Feedback: Can God Create A Rock So Big He Can’t Lift It?
Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI
Biblical Authority Ministries, June 22, 2025 (Donate)
Letter,
unedited:
An atheist friend of mine once asked me a baffling question—one to
which I could not respond any other way.
“According to the Bible God is Omnipotent, he is All Powerful.
. . . Could God create a rock so heavy that he could not lift it?” I
answered No, and then he laughed and said, Well if he can’t create a rock so
heavy that he can’t lift it, then isn’t he logically NOT Omnipotent? This
question has left me in deep prayer and concern, even though I know that God is
beyond our understanding. What can I say that challenges this atheist’s claim?
M.R., U.S.
Response:
Thank you for
contacting the ministry with an oft-used challenge question: Can God create
a rock so big He can’t lift it?
For this to
be a valid question, God would need to be bound by the laws of gravity.
Obviously, God is not bound by His creation (i.e., gravity), as it is part of
the universe He created. This is like asking on what page of Shakespeare’s Hamlet can we find
Shakespeare? It is an illogical question. One could argue that Shakespeare’s
characteristics are in the play, but he, as the playwright, is certainly not
bound by the pages of his work.
In other
words, this question first assumes that gravity is greater than God. How can
something God creates be greater than God? The assumption is illogical right
from the start, and thus the question is illogical right from the start—this is
called the contrary-to-the-premise fallacy. Since this question assumes God is
bound to His creation, it cannot be referring to the Creator God of the Bible.
One way to reveal this fallacy when someone asks this question is to ask:
“What
‘god’ are you talking about?”
They
will probably respond: “The God of the Bible” (as this person apparently
intended).
Then you can respond: “The God of
the Bible is not bound by His creation, and since this question has this ‘god’
bound by gravity, it cannot be referring to the God of the Bible.”
Along a
similar line, a coworker relayed this conversation to me that she had with her
ten-year-old daughter: She asked “Can God lie?” to which I said “No.” Then she
asked, “Can't He do anything?” and I said “Yes, but He wouldn't want to lie.”
Then she asked, “Well, could He if He wanted to?” to which I replied, “He
wouldn't want to.” But she kept asking, “But what if He wanted to.”
So I answered,
“According to the biblical account of His character, He wouldn't want to and He
wouldn't. Whether or not He could is a question that misses the point.
The answer is He wouldn't want to and so He would not, and that’s the end of
it.”
Additional to
the general biblical account of God’s character indicating He would not lie is Hebrews 6:18, which says it is
impossible for God to lie. Remember that God is not like us, and even when God
the Son was in human form on the earth, He was tempted in all ways as we are,
yet He did not sin (Hebrews 4:15).
Always examine the logic behind these sorts of questions; you will find that
these sorts of challenges don’t stand up to logic or scrutiny.
But consider
the converse, if there was no God of the Bible . . . would logic
exist and, furthermore, would existence exist? The sheer fact that people try
to use logic to argue “there is no God” undercuts the very worldview they
profess to follow. Keep proclaiming the truth. With kindness, God bless.
Originally
here: https://answersingenesis.org/who-is-god/a-rock-so-big/; Edited;
Republished by permission.
