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04082015CanGodCreateARockSoBigThatHeCantPickItUpDonRuhl

Can God Create a Rock So Big that He Can’t Pick It Up? 

Luke 1.37

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • April 8, In the year of our Lord, 2015

  1. This, and similar questions, is a favorite of atheists. 
    1. What is their motivation? What are they trying to do with the question?
    2. They read passages like Luke 1.37, and
      1. they hear us argue for an omnipotent God, and
      2. so they think they have Him, or us, on the horns of a dilemma.
        1. If we answer yes, what does that imply?
        2. If we answer no, what does that imply?
      3. Either way they believe that they have demonstrated
        1. God does not exist, or
        2. He is not omnipotent, but
          1. if He is not omnipotent,
          2. He is not God.
    3. How shall we understand
      1. passages like Luke 1.37 and
      2. the overall teaching of the omnipotence of God?
        1. Remember that the Bible writers write with versification.
        2. Therefore, we have to understand everything by its context.
          1. What is the context of Luke 1.37?
          2. What is the entire biblical context for the omnipotence of God?
            1. Can God do anything that would violate who He is?
            2. For example, can He sin?
              1. Titus 1.2
              2. Hebrews 6.18
                1. Why is it impossible for God to lie?
                2. God is holy and He is truth.
                  1. If He could lie,
                  2. He would cease to be God.
    4. If we say He cannot sin, or cannot create a logical contradiction,
      1. does that mean He is not all-powerful?
      2. No, not at all.
    5. I also wonder whether atheists ask the question to show off.
  2. How do we answer or deal with their question? 
    1. First, you do not have to answer every question you are asked.
      1. Jesus did not answer all questions – Mark 14.60
      2. Also, if someone can ask us questions, we can ask them questions – Mark 11.27–33
      3. Acts 26.4
    2. Can the question of the atheist be answered?
      1. If not, why not?
      2. It is a logical contradiction.
        1. God is also a God of truth.
        2. Therefore, He cannot make a contradiction, even as He cannot sin.
    3. Creating a rock so big that cannot be lifted,
      1. implies that this is done in the realm of gravity.
      2. Gravity is a law of nature.
        1. He is outside of nature, having created it.
        2. Isaiah 40.12; 48.13