starner@ih4ep.UUCP (05/26/83)
Relay-Version:version B 2.10 5/3/83; site mhuxt.UUCP Posting-Version:version B 2.10 5/16/83; site ih4ep.UUCP Message-ID:<156@ih4ep.UUCP> Date:Wed, 25-May-83 20:40:55 EDT Organization:BTL Naperville, Il. "If God is omnipotent, His behavioral repertoire includes all possible events, but if He has an attribute then there are events which are not in his repertoire." To say that a creature X (i.e. God) has an attribute A means no more than that when given a choice X will act according to A. However, it is still possible for X to not act according to A. Thus having A in no way limits X's omnipotence. Omnipotence seems merely to require that the omnipotent being **be able** to do anything he/she/it chooses. Example of having an attribute: John Doe is a non-smoker. In fact, John never smokes his entire life. Nevertheless, at any time John could have chosen to smoke. -- Guy Starner ihnp4!ih4ep!starner Bell Laboratories