{"id":1468,"date":"2011-04-28T20:06:11","date_gmt":"2011-04-29T00:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.fbclafayette.org\/?p=1468"},"modified":"2011-12-12T09:27:30","modified_gmt":"2011-12-12T14:27:30","slug":"can-god-make-a-stone-he-cannot-lift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/can-god-make-a-stone-he-cannot-lift\/","title":{"rendered":"Can God Make a Stone He Cannot Lift?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

This past Easter weekend, I had the awesome privilege of discussing Christianity with individuals from another country considering the claims of the Scripture upon their life.\u00a0 During the course of discussion, the individuals offered a question to me which they had been told undermined the notion of a God who is all powerful\u2014\u201cCan God make a stone so large that He cannot lift?\u201d<\/p>\n

That question is an excellent teaching tool for the existence of God, not evidence for the implausibility of an omnipotent God.<\/p>\n

The Flaw in the Question<\/h2>\n

When my son was around five years old, he was asked \u201cWhat do you want to be when you grow up?\u201d\u00a0 He boldly proclaimed, \u201cA dinosaur.\u201d \u00a0My son failed to comprehend something very important in reality\u2014a human can never be a real dinosaur!\u00a0 His youthful mind had no understanding of such logical contradictions.\u00a0 He would have probably not understood either that a square cannot be a circle.\u00a0 An elephant cannot be a mouse.\u00a0 My young son engaged in irrationality and “silliness” as he ignored the \u201claw of non-contradiction<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 The law of non-contradiction is reflected in the created order because it is sourced in the character of God.<\/p>\n

Something cannot be itself and not itself at the same time.\u00a0 \u201cTwo plus two equals five and two plus two equals four\u201d is a contradictory statement.\u00a0 The proposition \u201cGod is all powerful and NOT all powerful at the same time\u201d is a contradictory statement.\u00a0 The assumption behind the question is that God can do anything (He can make a huge stone).\u00a0 Yet the question goes on to imply that He cannot do something (He cannot lift it).\u00a0 The question combines two propositions that are mutually exclusive\u2014God can do all things and He cannot do all things.\u00a0\u00a0 Thus the question invites the responder to try to resolve a logical contradiction.\u00a0 The question is nonsensical just as my son’s wish to be a human and a dinosaur at the same time.<\/p>\n

Please note that violating logical contradictions is not the same as a miracle.\u00a0 Omnipotence in the Scripture is never defined as violating laws of logic.\u00a0 But that is a post for another day.<\/p>\n

Answering the Question<\/h2>\n

If the questioner continues to insist on irrationality and logically contradictory questions, then you combine contradictory propositions in a question back to the questioner.\u00a0 \u201cIf an all powerful God can create situations which he can\u2019t handle, then can He not also handle<\/em> situations which He cannot handle<\/em>?<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

After you point out that the questioner is adopting irrationality which children (and adults) often adopt, pose other questions, \u201cFrom where did \u2018logic\u2019 come?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cHow can a naturalistic, secular worldview account for the non-natural and transcendent laws of logic?\u201d\u00a0 It can\u2019t.\u00a0 Only the Christian Theistic worldview can.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This past Easter weekend, I had the awesome privilege of discussing Christianity with individuals from another country considering the claims of the Scripture upon their life.\u00a0 During the course of discussion, the individuals offered a question to me which they had been told undermined the notion of a God who is all powerful\u2014\u201cCan God make… read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[105],"tags":[4156,4255,4313,4314],"yoast_head":"\nCan God Make a Stone He Cannot Lift? - Faith Church Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/can-god-make-a-stone-he-cannot-lift\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Can God Make a Stone He Cannot Lift? - Faith Church Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This past Easter weekend, I had the awesome privilege of discussing Christianity with individuals from another country considering the claims of the Scripture upon their life.\u00a0 During the course of discussion, the individuals offered a question to me which they had been told undermined the notion of a God who is all powerful\u2014\u201cCan God make... read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/can-god-make-a-stone-he-cannot-lift\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faith Church Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-04-29T00:06:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-12-12T14:27:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/files\/2011\/04\/Can-God-Make-a-Stone-He-Cannot-Lift1-e1304017159609.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brent Aucoin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brent Aucoin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/can-god-make-a-stone-he-cannot-lift\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/can-god-make-a-stone-he-cannot-lift\/\",\"name\":\"Can God Make a Stone He Cannot Lift? - Faith Church Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-04-29T00:06:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-12-12T14:27:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/05b28a5b78c722884ce2c38fdbc64ebf\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/can-god-make-a-stone-he-cannot-lift\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/can-god-make-a-stone-he-cannot-lift\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/can-god-make-a-stone-he-cannot-lift\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Can God Make a Stone He Cannot Lift?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/\",\"name\":\"Faith Church Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/05b28a5b78c722884ce2c38fdbc64ebf\",\"name\":\"Brent Aucoin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20210309150430\/AucoinBrent2020.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20210309150430\/AucoinBrent2020.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Brent Aucoin\"},\"description\":\"Pastor Brent Aucoin serves as the Pastor of Seminary and Counseling Ministries at Faith Church. 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