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USAGE: "omnipotence" (was: Re: USAGE: "racism" )

From:Steg Belsky <draqonfayir@...>
Date:Friday, January 14, 2000, 20:32
On Thu, 13 Jan 2000 19:35:38 -0600 Tom Wier <artabanos@...>
writes:
> * This reminds me of an argument on metaphysics I was once involved > in in highschool. The discussion centered around whether God can be > omnipotent, and someone made the comment that how could God be > omnipotent if he can't make a boulder so large he himself cannot > lift it. > Naturally, the response was: "You're confused about the meaning > of 'omnipotent'. 'Omnipotent' is better defined as 'being able to > do anything not in itself self-contradictory'."
> =========================================== > Tom Wier <artabanos@...>
. Well, i've always answered those kind of arguments with a "yes, an Omnipotent Deity *can* create a boulder that s/he can't lift. They just choose not to." Possibility is not the same as Actuality. Just because someone *can* do something doesn't mean that they *do* do it. I can kill myself, but that doesn't make me dead as i'm writing this email. -Stephen (Steg) "amô, ê amo. amâmu, ê nô maçtâmû."