Blogtrek

Can God make square circles?

I was doing some fill in the blank browsing today; in particular, "two plus two equals" -four. I wanted to see what some people's idea of two plus two were if they weren't four. I got numerous answers from the Orwellian five to the uplifting love to such things as foresight and sheep to such numbers as 3, 16, and 32. What really struck me was one of those who said it was five, namely http://gci.gospelcom.net/dw/1995/11/04/. One of the statements the author of this page makes is "God can make square circles if He wants to." Huhh?? Really?

Well, it might be impossible to prove that God does not exist or that he does not make square circles. What I can prove is that if God can make square circles, then I am God. Here is the reason. If God can make a square circle, it is possible that a square circle exists. Draw two tangent lines through two different points on the border of such a square circle. Since the figure is square, the points can be selected so that the tangents have the same slope. They then have an angle 0 with respect to each other. However, since the figure is also a circle, with the tangents being close to each other, they are not the same, and the tangents make an angle t that is greater than 0. Since this angle is also zero, t = 0. Divide both sides by t, which I can do since t > 0. The result is 1 = 0. Add 1 to both sides to get 2 = 1. Now God and I are two entities. But since 2 = 1, God and I are one entity. Therefore, I am God.

The argument goes further from here. Since God can make square circles and since I am God, therefore I can make square circles. No, I am afraid that I cannot make any square circles. This implies that the hypothesis of my proof above is false; i.e., God cannot make square circles. In other words, because I can't make square circles, therefore God can't either.

I can make all these conclusions because I start with a contradiction to begin with: square circles. A contradiction implies anything, and can be used by crackpots to "prove" their theories and by despots to justify mayhem. Whatever is beyond our ability to comprehend may be such, but there is no way we can talk sense about it if it involves contradictions. There is no way that a supreme being or deity can violate the laws of logic. And thus be it to Gods who are not God, to even numbers greater than 2 that are prime, and indeed, also to square circles.