My head absolutely hurts at this, but I have to ask....
My mother says that "God is unchanging, in that, he can change." I know this is probably circular in reasoning, but I just can't wrap my brain around it. I can understand her meaning, but in all my years, I have never heard ANY Christian say this, much less, a Christian who believes it. What is wrong with this reasoning?
Please advise.....
Subscription Note:
Choosing to subscribe to this topic will automatically register you for email notifications for comments and updates on this thread.
Email notifications will be sent out daily by default unless specified otherwise on your account which you can edit by going to your userpage here and clicking on the subscriptions tab.
An unchanging object can't do anything that it isn't already doing. So for example, an unchanging object couldn't create something in 6 days, since it can't start or stop creating (as that would be a change!). So believers need their gods to change so they can attribute actions to them.
-------------
Yet a changing deity who tells you what is right and wrong quickly leads to the situation where what is right and wrong can change. So believers need their gods to NOT change so they can claim absolute moral authority.
-------------
I suggest something like this leads to the crazy statement "God is unchanging, in that, he can change." An attempt to have their cake and eat it too.
God does not exist no matter how many paradoxes we create to describe it.
Nyarlathotep...Thank YOU!!! That is exactly what I needed to hear. It was completely bizarre to me, but I just couldn't put my finger on it. You hit the nail on the head. I appreciate your quick response.
Your mother's explanation is certainly circular logic. She's actually saying god is always changing and, in that, he will remain constant (unchanging). She simply states it in a manner eliciting some sense of profundity.
Thank you also Pitar. You are definitely correct on that.