bte (08/07/82)
The question of God's ability to create something he cannot destroy
is a very, very serious question in the religios world. Needless to say,
there has not been an answer that satisfies everyone, yet. For just two
examples of the philosophies expounded:
Certain Gnostic religions hold that God can create an indestructable
object. This is the origin of Satan. God was messing around with his
power, and made a being whose power rivaled his own. Needless to say, he
put it where it could "do no harm" to his other major work, the Universe.
These religions also often hold that God is actually the Evil force of
the Universe, and that the Second Coming will be when Satan and Jesus
are freed from Hell.
According to R. A. Heinlein, the Moslems believe that the one thing
God cannot do is escape from his own omnipotence. To create something
that He could not destroy would violate this principle.
Of course, the basic problem with this question is that it violates
the basic laws of logic: It self-references. It is the same question as
"What happens when an Irresistable Force meets an Immovable object?"
The question is meaningless, because if a force is Irresistable then
no object is immovable, and vice-versa.