Can God make a stone so heavy that he can not lift it?

Question

Accepting that God exists (meaning no pointless "God doesn't exist answers) If he is all powerful, then can he make a stone so heavy that he himself cannot lift it?

Answer 1

Heavy is an earthboud term. Could he not make a rock heavy enough on earth that he could not lift, yet in the vacuum of space, it would be weightless. So is anything to heavy for even a simple human to lift?

If limit our thoughts to what god can do in respect to the actions of man, we limit ourselves to think inside the proverbial box. Perhaps the stone made so heavy that it cannot be lifted, would simply lift itself so that it could be perceived as lifted by god. Why can an inanimate object to man be animated by god?

If we assume god is all powerful, can he ever be fulfilled and challenged? So is he truly all powerful, would he not make himself less than perfect in order to strive to be better?


Once again all assumptions of sex are for ease of typing. He may be a she, or some other form that we do not understand.

Answer 2

The paradox of the stone, fantastic.........
The only way an omnipotent God could create a stone that he could not lift would be if at some point (t) he chose to briefly give up his omnipotence, by either being unable to create the stone at t or at t choosing to not be able to lift the stone.
There really can't be a simple answer to this question as, even for the above, most theists would claim that for God to be omnipotent he must be contingentially omnipotent.
The only way to answer this question is to follow the line that an omnipotent being can only do what is logically possible to do, which would therefore imply that God cannot create a stone which he cannot lift.

Answer 3

Your question is flawed:

"If he is all powerful, then can he make a stone so heavy that he himself cannot lift it?"

If God is all powerful, how can He create something that surpasses His power?

Obviously, God cannot.

But does that mean that God is NOT Omnipotent?

No. Because individuals with your logic perceive Omnipotence to mean that God can and/or will do anything/everything; when the reality is that God cannot/will not do anything opposite of His nature of existence. Thus, God cannot/will not sin; and God cannot/will not create anything greater than Himself.

God is Omnipotent within the boundaries of His Infinite existence; therefore nothing can exist that transcends God; otherwise God and existence would cease to exist, and that is impossible.

Answer 4

How about - can you go to the websites below to getr your answer?

Here's a sample from link number 2:

"Some philosophers, such as J. L Cowan, see this paradox as a reason to reject the possibility of any absolutely omnipotent entity.[4] Others, such as Aquinas, assert that the paradox arises from a misunderstanding of the concept of omnipotence[5]. The paradox can indeed be viewed as a straightforward logical impossibility, in that it frames an inability ("cannot lift it") as an attribute of total ability (omnipotence), rather than its absence or negation.
Still others, such as Descartes, argue that God is absolutely omnipotent, despite the apparent problem.[6] In addition, some philosophers have considered the assumption that a being is either omnipotent or non-omnipotent to be a false dilemma, as it neglects the possibility of varying degrees of omnipotence.[7] Some modern approaches to the problem have involved semantic debates over whether language — and therefore philosophy — can meaningfully address the concept of omnipotence itself.[8]
To analyze the omnipotence paradox rigorously, a precise definition of omnipotence must be established. The common definition, "all powerful", is not specific enough to deal with the issues raised by the paradox. Several other versions of the paradox have been advanced besides the "heavy stone," which has problems with respect to modern physics."

Interested? Go to link 2 for more, please.

Answer 5

That is called < Not a question question > like when i answer saying
That is not an answer
There are no Stones that god cant lift because you are Asking a question like : Can god stop existing ?? , if god is the existance , can the existance stop existing ?? , it is not a question even .

Answer 6

God creating a stone so heavy He cannot lift it, amounts to a contradiction.

God is omnipotent, but He cannot perform contradictions.


Is that another contradiction?


No. The reason is, a contradiction is something nonsensical - something that has no referent in anything real or possible.

So if you add the words "God can" to a nonsensical statement, it does not then by that fact make sense.


So God, even as He can do all things, cannot perform a contradiction because there is no actual or possible reality to it.




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Answer 7

Omnipotence may be defined as the power to do all that it is logically possible to do. In other words, having the power do all that does not result in a contradictory state of affairs (e.g. square circles). If one defines omnipotence in this way, then the rock problem becomes moot. For God cannot do that which is logically impossible.

Could God have made humans with wings, beaks and feathers? I suppose that he could have created us that way, if that was his will. The question is whether he would have done such a thing or not. I am reminded of Plato's observation that man is a rational featherless biped. On this view, anything having feathers is not man.

"His Omnipotence means power to do all that is intrinsically possible, not to do the intrinsically impossible" (CS Lewis).

Answer 8

The real question here is "Is God so powerful that he has total power over himself and can limit his own abilities?" I would say - yes. This doesn't contradict omnipotence, it actually makes God even more powerful. He is so powerful he can take away his own powers.

What if God created the universe and made himself a mortal participant in it and also removed the memory that he was previously God? Some folks actually believe that.

Answer 9

There is no such thing as omnipotence. There will always be feats which cannot be performed, no matter how much or which powers you have.

This question doesn't disprove God, it only disproves a trait it(he/she) might be thought to have.

This does mean that God is much different from what most people consider it to be.

But are you really surprised about that?

Answer 10

Here's an interesting variation on your question.
- Define intelligence as the ability to learn.
- If God is all-knowing, he never learns anything.
- If He never learns, does He have intelligence?

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My answer to your question
1) Can God alter himself? Presumably so.
2) Can God permanently weaken himself? Again, presumably.
3) Can God create a heavy stone, then permanently weaken himself so that he can't lift it? Presumably
4) Would God still be God after removing one aspect of his omnipotence? I think so.