“Limits of God” article
- June 13, 2002
- 1 comment
Over at USS Clueless, there is a post talking about the “Limits of God” using Set Theory. His logic is as follows:
Define the universe set V to be all actions. Within that we define two subsets G representing all the actions God is capable of, and G’ representing all actions God is not capable of. (G’ is defined as being everything which is in V which is not in G.) The hypothesis is that G’ is empty, because God is omnipotent and thus is capable of doing everything. (Thus the hypothesis is that G is equal to V.) There is no act that God cannot do, and therefore G’ is the null set. Let us define act A to be identify a member of G’. A is an action and therefore a member of V, so which subset is it a member of? In other words, can God identify an act that God cannot accomplish? If A is a member of G, which means that God is capable of doing A, then it means that God can identify a member of G’, and thus we know that G’ is not empty (even though we may not know what it contains). But if God cannot do A, then A is itself a member of G’ (by the definition of G’ as the set of all acts that God cannot accomplish), and G’ is still not empty because it must contain A. Either way, G’ cannot be empty, and thus we have proved that there must be something God cannot do.
The answer to A could be “nothing”. “Nothing” is an action in that it is an inaction. Because the answer is “nothing” doesn’t mean God can’t think of an action He can’t do. It means He knows there is nothing He can’t do. Just my 2 cents.
By the way, I believe there are things God can’t do in that He won’t do them. One example being to make us love Him. Another being to save us from the consequences of our actions or inactions on different things.
Came across this old post and thought of something else God can’t do… sin.