God's Identity Crisis

Religions are wacky in all sorts of ways, but at the heart of Christianity there is a logical problem so deep, one has to wonder how on earth it's possible for people to actually believe it... and no, I'm not talking about the fact God basically raped Mary and knocked her up (yes, rape: she never consented and was only informed about it after the fact). But that's a moral problem, not a logical one.

The logical problem arises out of the identity relationship between God and Jebus: one is the father, the other the son, and magically they are still somehow supposed to be the same person. When philosophers analyze the question of personal identity, we argue that one of the logical rules any criterion of identity must satisfy is the transitive rule of identity: if A=B, and B=C, then A=C.

Now, a father/son relationship is precisely NOT an identity relation, since they are supposed to be numerically distinct persons. In other words, it would make no sense to say that if grandpa = father, and father = son, then grandpa = son. There's all kinds of wacky things that could turn out to be true: you could be your baby's mother and sister, for instance. Hell, you could even be your grandpa's son and grandson simultaneously, but you can't be your own father...

If you think about it from the point of view of a causal relationship, the matter is just as mysterious: how exactly is it possible for someone to cause his own existence without already presupposing the existence of said being? Some may call it a divine and transcendent mystery; I call it a logical contradiction!

Don't feel bad if you're confused, though... so is Mr. Deity, and he's God :)

Who's on third? George Bush! :)
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