The stone paradox reframed.

[Jayhawker Soule]

Can G-d create a stone too orange for Him to move?

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

^ It's only been posted for 10 minutes and I've already received 2 "Funny" ratings. Thanks.

Now, give some thought to the possibility that the question was entirely earnest -- which, in fact, it was.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

Only in ulster.

 

[Mister Silver]

Can G-d create a stone too orange for Him to move?

Depends.

Does the orange rock have it's own twitter account from which it cannot seem to separate itself for an extended period of time?

 

[Kuzcotopia]

^ It's only been posted for 10 minutes and I've already received 2 "Funny" ratings. Thanks.

Now, give some thought to the possibility that the question was entirely earnest -- which, in fact, it was.

if I take this seriously, to which god do you refer, and what are this god's properties?

I cannot compose a proper answer to the question if you don't provide the context. Take this seriously too!

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

if I take this seriously, to which god do you refer, and what are this god's properties?

Good question.

I cannot compose a proper answer to the question if you don't provide the context. Take this seriously too!

With pleasure.

Permit me a question: Do you think you might have responded differently had I used the word heavy instead of orange?

 

[shunyadragon]

Only in ulster.

The Blarney Stone?

 

[Kuzcotopia]

Good question.

With pleasure.

Permit me a question: Do you think you might have responded differently had I used the word rock instead of orange?

Rock would be an adjective? How is something too rock?

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Rock would be an adjective? How is something too rock?

Sorry. I corrected the question.

 

[Kuzcotopia]

Good question.

With pleasure.

Permit me a question: Do you think you might have responded differently had I used the word heavy instead of orange?

Ah. Yes.

There are three components here. . . the noun, the verb and the adjective.

The noun is he same in both statements: Stone

The verb is the same in both statements: Lift

The adjective changed. . . It used to be heavy, to describe the stone. So now we're clearly talking about mass, and the verb lift naturally follows. You use the word orange, which is the label for a portion of the visible spectrum of light. For the hypothetical to make sense at first glance, it should naturally follow that your can lift orange, which does not follow, without some weird toe tapping and bald assumptions to make it fit.

So that's why I have to understand what god your talking about and what its properties are to know what the heck you're talking about.

 

[Willamena]

Can G-d create a stone too orange for Him to move?

Does G-d's ability to move the stone rely on any of its properties or attributes?

 

[BSM1]

Can G-d create a stone too orange for Him to move?

It has been said that, when it comes to people, God doesn't see color, only character. I would assume that God is colorblind and therefore the answer would be no...or yes...depending on how you see it.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Does G-d's ability to move the stone rely on any of its properties or attributes?

Precisely, suggesting a couple of thought experiments, the first being:

Let's say that we answer 'yes' while designating the set of qualities or attributes as S. Can S be diminished such that the task becomes easier. i.e., does it make sense to speak of a sliding scale of difficulty/capability when dealing with preternatural agency?

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Does G-d's ability to move the stone rely on any of its properties or attributes?

If God wills it, it does.

 

[Thief]

Can G-d create a stone too orange for Him to move?

in earnest?.....

I think the question should be framed to a yes or no response
and of course the entire universe was set into motion by Him
sooooo......
asking the movement of one rock is .........not logical

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Precisely, suggesting a couple of thought experiments, the first being:

Let's say that we answer 'yes' while designating the set of qualities or attributes as S. Can S be diminished such that the task becomes easier. i.e., does it make sense to speak of a sliding scale of difficulty/capability when dealing with preternatural agency?

If it's capable of doing things, why wouldn't it make sense to measure its capability?

Personally, I always saw the stone paradox as just a matter of opposed infinities... like Hilbert's Hotel, only with infinitely large quantities instead of sets with an infinite number of members.

 

[Brickjectivity]

If we are talking about an infinitely orange rock then it may be so. That is a lot of orange.

 

[Willamena]

If God wills it, it does.

And if pigs could fly...

 

[Sunstone]

Can G-d create a stone too orange for Him to move?

I guess one way of looking at the question might be to begin by reflecting on the fact that "orange" -- so far as human's are concerned -- is not a property of an object perceived as orange, but the brain's "interpretation" of certain wavelengths of light.

So, perhaps the question can be seen as asking whether G-d can create a stone with attributes that exist only in the mind of G-d which are in some way "too much" for Him to move. But at this point, I become baffled.

By the way, I assume that the god being spoken of here is not the generic "god" but rather the G-d of Abraham? And if so, that might introduce a twist to this conversation: Namely what it would mean to say "Humanity is created in G-d's image" if the mind of G-d is so radically different from a human mind that it could actually create a stone with attributes that exist only in His mind which are in some way too much for him to move. Human minds just can't do that. Of course, I'm assuming here that the OP question could be answered "yes".

All in all, the question strikes me as interesting mostly because it throws us back onto the issue of how much we anthropomorphize deity.

Just some thoughts of one very baffled person at the moment.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

The Blarney Stone?

Unless Munster has been moved a long way north.
Not a chance.