Mycroft
The elder Holmes
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2007
- Messages
- 1,068
- MBTI Type
- INTP
- Enneagram
- 5w6
- Instinctual Variant
- so/sp
There is no problem if God is not required to be all-encompassing in every way.
I'd like to know what dictionary you are using. I am quite familiar with the concept of infinity and have never heard infinite used in the way you are using it. Infinite is an adjective that describes something quantitatively. It is not qualitative in nature.
Well I haven't read Kant, so I don't know in what capacity your post relates to what he wrote. However based on what you've written it appears to me that you've unintentionally created a straw man. Your original post says that the Judeo-Christian God is believed to be a certain way. After hearing your definition of "infinity" I don't know of anyone who holds that God is the way you are describing Him.
While I'm glad to see that SW is elaborating upon this concept in other manners, he is approaching the concept from an angle other than from that which I did at the outset of this thread. My point was a simple one: any finite object must adhere within reality. A finite object would end. What would be beyond its borders? Non-reality? This is by definition impossible. The only solution is that reality is infinite.
An important note is that I use the term "borders" metaphorically; an object finite in any respect will end in some respect. We are not only discussing spatial or temporal finiteness, a point which several respondents have failed to grasp. And yes, while the definition of the infinite I must use for the purposes of this discussion may not be one of the more common definitions, it's still a valid one, and I've gone to pains to make it as clear as possible what I mean in my use of the term.
As for your final point, I'm unaware of any major branch of Christianity that would be content with what you pose: that God is finite, meaning that He merely adheres within reality, meaning that while He may appear godlike from our perspective, He is not the creator of Reality, merely one of its inhabitants.
Liquid, if you are genuinely interested in approaching my thesis, as it is, in this thread, I'll happily do what I can to try to further elucidate. As it stands, you'll pardon me if I can only believe that you're grasping for grounds, semantic or otherwise, to dismiss it.