“So God has given both His promise and His oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to Him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us” (Hebrews 6:18 NLT).
We can find a good example of a false argument as it relates to the existence of an omnipotent God in the form of the following question: “Can God make a rock so big that He can’t move it?” This question appears to present an insurmountable dilemma for those who seek to answer it. For example…
- If God can make a rock so big that He can’t move it, then He is not all-powerful.
- If God can’t make a rock so big that He can’t move it, then He is not all-powerful.
Since God is all-powerful by definition, this question seems to eliminate the possibility of an omnipotent Being. Thus, it appears to preclude the existence of an all-powerful God.
Although this may seem to be a reasonable question, a serious flaw emerges if we consider it more closely. For instance, how big a rock is necessary to prevent God from moving it? Well, a rock of that magnitude would have to surpass the infinite power of God. So, in essence, the questioner is asking if God can create a rock that is greater than His infinite ability to lift it. This creates a scenario where the following conditions exist:
- A Being with infinite power (God).
- An object possesses something greater than infinite power, at least in one respect (a rock).
In other words, this question encompasses a logical impossibility- a situation where God holds the most power but does not hold the most power at the same time. As mentioned in our previous study, this basic idea is sometimes rephrased in the following manner: “Can God move an immovable object?” The problem is that the ability of an immovable object to remain stationary must exceed God’s infinite power to move it. Since nothing exceeds infinite power, the question is inherently self-defeating. (1)
We should also remember that rocks are not infinitely heavy by nature. While we may debate the characteristics of a rock, an infinitely heavy rock would no longer be a rock; it would be something else. The same is true for any other material object we might choose to substitute for a rock.
So, these types of questions are internally self-destructive. Therefore, a person who asks them in seeking to eliminate the possibility of an omnipotent God should reconsider their self-defeating nature.
(1) We might attempt to escape this conclusion by redefining God as a Being with less-than-infinite power. However, such a being would no longer be God. He/she/it would then be a demigod, or a being with superhuman power or ability.