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| Quick Word: Atheists should not ask the heavy rock question about a god or God When I first started discussing the integrity of the god-concept held by Christians with my Christian friends and Christians on the Internet, I often brought up a point that seems very popular among atheists. However, it occurred to me one day that my point had no merit. The point I would bring up would be that of the heavy rock dilemma. If God is omnipotent, can He create a rock that even He cannot lift? At first it seems like a damning question, but it is not. An atheist may see this question as forming a paradox, but I assert that paradox is false. The perceived paradox is understood in the following manner: if God is all powerful he can do anything; yet, if God can create a rock that he cannot lift, he would no longer be all powerful. The paradox is false, because an important question that is hidden in the heavy rock query is overlooked. When asked if God can create a rock so heavy that he cannot lift it, the real question is can God strip himself of His omnipotence. The answer to that is simple: yes, He can. If God is all-powerful, then it would necessary that He possess the ability to strip Himself of that omnipotence. Whatever the method God uses to strip Himself of His omnipotence would be His prerogative. If God is omnipotence He has the ability to take away His own omnipotence. That is, if God is omnipotent, God has the ability to create a rock (or grain of sand) that He cannot lift, forfeiting his absolute power. If not for the rock question being a fallacy of asking a pointless question, I highly recommend my fellow atheists to avoid asking it for the reason I’ve discussed. It is essential that we remove arguments from our minds that are not intellectually honest or sound, if we are to expect our Christian (and other theist) friends to do the same when we are sharing ideas with one another. When an atheist asks whether or not God can create a rock that He cannot lift, he is doing so with the presupposition that the theist believes God (or his god) cannot lose His omnipotence. That presupposition is fallacious in and of itself--placing the heavy rock dilemma in the same class as the question asked of atheists: if there is no god, where did existence come from? Which presupposes that existence has or needs a creator. |