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Can God Create a Stone which He cannot Lift
Some of the various arguments for atheism claim that the concept
of God is
incoherent, that there are logical problems with the existence of
such a
being. Perhaps the best known of these is the paradox of the
stone: Can God
create a stone so heavy that he cannot lift it?
Either God can create such a stone or he can’t. If he can’t, the
argument
goes, then there is something that he cannot do, namely create the
stone,
and therefore he is not omnipotent.
If he can, it continues, then there is also something that he
cannot do,
namely lift the stone, and therefore he is not omnipotent.
Either way, then, God is not omnipotent. A being that is not
omnipotent,
though, is not God. God, therefore, does not exist.
Problems With the Paradox of the Stone
Although this simple argument may appear compelling at first
glance, there
are some fundamental problems with it. Before identifying these
problems,
however, it is necessary to make clear what is meant by
“omnipotence”.
Christian philosophers have understood omnipotence in different
ways. Reni
Descartes though of omnipotence as the ability to do absolutely
anything.
According to Descartes, God can do the logically impossible; he
can make
square circles, and he can make 2 + 2 = 5.
Thomas Aquinas had a narrower conception of omnipotence. According
to
Aquinas, God is able to do anything possible; he can part the red
sea, and
he can restore the dead to life, but he cannot violate the laws of
logic and
mathematics in the way that Descartes thought that he could.
If Descartes’ conception of omnipotence is correct, then any
attempt to
disprove God’s existence using logic is hopeless. If God can do
the
logically impossible, then he can both create a stone so heavy
that he
cannot lift it, and lift it, and so can do all things. Yes,
there’s a
contradiction in this, but so what? God can, on this understanding
of
omnipotence, make contradictions true.
Descartes’ understanding of omnipotence therefore doesn’t seem to
be
vulnerable to the paradox of the stone. Descartes can answer the
question
Yes without compromising divine omnipotence.
Aquinas’ understanding of omnipotence, which is more popular than
that of
Descartes, also survives the paradox of the stone. For if God
exists then he
is a being that can lift all stones. A stone that is so heavy that
God
cannot lift it is therefore an impossible object. According to
Aquinas’
understanding of omnipotence, remember, God is able to do anything
possible,
but not anything impossible, and creating a stone that God cannot
lift is
something impossible.
Aquinas can therefore answer the question No without compromising
divine
omnipotence.
The paradox of the stone, then, can be resolved; it fails to show
that there
is an incoherence in the theistic conception of God, and so fails
to
demonstrate that God does not exist. (By an unknown Author)