Can God create a rock too heavy for god to be able to lift?

This question is representative of the type of paradoxes atheists use in attempts to prove that God cannot exist. It works like this. God is supposed to be omnipotent. If He is omnipotent, then He can create a rock so big that He can't pick it up. If He cannot make a rock like this, then He is not omnipotent. If He can make a rock so big He can't pick it up, then He isn't omnipotent either. Either way demonstrates that God cannot do something. Therefore God is not omnipotent. Therefore God does not exist.

Is this logical? A little. However, the problem is that this bit of logic omits some crucial information. Therefore, it's conclusion is inaccurate.

What the above "paradox" lacks is vital information concerning God's nature. His omnipotence is not something independent of His nature. It is part of His nature. God has a nature and His attributes operate within that nature, as does anything and everything else.

For example, I have human nature. I can run, but I cannot outrun a lion. My nature simply does not permit it. My ability to run is connected to my nature and I cannot violate it. So too with God. His omnipotence is connected to His nature since being omnipotent is part of what He is. Omnipotence, then, must be consistent with what He is and not with what He is not since His omnipotence is not an entity to itself. Therefore, God can only do those things that are consistent with His nature. He cannot lie because it is against His nature to do so. Not being able to lie does not mean He is not God or that He is not all powerful. Also, He cannot cease to be God. Since He is in all places at all times, if He stopped existing then He wouldn't be in all places at all times. Therefore, He cannot cease to exist without violating His own nature.

The point is that God cannot do something that is a violation of His own existence and nature. Therefore, He cannot make a rock so big he can't pick up, or make something bigger than Himself, etc. But, not being able to do this does not mean He is not God, nor that He is not omnipotent. Omnipotence is not the ability to do anything conceivable, but the ability to do anything consistent with His nature and consistent with His desire within the realm of His unlimited and universal power which we do not possess. This does not mean He can violate His own nature. If He did something inconsistent with His nature, then He would be self-contradictory. If God were self- contradictory, He would not be true. Likewise, if He did something that violated His nature, like make a rock so big He couldn't pick it up, He would also not be true since that would be a self- contradiction. Since truth is not self-contradictory, as neither is God, if He were not true, then He would not be God. But God is true and not self-contradictory. Therefore, God cannot do something that violates His own nature.

Another way to look at it is to realize that in order for God to make something so big He couldn't pick it up, He would have to make a rock bigger than Himself. Since He is infinite in size, He would have to make something that would be bigger than Himself. Since it is His nature to be the biggest thing in existence because He created all things, He cannot violate His own nature by making a rock that is larger than He.

Also, since a rock, by definition, is not infinitely big, then it isn't logically possible to make a rock, something that is finite in size, be infinite in size (no longer a rock) since only God is infinite in size. At dictionary.com, a rock is defined as a "Relatively hard, naturally formed mineral or petrified matter; stone. a) A relatively small piece or fragment of such material. b) A relatively large body of such material, as a cliff or peak. c) A naturally formed aggregate of mineral matter constituting a significant part of the earth's crust." A rock, by definition, is not infinitely large. So to say the rock must be so big that God cannot pick it up is to say that the rock is no longer a rock.

What the critics are asking is that God become self-contradictory as a proof He doesn't exist. Their assertion is illogical from the start. What they are doing is trying to get God to be illogical. They are being illogical to prove God doesn't exist, instead of using logic. It doesn't work and the "paradox" is self-refuting and invalid.

http://carm.org/questions/about-god/can-god-make-r...

This is the third time this question has been asked in less than a week, so take notes this time.

The question is utterly meaningless. It is nothing more than semantics. It's like asking can God make Square circles or married bachelors.

But assuming that it isn't meaningless there are three solutions to it.

1. God can do whatever he wishes so if in this moment he desires to create a rock so heavy he can't lift it, he can do it. If in the next moment he desires to lift that rock then he can.

2. Omnipotence is incapable of being incapable. So God is at once incapable of being incapable of creating a rock so heavy he cannot lift it and incapable of being incapable to lift it.

3. Omnipotence means that God has the ability to be greater and lesser than himself at the same time in the same respect. Therefore God is capable of creating the aforementioned rock and at the same time and in the same respect capable of lifting it.

it incredibly is the 0.33 time this question has been asked in below a week, so take notes this time. The question is completely meaningless. this isn't any longer something extra desirable than semantics. this is like asking can God make sq. circles or married bachelors. yet assuming that it is not meaningless there are 3 strategies to it. a million. God can do in spite of he desires so if in this 2nd he desires to create a rock so heavy he can no longer raise it, he can do it. If interior the subsequent 2nd he desires to strengthen that rock then he can. 2. Omnipotence is incapable of being incapable. So God is at as quickly as incapable of being incapable of transforming into a rock so heavy he won't be able to boost it and incapable of being incapable to strengthen it. 3. Omnipotence potential that God has the skill to be extra desirable and lesser than himself on an identical time interior an identical comprehend. consequently God is able to transforming into the aforementioned rock and on an identical time and interior an identical comprehend able to lifting it.

Can God create a rock too heavy for god to be able to lift?

The Omnipotence paradox:

If God can't make it then god's not Omnipotent

if god makes it but can't lift it then god's also not Omnipotent

~~~ The whole question fails, in many ways.

A 'paradox' is a sure sign of error!

Can God Make a Rock So Big He Cannot Lift It?

http://apologeticjunkie.blogspot.com/2007/12/can-g...

This is one of my favorite questions that comes up from time to time. Indeed, many atheists and skeptics have posed this question in an attempt to stump Christians and somehow disprove the omnipotence (and existence) of God. Maybe you've been there. What is so ironic about a question of this type is that rather than prove any sort of deficiency in the character or nature of God, this question actually shows a lack of clear thinking and logic on the part of the skeptic! In other words, the question itself is flawed and fallacious in several ways and, unfortunately, the person raising the question has not taken the time to truly think this problem through.

Problem #1: this question commits the fallacy known as a loaded question. Imagine if I were to ask you, "Have you stopped beating your spouse yet?" If you answer yes, that means you were beating your spouse but you have since stopped. And if you answer no, that means you're still beating them! Either way you answer the question, you automatically concede that you beat your spouse! This is a no win situation because the question itself starts with a false assumption and is therefore a "loaded" question. Likewise, the question "Can God make a rock so big He cannot life it?" also starts with a false assumption, i.e., that God is not omnipotent. If you answer "Yes" to the question, that means that God is not omnipotent since He can make the rock but isn't powerful enough to lift it. But if you answer "No," that also means that God is not omnipotent since He couldn't make a rock so big He cannot lift it! In other words, the question itself is dishonest, a pseudo-question, since it begs the question by assuming God is not omnipotent.

Problem #2: this question commits a categorical fallacy. The question itself is incoherent and meaningless. Suppose I were to ask you, "What does the color blue smell like?" or "How much does the number seven weigh?" These are category mistakes because colors don't smell and numbers don't weigh anything. They are logical impossibilities. In the same manner, asking the question "Can God make a rock so big He cannot lift it?" is essentially to ask "Can God's power defeat His own power?" This is nonsensical and a category error since the question is being incorrectly applied. Greg Koukl has stated, "The question is nonsense because it treats God as if He were two instead of one. The phrase 'stronger than' can only be used when two subjects are in view...Since God is only one...it makes no sense to ask if He is stronger than Himself."

Problem #3: this question commits a straw man fallacy. The goal of the skeptic who asks this question is to somehow undermine the Christian concept of an omnipotent God. It is thought that if it can be shown there are some things God cannot do, this would prove that God could not be omnipotent and thus could not exist as Christians have traditionally portrayed Him. However, this line of reasoning is attacking a distorted concept of Biblical omnipotence and is therefore guilty of the straw man fallacy.

So what does it mean then that God is omnipotent? Omnipotence doesn't mean that God can do anything. There are actually quite a few things that God cannot do. He cannot make squared circles. He cannot make a one-ended stick. He cannot sin. He cannot improve His morality. So God is limited in a sense. But not one of these "limitations" has to do with power, rather, they are logical contradictions. Also, notice that His "limitations" are not due to any defects in His character or power but rather they are the result of His perfection and rational nature! As Norman Geisler has stated, "He is only 'limited' by His unlimited perfection." To say that God is omnipotent then is to say that God can do anything so long as it is logically possible and consistent with His nature. God's omnipotence does not mean that He can do what is impossible but only that He can do whatever is actually possible.

Conclusion: So what then is the answer? Can God make a rock so big He cannot lift it? My comments above put aside, I still like the way one particular 7-year-old responded: "I can't give you a smart answer to a dumb question."

Could god create a god that could lift a rock that god could not lift?

If so, then I have solved the paradox.

If God exists and is omnipotent, then this question has no validity. It creates a false dichotomy between God and his own power.

Well, I'm going to go along with Maimonides and say that god has no body, nothing even remotely human, so there is no "lifting" to be done anyways.

But really I'm just avoiding your question.

Let's say that God is the rock then.

yes, its fun to play around with supernatural logic.

there is a whole nice long video in cartoon style about that.

I cant recall right now who the poster is....

'Loose my attitude?' It's not an attitude. I'm sick of being unappreciated. I'd love to see where you'd be with out me.

It's funny how they turn their backs when you have nothing left to give~

Being unappreciated for hard work sucks! Especially when I put a lot of time and effort for them to just over look it...

I don't know, but God can make a fart, so smelly, that he himself would pass out if he smelled it!