Can your so called God do this?

Question

Can "God" create a heavy rock that even he can't lift?

I did not assume anything, it's all in your Bible and Quran, God can do anything right?
I've heard them all too (I'm just interested in what people have to say), I'm not a man, and please, 18 and older answer this.

No contradictions here, the knife is a whole different story, because when you ask God to create a knife with no handle and blade then you're not asking him to create a knife!
Far from what I asked.

Answer 1

God is supposed to be:

Omnipotent - (all-powerful. Can do anything, simply as a matter of will.)

Omniscient - (All-knowing. Knows everything, at all times, in all places, all thoughts, all actions, over all of time... meaning it is as if past, present and future are all laid out for his view, all at once.)

Omnipresent - (is at all places at all times, in and a part of every thing)

The question that you have posed sets up the 'omnipotence paradox'. It reveals that 'omnipotence' is IMPOSSIBLE. There CAN NOT BE an 'omnipotent' god. So, either god does not exist; OR, if god DOES exist, he CANNOT BE all-powerful.

Similar logical exercises... 'though a little more complicated... can be applied to 'free will' in conjunction with 'omniscience'. Simply put, IF god is 'omniscient', THEN we CANNOT HAVE free will. IF we HAVE free will THEN either god does not exist, OR (IF god DOES exist) THEN he CANNOT BE omniscient.

The reason that we have these 'logical' problems with god's supposed attributes is that when these attributes were dreamed up by MAN, formal LOGIC was not a part of their intellectual toolbox. 'Logic' (which is really a precise form of mathematics) would not be invented until a few thousand years AFTER the Jews ascribed to Yahweh the 'properties' of omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence. They had no way of knowing and no way of figuring out that some of these properties were IMPOSSIBLE, that they precluded 'free will', etc.

Interestingly, Christian theologians discovered (figured out?) these logical difficulties some time around 300 AD. What did they do about it? LOL. The same thing they ALWAYS do when they uncover such logical impossibilities, or inconsistencies in scripture and such. They fart it off and cover it up! LOL.

[And people wonder why the Bronze Age cults of desert monotheism (Christianity, Judaism, Islam) are held in such low esteem amongst people who actually know how to THINK.]

P.S.: I see that one writer claims to have studied 'theology', and attempts to blow off the 'omniscience paradox' with some lame exposition about god creating a knife. Classic logical fallacy: 'Straw man argument'.

Theology is not concerned with logic except where it is backed into a corner by logic, and is forced to attempt to confound logic by way of deception, misdirection and double-talk.

Theology is the source of the modern expression: "If you can't blind them with science, then baffle them with bullsh*t."

Answer 2

I'm an atheist but I dabble in theology, lol.

Anyway, the explanation of that riddle is simple: can God create a knife without handle and without blade?

No, he can't, because the definition of knife involves a handle and blade. A knife without either wouldn't be a knife.

Equally, a property of all things is that they could be lifted by God, since He is omnipotent. Asking him to create a rock that he cannot lift is asking for a knife without blade nor handle, asking for a contradiction, in which case the person asking is wrong.

Answer 3

The knife argument may be a bit more obvious, but when you break it down the principle is the same. The problem here is more with the ROCK (at least as you've DEFINED it), than with GOD!

The only reason your question SOUNDS like it makes sense is that if I apply it to ME (or any other mere creature), it seems to. In other words, the statement "I can make an object that is too heavy for ME to lift" makes sense (and of course happens to be true).

So it appears like you're doing the same thing if you ask about the statement "God can make an object [instead of 'rock' to make it match the first case] that is too heavy for God to lift."

If we say "No, he cannot do that" it creates quite a conundrum -- God cannot do something that *I* can do!

But is that really true? Not necessarily. You see, you've been comparing apples and oranges. To say *I* can do something that God cannot do, I would have to say "I can make an object too heavy for GOD to lift." And that is NOT self-evidently true.

To see that's going on try breaking it down into two statements.

The first statement is that of God's omnipotence. In this case it is expressed "If God is all powerful, he can lift any object, no matter how heavy." We'll assume that this is a proper deduction, so that the statement "God can lift any object, no matter how heavy." is true.

The second statement is "There is [or 'can be'] an object too heavy for God too lift".

Hmmm. Do you see the problem here? It is NOT, as you have quietly assumed, with the idea of God being omnipotent (at least we cannot assume that it is, since we have not yet proved there is a problem with that idea). Rather it is that you have accepted, if only for the sake of argument the proposition "God IS omnipotent" from which you get the statement "God can lift anything." In other words, the DEFINITION of God you are using includes "One-who-can-lift-anything.......

Now let's plug that definition of God back into your second statement above:

"There can be an object to heavy for 'the-One-who-can-lift-anything (no matter how heavy)' to lift."

But that, of course, is nonsense. By the definition we've been using we have already SAID that such an object CANNOT exist, by definition!


If that isn't clear, try this.

The statement you started with "God [or 'an omnipotent God'] can lift any object, no matter how heavy" leads, by simple deduction to another statement. => "there CANNOT be an object too heavy for God to lift"

Once you've said that, you cannot, at the SAME time, say
"There CAN be an object too heavy for God to lift". You are, quite simply, contradicting yourself." So, however it may appear to you at first (when you haven't carefully laid out your definitions) your statement has no meaning.

Going back the original point -- it is hardly a limitation to God's power to say he is "unable" to do something that is a self-contradiction (and therefore meaningless). Nowhere does the Bible make that kind of claim.

Answer 4

God can do anything beyond your imagination. Do you know who rotate this earth and why? who moves planets around sun and why? you must be too small by age and you must know more about God. Yet you have no idea of God's strength. Never challenge God otherwise you will in trouble.

Answer 5

This is a trick question. First of all he created everything in this world. Second of all he can do whatever he wants except mess with our free will. Personally I think he wont, the worlds plates move constantly so no I don't think so.

Answer 6

How do you know how much God can lift? Just because he is God, you are assuming he is physically strong. Big mistake!

Answer 7

God has all the power to create a rock of infinite size but he also has infinite strength. so i believe that will answer your question without without giving a yes or no answer.

Answer 8

Yes and then he can create a way so he can.

Answer 9

A riddle wrapped up in an enigma

Answer 10

are you so completely bored that even in your shallow little brain you ask yourself stupid questions? Why ould anyone as dumb as you want to parade their stupidity on the internet? your an idiot get a life!!!!!!!