Please help me answer this question

[David]

The other day I was asked a tough question by my bible teacher.He asked me if God can make a rock he can't move.I thought about it for a long time but I could not come up with a definite answer to his question,It's been bugging me all week.Please help me out here. Can God make a rock he can't move?

[ClosetOtaku]

Answer: Making a rock so large that it's impossible to move is like insisting that God make a square circle; it is irrational. God is the God of the rational, ordered universe. It is an irrational request -- a logical impossibility -- and the question itself a product of a small mind bent on proving its superiority.

[Dante]

This is an infinite power which basiclly sums up to inifinity/inifinity which isn't neccesarily one. Let's say that the top infinity represents the power which God has and the bottom is the Energy required to move the rock. The question then becomes the following is God's infinite power greater then the infinite energy required to move the rock.

However, we will note that God is the source of all things in the universe, everything is in essence his original idea. Therefore, the very idea of infinity is definied by God, as he is the base by which all other values are measured. From this we see that for God to envision a rock which he could not move would require God to envision a rock with more power then him. And if we were to replace that rock with God himself we see that he could envision himself with more power then himself (at the present) and therefore could change into a version of himself with equal or greater power then the rock. Therefore it is never possible for God to create a rock the he himself cannot move.

Theres my two Cents.
God Bless you,
Pascal

[CDLviking]

The question violates the Law of Non-contradiction and is therefore invalid.

[Esoteric]

Ah yes, I remember C.S. lewis talking about this sort of thing in The Problem of Pain, ch2.

To summerize: "Omnipotence means power to do all that is intrinsically possible, not to do the intrinsically impossible....If you choose to say 'God can give a creature fee will and at the same time withhold free will from it', you have not succedded in saying anything about God: meaningless combinations of words do not suddenly acquire meaning simply because we prefix them with the two other words, 'God can'. ...nonsense is still nonsense, even when we talk it about God."

[Mr. SmartyPants]

But wouldn't God beable to like... do the unthinkable? I mean even with our brains, we are so limited. Wouldn't God beable to Do what seems to us impossile? Therefore being able to do the unrational? I believe there as an FiF song going like "No law of physics or nature could stop God" or something like that

[Maledicte]

Perhaps God doesn't feel like moving it, that's all.

[David]

My teachers always love to pick on me because I tend to dwell on questions I can't answer wich is why I might be posting much in this forum.Please have patience with me,I may be dumb but I know how to get help.I wish I had a deep wisdom of these type of things.I try but I end up thinking so much my head hurts.Thank you for helping out.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

God's got better things to do than move rocks all day.

[CDLviking]

Perhaps God doesn't feel like moving it, that's all.

It's a question of ability, not motivation.

[Kaligraphic]

Basically it's like the question, "What happens when an irresistable force meets an immovable object?" The nature of the question prohibits any answer from satisfying the conditions of the question.

Let's re-frame the rock question: "Is it possible for an all-powerful being to define an object which, by natural properties, said all-powerful being cannot move?" Well, let me see...

Is it possible to dig a hole so deep that no amount of material will fill it?

If I always achieve the desired result, what happens if I desire to achieve an undesired result?

If all colours of object have exactly equal weight, what colour of object weighs the most?

The answer is that the question itself is logically fallacious. It's called the Fallacy of Contradictory Premises. The actual power of God is irrelevent to the question. It's simply a question of the premises of the question itself.

A lot of Christians get caught in that question, thinking that they have to somehow defend God's power. It's not a question of power, it's simply a question of logic. Don't think that you have to defend God's omnipotence against every question - it's not like anybody can take it away from Him.

[Maledicte]

God's got better things to do than move rocks all day.

I concur.

[Nate]

Basically it's like the question, "What happens when an irresistable force meets an immovable object?" The nature of the question prohibits any answer from satisfying the conditions of the question.

It's like saying this:

"The statement below is false."

"The statement above is true."

Its simply a fallacy of definition. You are making a declarative statment, and then rendering the definition meaningless.

If there was such thing as an unstoppable force there would by definition be no immovable objects in existance. If an immovable object existed, then there would be no such thing as an unstoppable force. The definition of either object negates the other. Its a nonsense statement.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

But isn't God like.... even more awesomer than Human logic? I mean if we met an alienw ith 7 brains or something, and he gave us an answer, we would be too stupid to understand... and our heads would explode. It would be like trying to teach a dog trigonometry or something