If God is omnipotent can He create something so heavy that even He couldn't pick it up?

For the sake of the question, it is assumed, at least hypothetically, that God as an omnipotent Being exists. According to the nature of God as dictated by the question, the following is offered:

Philosophical Considerations

The question is extremely old and has been addressed by philosophical disciplines of Logic and Metaphysics over the millennia. According to these disciplines of human reason the question makes two erroneous assumptions:

1. That an absence of ability should itself be considered as ability.

2. That there is something greater than infinity.

The statement that God is almighty applies to only perfections, not imperfections for an imperfection is a privation of power, not the possession of it. Since God has no weaknesses or imperfections, He is unable by His very nature to create a piece of matter that He cannot master or manipulate according to His Will. In other words, God is "limited" by the nature of perfection and omnipotence.

Most major Christian bodies that have developed theologies espouse the above philosophical premises and base their metaphysics upon it. However, the above premises are pre-Christian, having been heavily developed by the Greeks and are not proper to the Christian religion.

Omnipotence Paradox

Although considered a logical fallacy by the above philosophical disciplines and many philosophical schools, the omnipotence paradox continues to fascinate people. The omnipotence paradox states that if the being can perform proposed actions, then it can limit its own ability and hence it cannot perform all actions, yet, on the other hand, if it cannot limit its own actions, then that is something it cannot do and hence it is not omnipotent.

Opinions on the 'Omnipotence Paradox'

• It's not a paradox! If an omnipotent divine architect created an object with the specification that they could not move it then it wouldn't be relevant at all because the architect could just move everything else in the universe around it.
• The above point makes it a question of relativity and experience, but I think, according to science and philosophy, the rock has not moved, only its relations to other objects have changed. If an object is defined by relations, then it has moved, if it is defined by itself, it has not.
• By definition it has moved because it has changed its position within space which is a component of 'everything else in the universe'
  
• I argue that the question is not a paradox in that a paradox is 'a statement that contradicts itself'. The statement doesn't contradict itself because I think it possible that this 'immovable' object could exist.
• God has unlimited power. That simply is the answer! The concept of unlimited is beyond our grasp!
• This question cannot be answered by a human mind. We cannot grasp this concept because it is above our thinking. I'd say only God knows
• J.L. Cowan attempts to resolve the paradox in "The Paradox of Omnipotence Revisited." He proposes the following:

1. Either God can create a stone which He cannot lift, or He cannot create a stone which He cannot lift.

2. If God can create a stone which He cannot lift, then He is not omnipotent (since He cannot lift the stone in question).

3. If God cannot create a stone which He cannot lift, then He is not omnipotent (since He cannot create the stone in question).

4. Therefore God is not omnipotent.

However, the question itself is thought by many to be essentially nonsensical - an illogical concept, like a square circle. C.S. Lewis took this stance, and asserted that therefore, there is only a perceived paradox, and God may once again be thought of as omnipotent.

Biblical Considerations

• Matt. 19:26 Jesus said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
• The Bible says that there are only two things that God cannot do. One is, he cannot lie (Numbers 23:19). The other is he cannot die (Rev 15:3). Since he is a spirit, living in the spirit realm, there would not be any point with regard to making a rock that he cannot pick up. The biggest rock that we humans have direct contact with is the Earth itself. The Bible writer Isaiah, however, wrote 2700 years ago about the "sphere (or circle) of the Earth."(Isaiah 40:22) 3500 years ago, Job spoke of the Earth as "hanging upon nothing(Job 26:7)," that is, having no visible means of support.
• Like C.S. Lewis said, it is really a paradox, a paradox that was aimed toward scandalizing the faithful, much like the questions posed by the Pharisees and the Sadducee's to Christ in the New Testament.

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First answer by Traz. Last edit by Traz. Contributor trust: 149 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 2 [recommend question]