully doable by any being that has 'omnipotence'.

    Give me your address and I will come and see if you can. I am willing, however, to bet down to my very last pound coin that you can't. The reason you can't has something to do with you not being omnipotent. If you were 'omnipotent', then you could.

    Now, this is nonsense. You're about as omnipotent as my butthole, (unless you can prove otherwise). However, that has absolutely no consequence to any being that truly is omnipotent.

    You made the claim that you could, so the onus is on you to prove it. Give me your address and I am willing to come and observe.

    Meaningless to your lowly human brain, (again this isn't an insult, just a point). Because something is "nonsensical" to you has absolutely no relevance to an omnipotent being. Show it to be otherwise and I shall retract my statement.
  9. Guilty_Biscuit Registered Member

    Hi Cris (& everyone else on sciforums),

    I stumbled across your post whilst trawling the net and after reading through all 39 pages (38 when I started - I have a job where nobody is sure what I do so I get a lot of time to read) I thought I'd throw in my own two pence.

    Apologies for returning to the original topic of this thread - I know ~95% of the posts have moved way off it but no-one else has laid out the following argument - dan1123 and jay_7 nearly touched on it but nobody replied to their points. I should point out that I am totally and actively opposed to organised religion so it pains me to post in Christianity's defense.


    Your argument reasons that the Christian God's omniscience forms a paradox with human free will. What causes the paradox is not the omniscient God but the existence of facts about the future, even if there were no God there would still be a paradox if the facts exist, even if nobody had knowledge of the facts. This can be shown using your own logical structure.

    Facts about the future vs. Human Free will. A Paradox.

    Facts about the future: Facts about all future events.
    Free will: Freedom to choose between alternatives without external coercion.
    Paradox: Statements or events that have contradictory and inconsistent properties.


    Nobody can claim that there are facts about the future and also claim that humans have free will. The claims form a paradox, a falsehood.


    If there are facts about the future then even before we are born there will be facts on every decision we are going to make.

    Any apparent choice we make regarding the acceptance or denial of anything is predetermined. This must be true to satisfy the assertion that there are facts about the future. Effectively we have no choice in the matter. What we think is free will is an illusion.

    Alternatively if human free will is valid, meaning that the outcome of our decisions is not pre-determined, then there cannot be facts about the future, since the facts would state in advance our decisions.


    As this argument has premises that are equatable to Cris' original premises and it has exactly the same logical strucure one of the following statements must follow:

    (1) We must reject both my own and Cris' arguments as being unsound. Rejection of one of the arguments is inconsitent with accepting the other.

    (2) We must accept both arguments and concede that humans do not have free will (where's the absolute determinism debate?).

    (3) We must accept both arguments and concede that there are no future facts. If we accept this then the argument against an omniscient God vanishes because omniscience (knowledge of all facts) will not imply knowledge of future facts (as no future facts exist).

    So in the end, whatever position you take Cris' original argument cannot be used to prove the paradox of an omniscient God and human free will. Unless you can prove that humans do not have free will - in which case there would be no need for Chris' proof in the first place.

    A more eloquent diplay of these arguments can be found (along with many other arguments for theism, atheism and agnosticism) at:

    I'd recommend anyone interested in religious debate take a look there if they haven't already.

    There - that's my first post over, I think I'll have a look around the sciforums now. (I hope someone improves Cris' arguement and proves the arguement from Future Facts wrong btw)
  10. Mythbuster Mushroomed Registered Senior Member

    Maybe if you and cris use this:

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  11. cole grey Hi Valued Senior Member

    God can hujrkls anything anywhere, and so can I. What does that show? Nothing. A paradox has no more or less value as an actual action than hurjkls-ing. Although I believe any God worth God's salt could, through working on an alternate level, solve anything paradoxical to us - making a three dimensional triangle to make a square triangle would be an example. The problem of making a square triangle, which is impossible in two dimensions, is easy in three.

    Perhaps in one dimension God cannot lift the rock God made and in another God can lift it. Please tell me whether or not God can lift the rock. Perhaps in two dimensions the rock is liftable, via cartesian (XY) movement in the positive "upward" direction, yet the rock cannot be lifted in three dimensions. God doesn't have to be able to lift the unliftable rock in three dimensions because God CAN lift the unliftable rock.
    The whole "unliftable rock" problem shot to pieces. Let's move on. Hahaha.

    I would love that bet. Actually I performed that action fourteen times today. Who are you to say I did not, seeing as you don't even know what hjurkls-ing is? You don't do you? That's nonsense for you, you can do anything with it and you can't do anything with it.

    God is not required to make all nonsense sensible, that is ridiculous. But God could. Anyone can make nonsense sensible, just assign a meaning you prefer. This is a lowly feat.
  12. Guilty_Biscuit Registered Member


    It does seem to state the argument rigorously (in my amateur opinion). The reason I set out the reply in the same format as Cris was to avoid people thinking the arguments were logically different. In the layout you have given (which is better for justifying each step) then you would simply replace proposition k with 'future facts exist' which leads to the same rejection of the original argument as a proof that the Christian god cannot exist.

    "Semper in mira, solum profundum variat"
  13. SnakeLord Valued Senior Member

    Exactly my point, and the meaning of omnipotence. As explained before, just because you and I cannot figure out how an omnipotent being would do something paradoxical or seemingly "nonsensical", would not hinder that being if it was indeed omnipotent.

    But then, as I'm trying to explain, any of these issues are instantly shot to pieces, because the answer is simply yes and yes. Ok, we cannot comprehend how exactly, but we're not omnipotent. If a god is omnipotent, it can do whatever it is, regardless to how paradoxical or impossible it sounds to us.

    I never stated or implied that any omnipotent being was "required" to do anything. My entire argument is not that they must, but that they "can" - (by the definition of omnipotent).
  14. kziglu_bey Registered Member

    yes , omnipotece does imply that it is possible for the omnipotent to do whatever seems impossible for us to do, like create matter (the world) ex nihilo, etc..., but the existence of paradoxes proves that omnipotence cannot exist, because paradoxes can be reduced to statements like
    "(A) implies (non A)" and this cannot be possible without changing the structure of the argument A. If A by definition implies non A , the fact that it does so is actually a particular proprety of the argument A. Changing this changes the argument itself. A becomes B.
    Ok. Now... you all percieve God to be a beeing. That might not be so.
    But that is irrelevant here. The christian God cannot exist, in the christian form at least, because of the following argument:
    The evolution of any system can be predicted if one knows all the data of that system, meaning all the characteristics of all the bodies in that system, and all the laws that govern the system, presuming the system to be totaly isolated, or not influenced by anything from the exterior. The Universe is such a system, without God`s intervention (miracles, etc...

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    So if one knew everything about the Universe, one could predict every event in the Universes future evolution, but that would also mean that the Universe has a specific evolution, every event beeing caused by one or more events in the past. This means that no event is spontaneous. And that if an event does not take place it was impossible for it to take place. And that if an event takes place it was impossible for it not to take place. And that man cannot do things without beeing obligated to do them. For example:
    if some guy next to you in the bus starts to sing "E lucevan le stelle" by Puccini, you might be amused, irritated, or you might just like the music and listen captivated. But if you do any, you will do so because of the way you were brought up, because of the mood you were in, because of etc...,
    And you were brought up in a particular way baceuse your parents were brought up in a particular way and you were in a good mood that day because you recieved a raise for example, and you recieved a raise because..., etc etc etc......
    And if you agree at this point, you will be shocked to realise that these facts also imply that there can be no free will for man. Because every action is controlled by it`s predeccesors. So , (and you were wrong Chris), God cannot be as the christians think, not because he would be meen, but because he himself, as priciple of all things, would be the cause of all sins and of all the evil in the world.
    So the christian God is himself a paradox.
    This is something to talk about..

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    Last edited: Feb 19, 2006
  15. cole grey Hi Valued Senior Member

    This is a common response from people who don't understand what we are talking about.

    What you said about omnipotence being impossible is snakelord's point in our discussion, you dumbass. So, since you are trying to make the same point, you also must not know what you are talking about. Chew on that.

    I was taking the position that since omnipotence as described in this way is basically nonsense, unless (as snakelord and I have postulated), God can work around our ideas that seem to be paradoxical, as I have shown one simple possibility for doing so above, the idea of omnipotence described this way has no bearing on shit, because it is meaningless, and can be applied at will.

    You are a pompous ass, and you are as much a paradox as your idea of the christian god, because a person like you cannot type and think at the same time obviously, yet somehow you manage to do those things (and not do them) all at once.

    Sorry to be so blunt with you, but when you walk into a room re-stating things that have already been said a hundred times, acting as if you came in off of a cloud, and thinking you made the ideas up, you need to just stop.
  16. SnakeLord Valued Senior Member

    Sorry kziglu, but cole's right.

    I mean seriously.. before you start talking about someone's parents, and making accusations concerning what they do or don't understand, it would help if you knew what the discussion was about. K?
  17. Godless Objectivist Mind Registered Senior Member

    And withall that said, welcome to sci-anyaways!

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    . We are a roudy bunch, we get a bit tic-off when someone comes and claims we don't know what the hell we talking about, when basically your a new comer, coming in page 39 of a thread, have you read all the pages? I doubt that you have, or else you might have avoided making an ass of yourself, next time do take the time and read throught the whole thread if you have too, before making a post, one that we wouldn't scruitinise so harshly. And don't let this scare you outofhere, you could have lots of meaningless discussions to pass the time. Cya!

  18. ghost7584 Registered Senior Member

    The bible does not claim that any human has freedom to choose without external coercion. Men do have freedom to choose, but there is coercion.
    The bible plainly shows that external coercion does exist. The planet earth is populated by a large number of devils that have telepathic contact to the minds of men, and they are tempting men to do evil and disobey God. God is allowing them to have this power to test men to see if they will do good or evil, to see who is worthy to go to heaven and who is not worthy.
    God is also trying to compel men to do what is right.
    The bible speaks of definite coercion, on the minds of men.
    Yet, men do have the right to choose which way they will go and what coercion they will follow, either good (obeying God) or bad (disobeying God).
    Your definition of free will is in error, if you think there is no coercion.
  19. kziglu_bey Registered Member


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    ... " intelligent community"...
    you did not see what was, you saw what you wanted to see.
    and you don`t get the point:
    i didn`t insult you. you think i did.
    you insulted me. one insults, when one has no arguments left.
    you agreed to what i said, but you didn`t like the way i said it.
    you think you`re smart. i think i`m smart.
    so , as an old romanian proverb says, i`ll say "sorry".
    now , could you please exclude the first paragraph of my first post here and comment in these conditions. you`ll notice that you will agree to my ideas.
    "don`t criticise the man, but his ideeas." (Kogalniceanu)
    oh, and i did make up these ideas .
    i still didn`t read the whole tread yet... but, just in case this was not mentioned earlyer, you should study the dispute between Erasmus and Luther. it aplies here. to the talk on fatalism i meen.
    and , come on guys, we are all "intelligent" people here , no ?
    :m: :m:
  20. kziglu_bey Registered Member

    well, ghost7584, you`re wrong.
    you said "...God is allowing them to have this power to test men to see if they will do good or evil..."
    this cannot be so because this would mean that god doesn`t know what those men are going to do. so god isn`t allknowing...
    and the bibel tels us he is.
    now , "God is also trying to compel men to do what is right". if god is omnipotent he doesn`t have to try to do something... he can just do it...
    furthermore, free will does not exist. becouse every action one takes is dictated by the past. you cannot do anything spontaneously and you don`t even have a will.
    everything you do , you do because something makes you do it. if you eat, you eat because you are hungry. etc.
    you might say: yeh, but i can jump up from this chair i`m sitting in and start dansing Kazachiok and that would be spontaneous.
    no it would not. you would only do so because you wanted to do something spontaneous ( that you thought is spontaneous) and you would choose to danse because this is the most accessible irational thing to do right now, for example.
    and every cause has a cause of its own, et coetera.
    plus the whole christian idea is stupid... the thing with god ,it`s like i would
    create a very simple computer program, that i would perfectly understand ofcourse, and then i would run the program to see what it does., as if the program was completly unknown to me. If god knows everything he doesn`t have to find out or test anything...
  21. (Q) Encephaloid Martini Valued Senior Member

    Correction, your god created those mind manipulating demons. He also created those who were manipulated by the demons. And he knew all along what would happen, an afterlife of eternal damnation. He is omniscient and omnipotent, is he not?

    So, is he just having a bucket o' sadistic fun, or what?
  22. Diogenes' Dog Subvert the dominant cliche... Registered Senior Member

    I don't know if I have free will or not. All I can say is it FEELS like I have, and I therefore cannot escape taking responsibility for the consequences of my decisions.

    I therefore don't think Cris's argument disproves the existence of God at all, and is oversimplistic. Using the analogie of a book: If my life will be contained in a biography, someone in the future (or God) will know what I as the central character decide now. Even if my biography is mysteriously transmitted to someone in the past, it will not effect my apparent freedom to make decisions, provided we do not communicate. So, because I do not know, I still appear to have the freedom to make a choice now.

    That's before you get into the "Many Worlds Interpretation" etc. :bugeye:

    All this proves/disproves at best is a very anthropomorphic "Old Man in the Sky" type of God anyway. Such a God who claims to be loving and sends half his creation to Hell is clearly confused. You can disprove that sort of God fairly simply without having to invoke "free will".
    Last edited: Mar 29, 2006
  23. Diogenes' Dog Subvert the dominant cliche... Registered Senior Member

    In summary:
    1) "Free will" is the ability to choose in the present, between any of several possibilities.

    2) The existence of an omniscient entity who knows the past and the future, including what I will have decided, does not preclude my ability to choose any possibility now, provided they do not influence my decision.

    3) An omnipotent entity can choose not to have an influence on my freedom to choose. Therefore the existence of an omnipotent entity would not in itself preclude my ability to choose any possibility now, provided they do not influence my decision.

    Therefore the existence of an entity (i.e. God) who is omniscient and/or omnipotent does not preclude my ability to choose (free will). Equally, my apparent freedom to choose does not preclude the existence of an omniscient or omnipotent entity (God).

    N.B. Free will only exists provided the decisions I take are not wholly determined by physical causality. However, this is not really relevant to the above argument.
    Last edited: Mar 29, 2006

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