This phrase is quite a common one in dialogue between atheists and theists, and it is usually spoken by the latter. When it occurs, it is followed by something, usually true, that is in conflict with the theists' beliefs, and that the theist, for some reason, is unable to handle. I'd like to talk about some of these unthinkable ideas (I use the phrase with complete irony), and why most of them are not all that bad. It should be understood that even if these unthinkables are not quite as comforting as their religious counterparts, that has no bearing to the truth value of the religious beliefs.

Many people who claim the existence of an omniscient, omnipotent deity fail to understand what that really means. Sure, they know that omniscient means "all knowing," and omnipotent means "all powerful," but they have not considered the consequences of having such traits. This is what I want to do here, but for now, only with respect to omniscience.

Can you imagine what it would be like to know absolutely everything there is to know in the universe? Can you fathom the idea of knowing everything that ever happened, down to the particle level, in the past, and everything that will happen, down to the particle level, in the future? Probably not. Many use this to say that we could not possibly understand the ways of an omniscient being. Still, though we can't picture ourselves as omniscient, we can certainly think of things that human beings do as a result of not knowing things.