Omnipotence and the Existence of Evil

I think he's talking to me. I dunno. It just seems to me that rather than peform a bunch of logical and moral gymnastics to arrive at a Steward of the Universe who allows it to be in such a state, it's simpler to believe that no such being exists. That's the position I take.I'll understand, however, if that's not an option for you. As you've said you've found sufficient, compelling evidence from your own experience to accept such a god.Personally, I haven't. And there's no real way to know. I don't personally find your ideas of god compelling, but I also don't find them contradictory. If that makes any sense.

I'm glad we could take a stab at it. When it comes down to ineffability arguments, I can't really argue with that, by definition. But if it's enough for you, that's fine. I guess I'm limited by my need for a god, if one exists, to be approachable on an intellectual level. Or something.What I take issue with is the assertation that the problem of evil vs. omnipotent god issue DOES have a rational explanation, if I only cared to open the bible and have some faith and paradoxically, not think about it so much. That just seems dumb, and it's the kind of thing that's very much in vogue with the more biblically literalist churches, like my old one.

So, then, you're saying we're bascially in the Matrix?What I've always wondered is, if reality is just a consensual illusion, why is it that no matter how hard I convince myself that I have Jedi powers, I can't TK a beer in from the fridge just by concentrating?I mean, I can really convince myself that I can move things with my mind, but when I try, it doesn't work. Clearly there's some objective reality to... reality. Otherwsie we'd be able to change it just by thinking hard.

You saw them "in person", as in, they impromptu bent a spoon less than 5 feet in front of you, with a spoon they hadn't themselves provided? Or, "in person" as in, you went to see a staged performance of spoon-bending?I've seen people float, I've seen women cut in half and restored, I've seen entire mountain ranges disappear. It's not evidence of some kind of human control over reality but simply stagecraft and illusion.That still doesn't answer why I can't bend spoons, for instance. If reality is as mutable as you say, why can't I hire somebody to alter reality for me? Or learn to do it myself?The thing I like about science and technology is, I don't have to believe it works for it to work. No matter how convinced I may be that a 1000-ton (whatever a 747 wieghs, these days) can't possibly fly, it does. How do you figure? (That 10% is an urban legend, btw.) CAT scans of blood use in the brain confirm that, while we don't use all of our brain, all of the time, over the course of a given day all parts of our brains are utilized.What property of firing neurons do you feel could cause spoons to bend?I confess to being shocked when apparently reasonable people (as you appear to be reasonable) express belief in human supernatural powers. I mean, belief in a distant, untestable god is one thing - but doesn't it faze you to know that every single person who has claimed supernatural powers totally and utterly fails to demonstrate them under controlled laboratory conditions?

With spoons that weren't theirs? The reason I ask is, they sell these spoons that are made of a gallium alloy, which has a melting point so low that just the heat of your hand can soften it. (Did the spoons bend up or down?) So, you just kind of hold it by the handle in one place, act like you're "concentrating", and the heat of your hand makes the spoon bend.Have they ever bent anything that wasn't a spoon? Like, a kitchen knife? Or a paper clip? If not, why just spoons?See, these are all very appropriate questions to ask, so long as you're unwilling to shut your brain off whenever somebody does something weird. Professional stage magicians make millions because they're really good at making things happen that seem impossible - but it's not psychic powers, its just stagecraft. I'm sure John Edwards (who talks to dead people on the Sci Fi channel)
honestly believes that he's talking to dead people - but to any skeptic who watches, it's obvious he's just a really good cold-reader.It's amazing what you can pretend to know about people you've never met or even spoken to, if you're actually talking to them. You watch their reactions and listen to changes in their voice. You pick up subtle clues about how they carry themselves, or talk - everything. Well, this we agree on, anyway. What kind of information? General personality statements? "He's a young man, impulsive, having trouble in school..." or specific, detailed (complete with names) information about their situation and history? I mean, does she say "he's had a fight with his girlfriend" or "He's fighting right now with his girlfriend Cindy about who has to walk their dog Sparkles?"Here's the test I would submit your psychic friend to. I honestly don't think she's a fraud; I'm sure she believes she has some psychic power - it's likely she's a really good cold-reader without even knowing that's what she's doing. I'd sit with her, pass her a name on a card, and have her write out a letter about what was going on in that named person's life, to whatever specificity she felt comfortable with. Then I'd call him/her on the phone and compare notes.Is that a test you think she could perform well on? I suspect that, without auditory cues from the proctor, her powers would be very inaccurate indeed.

I tend to agree. I once saw a guy make stacks of large (20-30 lbs), jagged stones on a beach - stacks as high as he was tall. He stacked them sharp end to sharp end, the long way. It was incredible. Many people refused to believe he wasn't using glue or something, but after watching him make a stack (and seeing them fall over later in the day, after the tide came in), it was obvious - he was just really, really good at balancing rocks.Cretainly, some people, through practice, are really good at making something that almost impossible to do look easy. Bending spoons, however, by mere concentration is simply impossible.

This was pretty impressive - they were more like the shape of footballs or almonds, balanced pointy end to pointy end. And in a stack about six feet tall.he had a scrapbook of his other stacks; it was pretty impresive. I guess it was a performance art thing for him. He'd go to a beach and make stacks all day and then they'd be knocked down by the tide... interesting in a post-modernist, ephermeral ennui sort of way...