Can God....

[White Knight]

God is the God of impossibily, whats impossible for man, is like completely 1000% possible for Him.

[Mary's Knight, La]

the rock question was answered by sheed in short form "it is in the nature of any thing to be liftable by God if it is not liftable by God then it is not a thing you would be asking God to create a thing which is not a thing, so you would be asking God to create nothing which is patently absurd since to create means to create something"

to the square circle well rules of geometry can be warped to allow it, math majors redefine rules all the time to suit a whim. God can do it easier.

now to your big question based on my limited understanding of Aquinas: mercy it seems to be both at once. God desires things because they are loving and things are loving because God desires them. although His perfection allows Him to objectively define justice. Adam and Eve before fall were perfectly created but did not have the infinite depths God did, this is why knowledge of good and evil was not for them they lacked the criteria to objectively define good and evil.

i hope that helps some

[Guest JeffCR07]

I came to a different conclusion about this so-called-paradox through my study of Anselm.

Ultimately, no, God cannot make a round-square. This is not because God is not capable of doing so, but rather, because you and I do not actually know what we mean when we say "round square."

We know what it is to be round, and we know what it is to be square. We also know that, in the analysis of each of these seperate things, it logically precludes the other.

Thus, when I say "a round square" as if I was thinking of one object both round and square, I actually have no conception of what I am saying. Rather, I only have a conception of two mutually contradictory properties.

This means that when I say to you "a round square" I do not understand what I say, and neither do you. From this, it follows that "round square," as a phrase, does not connotate.

Therefore, asking "Can God make a round square?" is the same as asking "Can God make a fsdrngld?" Ultimately, the phrase, and therefore the question itself, is utterly meaningless.

In Christ,

Jeff

[angels111]

[quote name='hyperdulia again' date='Dec 25 2003, 07:05 PM']make a two-dimensional square circle?
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[/quote]

In the middle ages, the question of the day was, "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?" Finally a wise person said, basically, who cares! A preist once told me that you cannot limit God, lets leave it at that and focus on following the Lord our God with all all hearts, souls, minds, bodies and spirits!

Edited September 18, 2005 by angels111

[angels111]

[quote name='hyperdulia again' date='Dec 25 2003, 07:05 PM']make a two-dimensional square circle?
[right][snapback]80512[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]

In the middle ages, the question of the day was, "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?" Finally a wise person said, basically, who cares! A preist once told me thatr you cannot limit God, lets leave it at that focus on following the Lord our God with all all hearts, souls, minds, bodies and spirits!

[Cam42]

[quote name='hyperdulia again' date='Dec 25 2003, 07:05 PM']make a two-dimensional square circle?
[right][snapback]80512[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]

The premise of the question is flawed, so there is no proper answer.

It is a paradox....and the way we make use of language makes this question nonsensical.

The reasoning is that a square and a circle are mutually exclusive of one another. The properties of a square and the properties of the circle are totally unrelated.

[quote name='C. S. Lewis']God’s omnipotence means power to do all that is intrinsically possible, not to do the intrinsically impossible. You may attribute miracles to him, but not nonsense.[/quote]

Telling. If God were to act in a way that was illogical or nonsensical, he would cease to be God.