Absolutes

[Ghaleon]

As Homer Simpson phrased the ancient question to Ned Flanders while
under the influence of medicinal Marijuana:  Could Jesus make a
bean burrito to hot for himself to eat?

This is a fun question to think about when discussing the nature of absolutes.

What are God's limitations?  People often ascribe two
characteristics to God; reason and love.  That is, God cannot do
anything that is fundamentally absurd and he cannot do anything that is
fundamentally evil.

Homer's question is adressing reason.  It is reasonably absurd
that God could make a bean burrito to hot for himself to eat, make a
rock to heavy for himself to lift, create a round triangle, etc... but
in ascribing reason (or love) to God are we not holding reason up as an
absolute in place of God?  That is, are we not turning reason
itself into God?

But if God were not reasonable, how could we claim to know anything
about him?  We understand the world through reason and we relate
to people through love.  So how do we reconcile this with an
accessible, absolute deity?

[NERV]

well it is the religious texts that describe god with love, power,
miracles, etc. so it is those that restrict god to reason and love. and
if people were supposedly made in god's image, well then there must be
some significant similarity between god and people which further ground
him in reason and logic. the successful religioins seem to be the ones
that are too ambiguous to prove or disprove. greek religion failed as
knowledge grew cuz it described the gods as people up on a mountain,
atlas was a big guy holding the sky up, etc. made sense before they
knew better but its something easy to disprove with the right
knowledge. whereas christianityis open to alot of interpertation,
especially since the bible has been retranslated so many times that you
cant take anything in it literally cuz for all you know the translation
isnt quite right.