Could god create a rock so big he/she couldn't move it?

Answer 1

The answer is simply, "no." Since God is almighty, then He cannot outdo himself. That would be a logical inconsistency. Also, the comment that God can do all things is made in the Bible...and if you asked these prophets if that means that God could sin too, then they would call you a heretic! That's not what they meant, because God cannot lie (Titus 1:2). Therefore, the comment that God can do all things is true, he can do all things...and he cannot contradict or negate himself.

Can God create another God who is allpowerful like he is? No, he cannot. If he did, he would not be almighty anymore, because he would share that power with that new being. This certainly does not mean that God is not all powerful, because he is.

People in certain countries are "free" because they have certain rights to do whatever they please, but that doesn't mean that they can go out and kill someone. Becareful with your terms. These people are Absolutely free, but they are still reasonably limited. God is alpowerful. What comes along with that are certain limitations...

For example, God cannot NOT be almighty. If God can do anything, can he stop being almighty? No...because he would no longer be almighty. That is a self-negating argument.

See? Some of this is logistics...some of it is a word-game. But notice one last thing...arguments like this are usually lame attempts to prove that God is not worth following [Bertrund Russell originally used this arguement]. The people that ask this quesion usually are looking for cheap shots at Christianity and Theism. Jesus had the same arguments tossed at him. Jesus did miracles in front of all kinds of people and still had antagonists. They even called on him to do more miracles! Is it any wonder that Jesus responded to them by denying their request for a circus act? "A wicked and perverse generation asks for a sign, but you will see NO Sign except the sign of Jonah {Jesus' resurrection}" (Matt. 12:39; 16:4; Luke 11:29)

Answer 2

Hello Pearljam, God is able to do anything that is consistent with his nature. Such as, He cant lie, cease to exist, and can't be tempted. But he cant do everything. Such as create a round square, or make ice that's hot. For God to create a rock that he cant lift, defies logic. So to answer your question, God can do what is logically possible. God Bless.

Answer 3

This is an age-old argument that proves (through logic) that God cannot exist. The problem is that the Christian god (very conveniently) circumvents logic. That's really the point - one can neither prove nor disprove the existance of God, because logic does not apply to him.

Answer 4

that's glaring you do not conceptually understand what you're coping with. very ordinary--god-is a philosphical position rooted in certain foundation assumptions. Your foundation assumptions accordingly are omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. you won't be able to tutor or disprove a philosphy--in ordinary words tutor that the derived factors of a philosophy at the instantaneous are not logically in keeping with the theory assumptions. What you look arguing is that the philosphy is in keeping with our universe. in easily truth quantum physics (9which derive from properties of remember) clarify our universe. The addition of your god ought to require causality now to not be consistent (by no potential talked about contained in the heritage of the species), ought to require a clean particle "magicons" for the mystical transformation of say water into wine. (Physics tells us the potential released even as replacing hydrogen and oxgyen in water to ethanol--ought to have vaporized a fifteen mile radius.). extra--you would astronomically develop the quantity of loose potential needed (the universe has a particular quantity of loose potential--to ensure that an sensible being able to documents processing etc to exist--you want no longer in ordinary words the loose potential for universe advent--yet added loose potential to carry your god at the same time as a sensible being). consequently--in truth--the sciences ought to say-that employing occams razor your god theory is a foul one. Sorry mate--epic fail

Answer 5

this is one question that bothers all Christians. I myself being one of them. God is all powerful and it's a loaded question. God can't make a 2 sided triangle or a married bachelor. God can lift all and god can create all. ask a serious question.

Answer 6

God can create a rock so big that we in our finite minds think he can't move it. And then he will move it.

Answer 7

God and Omnipotence
The paradox of the stone, as presented by Wade Savage:
1. Either God can create a stone that God cannot lift, or God cannot create a stone that God cannot lift – there are no other possibilities.
2. If God can create a stone that God cannot lift, then there is at least one thing that God cannot do (i.e., lift that stone).
3. If God cannot create a stone that God cannot lift, then there is at least one thing that God cannot do (i.e., create that stone).
4. From the combination of 1, 2 and 3, it follows that there is at least one thing that God cannot do.
5. If God is omnipotent, then God can do anything.
6. Therefore, God is not omnipotent.

What this argument apparently shows is that omnipotence is impossible (or, that the notion of omnipotence is incoherent). Thus, God cannot be omnipotent (as nothing can be).

Suggested solutions to the paradox St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274):
Aquinas defines as “absolutely impossible” any thing where the “predicate is altogether incompatible with the subject” (his example: “man is an ***” (in the non-metaphorical sense)). With this in mind:
Whatever implies contradiction does not come within the scope of divine omnipotence, because it cannot have the aspect of possibility. Hence it is more appropriate to say that such things cannot be done, than that God cannot do them.

That is, to be omnipotent involves being able to do all things that are possible. For example, it is not considered a limit to my powers that I cannot draw a square circle. That’s impossible, so it’s no failing that I can’t do it – it cannot be done.

BUT: surely I can make a thing that is too heavy for me to lift, so that task is not impossible, so if God can’t do it, that really is a limit to his power.

George Mavrodes (1926-):
Mavrodes responds that although “a stone too heavy for Simon Cushing to lift” is not a contradictory notion, “a stone too heavy for an omnipotent being to lift” is a contradictory notion.
Mavrodes’s argument in full:
1. Either God is omnipotent or he is not.
2. If God is not omnipotent, then the fact that he cannot do something (either make or lift the stone) is unsurprising.
3. If God is omnipotent, then, by definition, there necessarily cannot be a stone that is too heavy for him to lift (otherwise he would not be omnipotent).
4. If there necessarily cannot be such a stone, then it is an impossibility.
5. By Aquinas’s reasoning, even an omnipotent being cannot perform impossibilities.
6. Therefore, by definition, inability to create a stone too heavy for one to lift is no barrier to being omnipotent. (In fact, only non-omnipotent beings can create objects too heavy for themselves to lift.)

BUT: both Aquinas and Mavrodes assume that God cannot do impossible things. Is this right? Descartes, for one, thought not. Descartes believed God could make 2+2=5. Why? Because otherwise you are suggesting that God is bound by the laws of logic. But if God created the laws of logic, why should he be bound by them? Couldn’t he have made them differently?

Harry Frankfurt:
However, if we assume that God can do impossible things, then God can create a stone too heavy for him to lift (which is supposedly impossible). Furthermore, if he can do that, then he can go one stage further and lift that stone (also impossible – but what’s the difference between doing one impossible thing and doing two?)
BUT: doesn’t that mean that the stone he created was not a stone too heavy for him to lift, and that we’re back to the situation of him being unable to create such a stone? Not according to Frankfurt:
If an omnipotent being can do what is logically impossible, then he can not only create situations which he cannot handle but also, since he is not bound by the limits of consistency, he can handle situations which he cannot handle. [256]
That doesn’t seem to make sense – but that’s because “sense” is limited to logical possibility.

To recap:
There are two options for an omnipotent being:
1. Omnipotence means the ability to everything that is logically possible but nothing that is logically impossible. In this case, by definition, an omnipotent being can lift any rock, and therefore “a rock too heavy for an omnipotent being to lift” is an impossibility. In that case, however, inability to create such a rock is no barrier to omnipotence, because no omnipotent being can do the impossible.
HOWEVER: why limit omnipotence to logical possibility?
2. Omnipotence includes the ability to logically impossible things.
In this case (says Frankfurt) an omnipotent being could create and lift a stone too heavy for him to lift, both of which are impossible, but that’s no problem for somebody omnipotent!
HOWEVER: taking this option removes the discussion from one that makes sense to humans, because it allows God both to exist and not exist at the same time, or to sin and be good at the same time.

Can God sin?
Similar problem: if God can sin, then he is not wholly good. But if he can’t sin, then he is not omnipotent.

Suggested solutions
Aquinas: Two options
Either: it’s true to say “If God wants he could sin”, which allows that he can sin. But he won’t ever because (by his nature) he will never want to.
Or: God can do absolutely anything, rape, murder, whatever, but by definition, because he defines what is good, if he did it it would be good. (This is essentially the Divine Command Theory – or perhaps, the Divine Action Theory.)

William of Ockham:
Again, assume that an omnipotent being can only do what is possible. Also assume that the definition of “sin” is “whatever is opposed to God’s will”. To sin, God would have to will what is opposed to his will, which is impossible. Thus, the fact that he cannot sin doesn’t prove he’s not omnipotent.

Answer 8

Yes and No. Thanks for the points.

Why is the blue sky green?
Why is my 5 dollar bill only 2 dollars?
Can I run forwards and backwards at the same time?
Can I put size 6 shoes on my size 10 feet?

These questions are not quite as silly as yours.

Answer 9

nope.
god can create anything & everything he so desires.
i believe that there's nothing impossible for god to do. if he can speak to the waves of the sea to calm down & they do, if god speaks to the winds to stop, if he tells this mountain to move & it moves.....
then this answers your question.
there isn't anything god can't do.....nothing.
whatever's impossible for man is possible with god.

Answer 10

Yes. And he/she would also be able to move it.
If you don't understand this, you don't understand the concept of God. Paradoxes need not apply.

(This from an agnostic. Oy.)