I think I was in grade 11 or 12 when this happened. I was talking to some atheist acquaintance of mine who decided to prove to me that God didn't exist. The conversation went a little something like this:
Atheist Guy: So you believe in God, right?
Tim: Yah.
AG: And you think God is all powerful, right?
T: Yah.
AG: So, can God create a rock that is so big even he can't lift it?
T: Huh?
And that was about it. I was so taken off guard by this obviously inane question that I had no idea what to say... and my 
acquaintance won the day.
[I know he's not God but don't you just love my picture of an ultra ripped Atlas holding up the world... that's the best I could come up with.]
By now I've heard a number of other variations of this question:
"Can God create a 'round' square?"
"Can God create a 'person' who isn't a person?"
They are all the same silly pointless question just phrased a little differently. Now that I'm at least a little bit more clever than I was back then I would just answer, "Nope" and be done with it.
While some people may be uncomfortable saying that God has limitations I think that it's pretty obvious from scripture that he does. After all, in Hebrews 6:18 it says that, "...it is impossible for God to lie..." And look at 2 Timothy 2:13 - "...if we are faithless, he remains faithful -- for he cannot deny himself."
God has very clear limitations. He cannot be self-contradictory. For him to be self-contradictory would mean that he would cease to be who he is... God! That is why God cannot lie; he is the source and personification of all truth.
Have you ever had conversations like this? How did it go?
What other variations of this question have you heard?
How do we reconcile the two ideas of an all powerful God and a God that has limitations?
4 comments:
I had someone ask me that rock question once and I think I answered, "What would be the point?" It seemed like a useless question to me, why would God need a rock that big? But I like your suggestion that God is not limitless. Although, if you think about it, did he not choose his limits? For example, he could lie, but then, as you say, he would no longer be the amazing God of the Bible. So don't you think he chose to limit himself to truth to be who he is? Or do you think he has always just had limits and can not cross them?
Yeah, this is a tough one.
As a human there is nothing I can do that would make me "unhuman" (inhumane maybe but I can't cease to be human)... but humans are created.
Is God the same way? There's nothing He can do that would make Him cease to be God? By the very nature of His Godliness He can't behave in any "Godless" ways?
I dunno.
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