Could God create a rock so heavy He could not lift it? | GotQuestions.org

The Omnipotence Paradox and the Rock Question

Today's question is, could God create a rock so heavy He could not lift it? In this video I'll answer that question from a biblical perspective. Then afterwards, as always, I'll share some helpful resources, so stick around until the.

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This question is frequently asked by skeptics of God, the Bible, Christianity, etc. If God can create a rock that He cannot lift, then God is not omnipotent. If God cannot create a rock so heavy that He cannot lift, then God is not omnipotent.

According to this argument, omnipotence is self-contradictory. Therefore, God cannot be omnipotent. So the question, could God create a rock so heavy He could not lift it? The quick answer is no. But the explanation is far more important to understand than the answer.

What Omnipotence Means

This question is based on a popular misunderstanding about the definitions of words like Almighty or Omnipotent. These terms do not mean that God can do anything. Rather, they describe the amount of God's power.

Power is the ability to effect change, to make something happen. God being unlimited has unlimited power, and the Bible affirms this. Job 117 -11, 37 -23, 2 Corinthians 6 -18, Revelation 4 -8, etc. Therefore, God can do whatever is possible to be done.

God cannot, however, do that which is actually impossible. This is because true impossibility is not based on the amount of power one has, it is based on what is really possible. The truly impossible is not made possible by adding more power.

Therefore, unless context indicates otherwise—for example, Matthew 19, verse 26, where man's ability is being shown in contrast to God's—impossibility means the same thing whether or not God is involved.

What God Cannot Do

So, the first part of the question is based on a false idea that God being Almighty means that He can do anything. In fact, the Bible itself lists things God cannot do, like lie or deny Himself Hebrews 6, verse 18, 2 Timothy 2, verse 13, and Titus 1, verse 2.

The reason He cannot do these things is because of His nature and the nature of reality itself. God cannot do what is not actually possible to be done, like create a two-sided triangle or a married bachelor.

Just because words can be shrunk together this way does not make the impossible possible. These things are contradictions. They are truly impossible in reality. Now, what about this rock? A rock would have to be infinitely large to defeat an infinite amount of lifting power.

But an infinite rock is a contradiction, since material objects cannot be infinite. Only God is infinite. There cannot be two infinites. So, the question is actually asking if God can make a contradiction, which He cannot.

Resources and Closing

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