Can God really do what He wants?

Question

Well, I'm going to take a lot of flak for this one...

If God changed His own rules then He would in fact be a liar.

So God cannot do everything we propose. He cannot change.

Does that limit His power? No. Its His nature. To be unchanging.

What do you all think? Am I heretic or what?

Answer 1

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 time. 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 can'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 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 that 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. So what they are doing is trying to get God to be illogical. They want to use illogic to prove God doesn't exist instead of logic. It doesn't work and the "paradox" is self-refuting and invalid.

Answer 2

Yes, because He is not of course wanting to do things He cannot do. He cannot force us to love Him and still give us a free will. He can do things that are not contradictory to His nature.

His laws for us does not apply to Him, He is the Maker. He can change the rules because He is the Ruler. He cannot make round square or stuff like that but He is capable of a lot of things. He is all Powerful.He is God no matter what we think of Him. We cannot change Him, He can change us.

Answer 3

Lion of Judah used alot of words that in the end were utterly meaningless and irrelevant to your query.
You are inquiring about prayer's ability to change god's mind. If God is real and you pray to him about something that means alot to you, and it happens, does that mean god answered your prayer? If it doesn't happen do you say "the lord has another path for me?" This is complete nonsense, but it gives comfort to those that believe to maintain this line of thought otherwise they would start to doubt. You can claim his will be done and prayer is our way of finding out god's will, but you can still be the most pious human being on earth and still disagree with "god's plan". In the end, if you want to believe in a god that has no apparent care about what you want, but lets you gain comfort in asking him to change his mind, then go for it. There are terrible paradoxes to overcome and you need to be well practiced at Orwellian "doublethink" to maintain this belief.

Answer 4

10 Things God Can't Do
by Maise Sparks

God can't get tired.
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary.
—Isaiah 40:28


God can't take on a job he can't handle.
Ah, Lord God! Behold, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for you.
—Jeremiah 32:17


God can't be unholy.
And one cried to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!"
—Isaiah 6:3


God can't be prejudiced.
In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears him and works righteousness is accepted by him.
—Acts 10:34-35


God can't break a promise.
My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of my lips.
—Psalm 89:34


God can't remember sins he's chosen to forget.
I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins.
—Isaiah 43:25


God can't make a loser.
Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ.
—2 Corinthians 2:14


God can't abandon you.
Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, he is the one who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.
—Deuteronomy 31:6


God can't stop thinking about you.
How precious also are your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with you.
—Psalm 139:17-18


God can't stop loving you.
Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.
—Jeremiah 31:3

Answer 5

you've requested a question like this earlier... i am going to work out you've self belief strongly in some thing that you try to educate us. i imagine first we pray for ourselves... Prayer is continuously a form of work, and when we pray for ourselves we are operating for our own temporal and non secular salvation. when we experience that we've all we want (even if with the help of religious or temporal reward) the organic feeling is to wish for strategies to go back the pick, or for the flexibility to help different human beings. Praying to exhibit gratitude and to ask for God's ability to extra usefully serve Him IS an expression of a extra blessed religious state... yet all of us want to make steps in direction of that, and the first steps that human beings make are merely as mandatory because those that happen further alongside the direction. Prayers of religion are continuously strong, IMHO.

Answer 6

God will not change his rules, if he promised not to change them. He is all-powerfull, so keeping a promise to a little speck he made on one of the billions of things he created, is not very difficult. He won't lie, because he is loving and patient, and all-powerfull.

Yes, God can do whatever we propose if he wanted to, but he can't now, because he said he would not do miracles now. So since he does not lie, we have no miracles at this moment. But in the future, once he can do miracles again (he can always do miracles but he does not want to lie so he is waiting until later), he can easily use his power to help us.

Answer 7

God has the power to do all things. He cannot do evil for he cannot go against his own nature.

Answer 8

I don't believe God to be one to change his rules, in fact, the rules are great. I believe that God only wants for us to trust him to do what is best for us. In other words, build on faith and trust. Sometimes the things we want for ourselves may not be what is best for us so it takes faith to rely on him to make and help in the best way that he can

Answer 9

There are many things that God cannot do, like anything sinful. Why because it's against his nature. You're right.

Answer 10

Well if he was God, then obviously, if I use a Gameshark on a video game to cheat, I do whatever I want, so yes, he/she can