“Can God really do anything? If so, can He create a rock so huge that not even He can not push it?”
This is not an original question. Indeed, the question may be as old as God Himself. Still, some people think that when they pose the question, you are going to fall out of your chair because you have never heard it before. They believe they are quite clever just for asking it. I do not mean to generalize all skeptics. Certainly, others are being sincere when they pose the question.
My answer is going to surprise you. No, God cannot do anything. There, I said it. Christians may be as startled as anyone else by such a response.
It’s true that the Bible rejoices in God’s marvelous abilities which are so far beyond ours that the ancient Hebrews, in their hyperbole, often spoke of God’s omnipotence. However,when the Bible tells us that God can do anything, it means God can do anything that’s possible to do. That even includes miracles. They may be beyond our limited understanding, but God knows things about science that we have not yet attained. So, yes, God does miracles, because it is possible to do miracles. But some things are impossible, even for God. Don’t forget, this same Bible goes out of its way to teach that God can never be evil. In fact, He cannot even be tempted by evil (James 1:13). Doesn’t this make sense? Can God be one-hundred percent good and one-hundred percent evil at the same time? No, He cannot. That a good God cannot be an evil God is rather obvious, but even if we wanted to enter this discussion with moral neutrality, such a phenomenon could never exist according to logic. How can any being be one-hundred percent of one thing and one-hundred percent of something else at the same time? It’s like saying the color of blood is one-hundred percent red and one hundred percent green (paying homage to Vulcans).
The same holds true for the rock illustration. It posits a God who can do anything and then, in His omnipotence, arranges matters so that He cannot do anything. C.S. Lewis gave the best answer I have ever heard for this kind of question: “Nonsense is nonsense, even when we are talking about God.”
This is Bob Siegel, (with a little help from C.S. Lewis) making the obvious, obvious.
NOTE: Jesus’ temptation does not contradict my essay above. Although God by identity, Jesus had emptied Himself of God’s form and power. In short, Jesus became a real man with all the limitations of a man, including, the ability to be tempted. He did not sin, but He was tempted. God, in His true form, cannot be tempted.
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