Is God above the laws of mathematics?
We know that God is sovereign over all His creation, both the visible and invisible. We know too that all things were created through Him and for Him. This means that mathematics have been created by God. Does this mean that He is above mathematical laws? How, in any possible universe God could have created, could 1+1≠2?
Colossians 1:16 - 17
LS1910 - 16 Car en lui ont été créées toutes les choses qui sont dans les cieux et sur la terre, les visibles et les invisibles, trônes, dignités, dominations, autorités. Tout a été créé par lui et pour lui. 17 Il est avant toutes choses, et toutes choses subsistent en lui.
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Asked November 20 2013
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Samuel Bourassa
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Seth Freeman
This question is similar in fashion to those that ask, "Can God make a rock so big He can't lift it?" or "Can God make a square-circle?" We could also ask, "Can God lie?" or "Can God cease to be God?" or even, "Could God create another God more powerful than Himself?" We could also ask, "Could God make 1+1=3" All of these questions have something in common. They're illogical. When we say that God is omnipotent, we are saying that God can do all possible things. If something can possibly be done, then God can do it. There is nothing that can be done that God cannot do. When you add the quantity of one to the quantity of one, you will always end up with a quantity of two. It is illogical for the quantity of one and one to equal the quantity of three. Just like given the definition of what a square is and the definition of what a circle is, an object that is a square-circle cannot exist. It is illogical for such an object to exist. These are not limitations on God. It is a categorical mistake to associate power with logical ability. God's power is not in question or doubt. God cannot make a rock so big He can't life it, because God is both capable of making a rock of infinite size, and then He is also capable of lifting any rock of any size. Thus, God cannot make a rock so big He can't lift it. But it's not because His power is limited, it's because it is illogical. Likewise, God is the only eternal being. Everything that begins to exist has a cause. God is essentially an uncaused being. As a result, everything that God creates has a beginning. Everything in existence is contingent upon God. So to ask God to create another being that is say, older than Him, is impossible. But this doesn't mean that God isn't all powerful, it means that the question itself is illogical.
Emo Tenorio
Great question in my opinion God is outside of the constraints of time as we know it and thus not subject to it's laws, remember He's God after all. We know He's a mathematician by His Word and all that has been revealed thus far is in a perfect logical mathematical balance to everything else! And the Holy Creator is the grand mathematician of all time, how it is done He may reveal to us when our feeble technologies catch up to Him! Consider this truth has been since the creation, waiting for us to stumble across it, sort of like a cosmic calling card, hey creation I AM! The field of particle physics has totally altered our conceptions of reality. Scientists now tell us that the universe is a digital simulation within a much larger reality and consists of at least ten dimensions. Some investigators believe that much of what we call paranormal phenomena is simply trans dimensional episodes within that larger reality. "People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between the past, the present, and the future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion"....... Albert Einstein In the Lord's freedom to explore His creation....warrior on.
Chris Dibbern
I was initially inclined to agree with the other respondents, and therefore, not reply, since I didn't have anything new to add. However, I just got back from praying, and at the end of the prayer, I was thinking about this, and God reminded me of the miracle of Jesus feeding 5000+ people. In that case, God's math goes like this: 5 loaves + 2 fish = 12 baskets Our Holy God is sovereign, even over mathematics. I say this as a graduate student in Computer Science at a well-known University. Speaking of computers, if I make a video game, a simulation, 1 + 1 = 3, in my simulated world, whenever I say it does. :-) Hope this helps! Love and blessings to all my brothers and sisters!
Michael Tinsley
Samuel answered his own question with his quote of Colossians 1:16-17, 'For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him, He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.' Scientists are _amazed at all the 'coincidences' that led to us being on the Earth which is made of just the right 'stuff' for life to exist, which is just the right distance from the Sun and the Sun is in just the right place in the Milky Way galaxy, and our Sun is the exact right kind of star, and the Earth has a magnetic field which protects us for solar and extra-solar radiation. The list of 'coincidences' goes on and on and my point is, atheistic scientists say its all fortuitous happenstance rather than entertain the thought that Jesus made it all. They are _really incensed when you tell them He 'spoke' Creation into existence. God created all things including science, mathematics, and physics so He is most certainly above all things, ideas, and concepts because He wrote all the rules into Creation. When you think you can imagine all questions about God, there will always be more to ask because the list is endless. What a majestically powerful and loving God we have! Psalm 19:1-4, 'The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.'
Andy Mangus
My really short answer to this question is YES! God is above, beyond and.....Creator of all things, all knowledge, all science, everything..and, that also includes all elements and laws in science. In other words, God created everything that exists, which also includes the laws of science, astrophysics, etc, etc. See Genesis 1:1 "for God created the heavens and the Earth and all the fullness thereof". GOD tells us in His Holy Bible that He created all space and time. He tells us that I AM was before...and, has always been. And, that all things were His creation. "The magnitude and enormity of GOD is so, so beyond our 'finite' mental capacity to understand fully. The Bible tells us point blank that God is The Great "I AM". In other words, as a church friend used to tell me, "God always was, always is and always will be". For in six days, (NOT BILLIONS OF YEARS), a little over six thousand years ago, God created all things, both seen and not seen, touched and untouched, for in all things He has created! (See Genesis 1:1-31) ~~Andy~~
Steve Friesen
Mathematics and science are tools to observe what 'is'. Using them, we study effect in the cause/effect relationship. They are not an entity in and of themselves, rather, they are a study of evidence that continues to point back to a cause or source, namely, God. God is above mathematics, but not so that he can manipulate it, because then the laws of mathematics would change. He is above mathematics just because it is simply a study of what 'is'.
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