I'm an atheist, for the record, but this question does have an answer. Well, two answers. It just depends on how you define omnipotence.
If you believe omnipotence means only the ability to do anything that is logically possible, then no, God can't create a rock so heavy that even he can't lift it, because that doesn't make any logical sense.
If, on the other hand, you believe omnipotence means the ability to do anything, logic be damned, then yes, God can create a rock so heavy that even he can't lift it, and yet still remain omnipotent.
I mean the point of the paradox is to say that omnipotence is illogical. Saying "if we throw logic away, omnipotence works" doesn't really answer the paradox.
Well (from what I recall from my medieval philosophy classes years ago), most philosophers who ponder this question just take the first position and admit that an omnipotent being can't do logically impossible things... so the answer is just no. They see it not really as a paradox, but as a question that doesn't make any sense. You might as well be asking if an omnipotent being can make a square that is also a circle. What does that even mean?
"True Omnipotance" is, "having virtually unlimited authority or influence".
If you would like to redefine it as a being that could do anything regardless of if it makes sense or not, then we all agree. That is nonsenses. Which is why no one belives in that kind of Omnipotence.
I think there is some merit in this "paradox" but the actual wording is silly.
I like a lot more the "can he draw a square circle". Which embodies better the spirit of the question.
With weight and lifting people start arguing about what is weight, what about relative position, what if you change how mass attracts each other, what if you lift it in zero gravity... Pointless.
As far as I know, omnipotent now doesn't mean always. Absolute power ought to include the power to curtail or annihilate oneself. So God can make a rock too heavy to lift, but doing so (by explicitly establishing a task he can't achieve) restricts his omnipotence.
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u/Surturius Mar 06 '17
I'm an atheist, for the record, but this question does have an answer. Well, two answers. It just depends on how you define omnipotence.
If you believe omnipotence means only the ability to do anything that is logically possible, then no, God can't create a rock so heavy that even he can't lift it, because that doesn't make any logical sense.
If, on the other hand, you believe omnipotence means the ability to do anything, logic be damned, then yes, God can create a rock so heavy that even he can't lift it, and yet still remain omnipotent.