How would you answer the following question?
THE QUESTION
CAN GOD MAKE A ROCK SO BIG THAT HE CANNOT LIFT IT?
THE EXPLANATION
The answer that is expected is either a
Yes
or a
No.
Either answer leaves one in an apparent dilemma, and there seems to be no way out.
If he answers “Yes, God is able to make
a giant rock but He will not be able to lift it” then God seems to have
one kind of Omni-attribute: Creative, but not another: Power to Lift. If
he answers “No, God is not able to make a huge rock which He cannot
lift” then again God is not omnipotent because He lacks the necessary
creative powers to create large rocks.
In either case, God is
not only NOT omnipotent, He can be stymied by an object which He has
created!! Thus lacking the powers of omnipotence, we must conclude that
He is not a real God. Or, if He exists, he is
lacking certain powers of omnipotence which we always assumed He possessed.
Should we not then question His other assumed
attributes or even His existence??
The question must be rendered harmless in a
definitive way, to disarm enemies of theism.
THE SOLUTION
The problem with the question is that it
contains a fallacy within itself that is not evident at first sight.
Can God, who is infinitely powerful, create
another infinitely heavy object, which presumably He would not be able
to lift?
The first part of the question assumes that there exists one
omnipotent being, because when we say God, we mean a single, unique
being with Omni attributes. But then the second part of the question
assumes that there are at least two of these omnipotent beings.
That is, The questioner is really asking,
Can God create another God whose powers exceed His own?
In expanded form, the question becomes: Can God, of whom we
accept to be only ONE of in existence, (of course this part is not
verbalized!) -- the only one who is Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent,
etc., the only being who is, by definition, Eternal and UNCREATED,
CREATE another God, a second God, who is also Omnipotent, Omniscient
etc.?
This is a
fallacious question because the definition of the word “God” has changed
in mid-sentence.
The response should be another question:
What is your definition of God, an
UNCREATED or CREATED being?
If this god is a Created being, then that
is not the real God, because its Creator is the one we want to talk
about. A created being implies a Creator, who is always greater than the
created. Thus a created god is Not God.
If God is Uncreated, then the fallacy of
the question becomes obvious, because the question in its simplest form
is:
“Can an Uncreatable being be Created?”
Our terms must always be clearly defined to
avoid such errors.
Other variations of what are called Omnipotence Paradoxes exist, such as:-
Can God Commit Suicide? or
Can God make a Round Square?
All of them are based upon the misuse of words.
Questions that have been
used to try and discredit Theism are found to be Fatally Flawed challenges.
