How is God infinite?

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Roman

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I hear a lot about God's (supposed) infiniteness on these forums, and am unsure as to what exactly this means.
Does God encompass all rational numbers, and if so, is there a mathematical proof for this?
I doubt that this definition of infinite is correct. Perhaps you could inform me what it means.
 
Roman said:
Does God encompass all rational numbers, and if so, is there a mathematical proof for this?
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Yes, that is what is meant by God being infinite. God is "supposed" to be infinite in space and time. His power is thought to be infinite (i.e. omnipotent).
 
if he was infinately big, he would have to have an infinitisimilly low density, or gravity would screw up

omnipotence is a logical contradiction (ie, if he was omnipotent, he could create a being more powerful then him, but still be able to do anything (even somethign the more powerful being didnt want)
 
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alain said:
if he was infinately big, he would have to be infinitisimilly small, or gravity would screw up
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Is God subject to His own creation?
I wouldn't say so....

omnipotence is a logical contradiction (ie, if he was omnipotent, he could create a being more powerful then him, but still be able to do anything (even somethign the more powerful being didnt want)
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If He is omnipotent, that implies that He has the greatest possible amount of power. The fact that He cannot create a more powerful being from His omnipotence is not a contradiction, but rather a paradox.
 
Look, he'd have to exist outside of our concept of spacetime and so I say don't bother with trying to grasp the idea of infinite existence. This is precisely the kind of thing that turned my brain to mush.
 
But describing him as infinite seems to be mislabeling. To say that I haven't a concpet of infinity isn't true, because a concept of infinity is required to do the calculus.

Yes, that is what is meant by God being infinite. God is "supposed" to be infinite in space and time. His power is thought to be infinite (i.e. omnipotent).
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That was all useless tautology. You said the same thing in different words, without actually defining anything. A sideways eight does not imply God.
However, [e ^( pi•i)]+1=0, might imply a God.
 
"If He is omnipotent, that implies that He has the greatest possible amount of power."
then im not arguing with you, but there are plenty of people out there that believe God is infinitely powerful

"This is precisely the kind of thing that turned my brain to mush."
i hear you, Tv destroyed mine long ago
 
Roman said:
But describing him as infinite seems to be mislabeling. To say that I haven't a concpet of infinity isn't true, because a concept of infinity is required to do the calculus.
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No, it is not. Calculus adapt infinity into a number. It attempts to "solve" Zeno's paradox by rounding numbers. For example, instead of 2.99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999, we have just 3. The two numbers aren't the same, but they are very cloe to each other. Calculus only rounds the numbers. Of course it i a damn good rounding because the difference beteen the numbers are so small. that' why it eems that calculus works with infinity, but it just adapts it to regular rational math.

That was all useless tautology. You said the same thing in different words, without actually defining anything. A sideways eight does not imply God.
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Have you read my post (not his)?

However, [e ^( pi•i)]+1=0, might imply a God.
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Mayyou explain the equation? ;)
 
alain said:
"If He is omnipotent, that implies that He has the greatest possible amount of power."
then im not arguing with you, but there are plenty of people out there that believe God is infinitely powerful
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Doesn't infinitely powerful implies that it is the greatest possible amout of power?
 
Before discussing God and infinite, wouldn't it be more productive to establish whether or not He truely is? Don't we need a scripture which says He is infinite? Like:
Ps 147:5
Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite​
This says His "understanding" is infinite. Is there some other scripture which says God himself is infinite (or whatever you guys are saying He is)? In this case Infinite means whole or everything.
 
I don't know any, David. But if He is omniscient and omnipotent, He is likely also omnipresent. Do you know any scripture that tells us that He is omnipresent?
 
Instead of thinking of infinity as a number or a quantity we should instead think of it as meaning "without a boundary" then the concept makes more sense.

Instead of saying that a god has the greatest amount of power, which implies a finite quantity, we should say that this god has unlimited power.

And instead of saying this god has existed for infinity we should simply state that he had no beginning.

As soon as you attempt to consider infinity as a numerical quantity you hit meaningless paradoxes.
 
I've already said that...

Still, there are paradoxes which are meaningful. But actually finding and understanding those paradoxes is tricky.

Also:
And instead of saying this god has existed for infinity we should simply state that he had no beginning.
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The concept of no beginning brings a paradox....
Do you see it?
 
TruthSeeker said:
You just showed one that says He is omniscient....
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OK, I'll accept that definition of Omniscient - He knows all (I've had this argument before - if He knows all, might He also be able to create new things and so have His knowledge increase?)
 
David F. said:
OK, I'll accept that definition of Omniscient - He knows all (I've had this argument before - if He knows all, might He also be able to create new things and so have His knowledge increase?)
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You are mistaking causation and effect. The fact that He knows all is the reason why He can create all things. He can create all things bacause He knows all. In other words, His knowledge doesn't increase because the His ability to create necessarily depends on the knowledge that He has.

For example, can you "create" a computer without knowing how to create a computer? No, right? So wouldn't it be a mistake to assume that by creating a computer you would learn how to create it? What comes first, the knowledge or the creation. That's the point you missed. ;)
 
I like the view of German philosopher/theologian Fichte. For him, God is infinite in that God is Whole. To be undivided is to be infinite.
 
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