That God does not exist

PerfectionMy opponent qualifies perfection by nature. A lightbulb able to handle any wattage is not perfect because it has one attribute of perfection. If it had all the attributes of perfection, it would not be a lightbulb. I told you that God is perfect, without qualification. The only nature of God, then, is to be perfect - not to be a lightbulb, or a cookie, or our conception of morality (as was the case with his example of lying). Therefore the qualification is meaningless to the debate. If God's nature is ultimate power, then it logically follows that any expression of power is in the nature of God. My opponent asserts my definition is contrary to the dictionary or thiestic teaching. Here he is going against the standard debate convention of the affirmative right of definition, something that should really only be done if my definition was unreasonable, which it blatently wasn't. I never said perfection is omnipotence. I said perfection requires omnipotence. My opponent said perfection is completeness, flawlessness and successful (to paraphrase Aristotle). Even if I was to accept this framework, it would still be imperfect to not be omnipotent. That's because any imperfect entity would be more complete, flawless and successful by being able to do more. Every thing that it cannot do is, after all, limiting its completeness, flawlessness and success. To be truely perfect, it must be impossible to improve on an entity's completeness, flawlessness or successfulness. If that's the case, it must be impossible to improve on God's power. That's the very definition of omnipotent. I simply took the most relevant definition of perfection and built a case on that. That's no grounds for criticism.2. God can have his cake and eat it tooThis is pretty much my opponent's answer to the omnipotence paradox. God can both create a stronger debate argument than he can refute, and then refute it. And how? God simply materialises in some squirrel's body, creates an argument a rhino cannot refute, and then refutes it as a monkey. Clever, but flawed. The problem with this case is that it gives God limited self-imposed impotence. However, it would clearly be more optimal to not have limited self-imposed impotence. Therefore God cannot do this because - wait for it - it isn't in its nature! God cannot limit itself to being a squirrel because that would go against the nature of perfection (unless this particular squirrel was perfect and therefore could in fact refute the argument). It would be better for God to not self-limit and therefore a perfect entity would not give up its perfection. But, as the paradox states, by being perfect God is imperfect. My opponent's response isn't enough to break my argument.3. Arise, Sun! My opponent is right to point out that my prediction the sun will set (it's rising where I am right now) does not make the sun set. However, this isn't the issue. The sun has never said "huh, I don't feel like rising today. " It has no free will, so the argument from free will doesn't apply. The laws of the universe force it to rise. To be free to make a choice is to not be forced. It requires that both options are possible. However, if God can know that one of the options is not possible, because it does not happen, then in fact the will was not free at all. It was restricted by God's all-knowing nature (omniscience). So future knowlege can establish causation when there is a choice involved. Say we play a game of chess (or substitute your favorite game with choices involved here). Before the game, I check my crystal ball and notice you're going to checkmate me with the fool's mate (I'm not very good). Now I am free to play any move I want. I don't have to play f3 or g4. But I know that no matter what, I am going to make those moves. How is my freedom to choose NOT constrained in this situation? You're going to win the game, and I'm going to let you. There is nothing I can do to change the future because otherwise my crystal ball would be wrong. But we can't have God making wrong predictions now, can we? My knowing my choice actually does take away my choice. Being forced to take one alternative - the alternative I know I must take - is not a choice. It is predestination. It is slavery. Very much looking forward to seeing what else my opponent has in store for us.