25 Jul '14 23:08>2 edits
Originally posted by C HessThe god cannot lie supposition strikes me as thoroughly ridiculous. Playing that game we could define "God" to be inert on Monday-Saturday whereby it would still satisfy omnipotence on all days of the week (since the set of logically possible things for that god to do would be empty on 6 of those days)
I don't think so. Consider other definitions. Any one of them would have to include further
restrictions on what an omnipotent being can do, limiting its power. Consider, for instance,
the nature of said being. There's the age-old argument that god, because of her nature,
can't lie. Still, she's considered omnipotent. But a being that cannot alter its o ...[text shortened]... anything, it must mean that whomever possess this
quality can do anything logically possible.
As for very powerful (as opposed to maximally powerful) this is far more plausible to me than the childish notion of "God" that your typical theist would put forward. Indeed why can't a creator of the universe entity just be good at doing things that seed universes and capable of sod all else worth mentioning!?? 😕
I do wish there was a theist on these boards that would put forward an argument for what ought to be the absolutely necessary characteristics of a creator entity (the only one I can think of, and he doesn't post here these days, is Conrau K)