Blog: Max Dawson
October 26, 2015
About 30 years ago when the Dowlen Road Church still had its radio broadcast, a caller called in one of the more unusual questions that I fielded in more than 3,000 broadcasts.
He asked, “Can God make a rock that is so big He cannot lift it?”
How would you answer?
Whatever you may think about God and Him being the all-powerful Creator, the question itself is one of absurdity.
Atheists like to ask Christians question like this. And, sometimes, Christians are completely stumped looking for answers. If you answer “yes,” then you deny God’s power to lift the rock. If you answer “no” then you deny God’s power to make the rock.
But the question cannot have a “yes” or “no” answer because there are fallacies in the question itself. It is self-contradictory. It imposes conditions that can never exist. It is actually one of a group of pseudo-questions. The problem is not in God. The problem is in the question itself–or in the questioner. The question has nothing to do with God’s power. Instead, it is really about logic and consistency.
Ponder the following questions and statements:
“Can God draw a circle that is perfectly square?”
“Can God make a stick that has only one end on it?”
“What does the color blue smell like?”
“How much does the number 12 weigh?”
“There were these two boys. Each was shorter than the other.”
Each of these are logical impossibilities. A circle is never square. A stick always has two ends. Colors have no smell. Numerical digits have no weight. The boys cannot be shorter than each other. Like the rock question, each of these are nonsense.
The question about God is really this: “Is God stronger than Himself?” To ask the question that way shows the absurdity and contradictory nature of the question(er).
Do you want it brought home a little closer? See how you answer this question:
“Have you stopped beating your grandma yet?”
Unless you have actually been beating granny, you cannot answer “yes” or “no.” To answer “yes” would imply that you have been beating her but have quit. To answer “no” is to imply that you have been beating her and are continuing to do so.
A FINAL WORD
It is still true that “All things are possible with God” (Matthew 19:26). That statement
means God can do anything that is logically possible and consistent with His nature.
But God will never violate His own nature. That is why the Bible says, “God cannot lie” (Titus 1:2). It is not consistent with His nature to lie. So, if you are looking for something God cannot do, there you have it. God cannot deny Himself or His own nature (2 Timothy 2:13).
Furthermore, God cannot do that which is logically or rationally impossible. There is no defect in His power in that regard. All questions in this area have nothing at all to do with God’s power, but are loaded questions that are self-contradictory.
Bottom line: Trust God. Whatever He has said He would do, He will do. But He is under no obligation to climb into the supposed traps men try to set for Him as they ask illogical, contradictory questions. Let’s not climb into those traps either.
Blessings to all,
–Max