Open for debate

DavidC wrote: ...............

You insist that my argument is that of the atheist. It is not. An atheist would simply deny that there is a God - any god - to argue about.

You I presume that: 'God has some of the limitations of created things.’

No. I am simply agreeing with C.S Lewis (a Trinitarian) who writes:

‘(God’s) Omnipotence means power to do all that is intrinsically possible, not to do the intrinsically impossible. You may attribute miracles to Him, but not nonsense. This is no limit to His power. If you choose to say "God can give a creature free will and at the same time withhold free will from it," you have not succeeded in saying anything about God.’ (The Problem of Pain).

And with St Thomas Aquinas (another Trinitarian) who wrote: ‘Whatever implies contradiction does not come within the scope of divine omnipotence, because it cannot have the aspect of possibility.’ (Summa Theologica: Part 1; Question 25; Article 3).

And with Ludwig Ott (yet another Trinitarian) who writes: ‘To God's Infinite Reality of Being there corresponds an (intensively) Infinite Power. This extends over the whole sphere of real and possible being (extensively infinite).   As God's power is identical with God's Essence, it cannot imply anything which contradicts the Essence and the Attributes of God. Thus God CANNOT CHANGE, cannot lie, can make nothing that has happened not to have happened (contrary to the teaching of St. Peter Damian), CANNOT REALISE anything which is contradictory in itself 2 Tim. 2, 13: He cannot deny himself.’ (‘Fundamental of Catholic Dogma’; page 47 - emphasis is mine).

The message is simple: God cannot realise (i.e. bring into being) that which is contradictory in itself.

This are the Trinitarian axioms:

The Father is not the Son.
The Son is not the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is not the Father.

The Father is God.
The Son is God.
The Holy Spirit is God.

Actually what Thomas Aquinas says is that you cannot say something is only man and only a donkey at the same time. The doctrine of hypostatic Union doesn’t say Jesus is only God and only man at the same time and in the same respect, since they are two natures there is no contradiction.

DavidC wrote: The incarnation is a mystery. Your argument denies the divinity of God by forcing God to conform to the rules of created physical things.

Read again my post timed at 8.21am today. Are you saying that the Christians I quoted are denying the divinity of God? By the way..I certainly do not deny His divinity. What I most certainly deny is the notion that it is ok to attribute nonsense to Him.