The Rev Dr Campbell Campbell-Jack continues his series on Christian Apologetics. Read Part 1 here.
Can God …?
Some unbelievers, strident atheists in particular, love ‘Gotcha’ challenges. These occur when an individual stumbles across a seeming conundrum which would apparently deny some aspect of the Christian faith. Some atheists don’t want an answer, they long to present the challenge to the believer with a triumphant ‘Gotcha’ at the end. Unfortunately for the militant atheist, they never work.
Recently a new Christian at church came to me with a question. Another student at college, on hearing he had become a Christian, asked my friend, ‘Can God create a stone which he cannot lift?’.
The challenge being that if God cannot create a stone he cannot lift then there is something beyond his power and he is not omnipotent. On the other hand, if God is able to create a stone he cannot lift then he is not all-powerful because he cannot lift the stone. The question is supposedly a refutation of God’s omnipotence, because either way it is answered, he is not all powerful: ‘Gotcha’.
Challenging logic, not God
This challenge was answered long ago. The stone question has a defective definition of omnipotence and relies on a misunderstanding of the nature of logic. Thomas Aquinas (1225-74) wrote that ‘whatever implies contradiction does not come within the scope of divine omnipotence, because it cannot have the aspect of possibility’. In other words, to say that God cannot do something which is logically impossible does not limit God’s power.
In other words, to say that God cannot do something which is logically impossible does not limit God’s power.
Omnipotence does not mean that God can do anything. Omnipotence means unlimited power, which Christians hold to be an attribute of God (Job 11:7-11, 37:23). It means that God can do anything which raw power can do. This does not mean that God can do just anything He might wish within His created universe. No amount of raw power can do something which is logically impossible. Even infinite power cannot do the logically contradictory. God cannot create a round triangle because it goes against logic; the terms used are self-contradictory. God is a God of reason and has created a reasonable universe. He is not a God of the absurd and illogical.
The stone challenge is self-contradictory. It requires an omnipotent God overpowering his own power. It is asking in effect, ‘Can God be omnipotent and not omnipotent at the same time?’ Clearly the answer is ‘No’. Clearly, this is not because God’s power is limited but because it requires a logical contradiction. The stone challenge is not really a task at all but a contradictory combination of words, a logical absurdity and – because of its illogicality – an empty challenge.
Because He’s perfect
There are many things which God cannot do, not because he is imperfect in some way, but because he is perfect. God cannot sin, he cannot blaspheme, lie, cheat or steal, owing to his moral perfection (Heb. 6:18; 2 Tim. 2:13; Titus 1:2). He cannot make an error in understanding any aspect of creation, such as mathematics, because he is the author of creation. He cannot cease to exist because he is the perfection of being who has existed in perfection from before the beginning of time. Finally, he cannot do the logically absurd because he is the creator of logic and reason and is perfectly logical.
The stone challenge is not really a task at all but a contradictory combination of words, a logical absurdity and – because of its illogicality – an empty challenge.
It is possible that the unbeliever could respond by saying, ‘That’s avoiding the question; you’ve just redefined omnipotence in order to rule out my challenge. Surely omnipotence, if it’s to mean anything, must include the impossible, even the logically impossible.’
Nonsensical questions
Once again, the atheist’s ‘Gotcha’ moment vanishes into thin air. If the logically impossible is included in the argument, we could simply agree that God can create a stone that he can’t lift but nevertheless he can lift it. When the atheist objects, ‘But that’s contradictory’, we could just point out that they have already argued that God should be able to do the logically impossible!
The challenge – asking if God’s omnipotence is such that he can overcome His own omnipotence – sneaks in an inherent contradiction. There is no ultimate answer to nonsense questions.
