Can God create a rock he can't lift? The answer may surprise you!
No apologies for the title. I'm idiotically enamored of clickbait taglines.
So, here's the thing. We've all heard the above question. Hell, we've probably even uttered it aloud at some point in our journey. But I actually started to think about it (like, REALLY think about it) today, and I realized that there is a definitive, logically-consistent answer to the question! I think. I mean, if anyone wants to pick apart what I'm about to lay down, then you're absolutely welcome to!
It kicks off with two premises, and they should be pretty easy to accept in the context of this thought experiment:
1.) God is what I like to call "Far Side God." He's an old guy with a big white beard and a toga and magical powers. I think this is what most people default to when they think of God, so it shouldn't be an issue. Swap genders and insert your ethnicity of choice if you like. Doesn't matter as long as we've got our anthropomorphic sky wizard in play here.
2.) An inertial frame of reference is necessary for any discussion of motion. Shouldn't be an issue accepting this premise, since all of Newtonian physics is based on it.
ON TO THE FUN PART!
So God hears some newbie atheist ask the rock-question for the umpteen-millionth time, and he's all like, "You know what, dammit, I'm going to settle this once and for all!" So he gathers some matter together, smushes it into a rock, and gives it a heft. No real surprise, he can lift it. He reaches out, scoops up some more matter and squidges it into the ever-expanding rock. Can he still lift it? Yep. Anyway, this continues, iteration by iteration, until he has finally gathered every speck of matter in the universe. It's just God and the rock. He rolls up his toga sleeves, grasps the rock and suddenly realizes, to his dismay, that without an inertial frame of reference, he can't tell whether he's lifting the rock or sliding himself under it! Either interpretation is equally valid.
So. Can God create a rock so big that even he can't lift it?
Looks like the answer is yes. 
7
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9 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.You left out the premise that makes it a paradox. If God can do anything, can he make a rock he can't lift. You came up with an answer of ; Yes. So, that means he can't lift it which is something he can't do. But if you change your answer to ;No. That means he can't make it which is something he can't do. Either way you answer negates the premise of God can do anything. I love this paradox. It played a pivotal role in my awakening into my present disbelief.
TommyMeador
Level 7
Jan 12, 2018
1
If he smashed all matter into a rock no one would even be there to even see or care that he lifted it or not.
HeathenFarmer
Level 8
Jan 9, 2018
0
It's an unanswerable question because it's the wrong question. We tend to create our own impossibilities in an effort to solve them. But, our understanding is too limited to even ask the right questions.
I can give you a simple scenario that you can't disprove using everyday logic.
If I drop a pencil, it will never hit the floor because, before it hits the floor, it must first travel half of the distance between my hand and the floor. Then it must travel half of the remaining distance. And, as long as you can divide the remaining distance in half, the pencil will never actually touch the floor.
Duke
Level 8
Jan 7, 2018
1
The fallacy in your pencil-drop thought experiment (a variation of Zeno's paradox) is time. If you were to graph what you described, the distance between the pencil and the floor would asymptotically approach zero, but you would see that you have also put a limit on time. Graphing it with linear passage of time would show the pencil quickly reaching a distance from the floor that, for practical purposes, we would call zero.
But it doesn't end there, because in fact, at an atomic level, the pencil never will quite touch the floor.
@cmadler - this is interesting, because we know from observation that the pencil does actually contact the floor. We can hear the results of that contact from the vibrations set up in the air from the physical collision of the pencil with the floor. The sound waves from that collision also have to travel half the distance to our ears, then half that distance again, etc.. but the sound waves eventually reach our ears.
So I dealt with that question half a century ago. Same result back then... but keep trying god they been doing miracles with steroids, hormones, etc I recommend a russian doctor.
GipsyOfNewSpain
Level 9
Jan 5, 2018
0
So I question your "inertial frame"
At the point where "God" has gathered all of the mass... well, space will be very seriously curved so God might get sucked into the resulting black hole.
marmot84
Level 7
Jan 4, 2018
1
There is a few things God can not stop or have control. Like Satan and chariots of fire.
Some things I have better control than God. Like. Anger, hate, jealousy, fear and whole loot of other emotions. Plus, a poor money manger.
Castlepaloma
Level 8
Jan 4, 2018
1
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