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In connection with http://www.askphilosophers.org/question/2740, is there a similar objection (that it is not coherent) to the question "Can an all powerful God create a rock so heavy that he cannot lift it?"? Or does this paradox suggest that it is not reasonable to posit such a thing as an all powerful God?

Thanks in anticipation.

July 2, 2009

Response from Nicholas D. Smith on July 9, 2009
Philosophers have debated this sort of question, but I think the consensus is that the question is not coherent. Being "all-powerful" obviously does not mean being able to do what is logically impossible. Think, instead, of the concept as making God into a being who can do anything that can (in principle) be done. Since lifting a rock of any size can in principle be done, God can always lift the rock. But making a rock so big that it can't in principle be lifted makes no sense at all, hence God's not being able to do that is no indication of not being all powerful, it is just to recognize that the description" a rock so heavy that God can't lift it" is nonsense.

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