Can God Make a Rock So Big He Can’t Move It?

Apparently back in the olden days you had to get naked before you could move giant rocks around.

Do you have a good answer to the question?

If you answer yes, then God cannot be omnipotent because he cannot move his own rock.  If you answer no, then God cannot be omnipotent because there’s something he can’t make.  Either way, it seems, God cannot be omnipotent.

There are several ways around the paradox.

My friend and mentor, Michael Fisher, answers conclusively no, because God’s not dumb.  Why would he want to make a rock so big he couldn’t move it?

My friend, Rico Ignace, who has his Ph.D. in astronomy, asks: under what conditions? Once an object reaches a certain mass, the laws of physics cause it to implode upon itself.

The standard philosophical answer is that omnipotence doesn’t mean the ability to do anything, only anything which is logically possible.  God cannot make 1 + 1 = 3; he cannot draw a picture of a square that is also a circle (in the same sense that it is a square); and he cannot make a rock so big he can’t move it.  A logical impossibility is not a true limit on God.

Perhaps you’re not convinced.  Let’s say God is unable to make a rock so big he can’t move it, and I concede that this does in fact make him somehow less than omnipotent.  Even still, this question must be answered: in what practical sense does this differ from actual omnipotence?  The only thing God can’t do is become less powerful.

But let’s move past the verbal games.  I’m convinced that omnipotence is not the right place to start in our thinking about God.  A better place to start is his character: merciful, compassionate, just, forgiving (Exodus 34.6-7).  Besides, the Bible explicitly says God cannot do some things: he cannot lie (Hebrews 6.18), he cannot deny himself (2 Timothy 2.13), etc.

Christians have always believed that God is most fully revealed in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, in his death and resurrection. We believe that, paradoxically, God’s power is best seen in his subjection to humility.

The Bible doesn’t answer all our questions.  But if you give it a chance, you’ll find that the Christian worldview offers challenging responses to nearly any intellectual attack you care to bring against it.

Can God make a rock so big he can’t move it?  If you are only asking in order to get out of having to take the God question seriously, allow me to suggest that God’s desire is to move you closer to himself.  But he will not overpower you to do it.  Perhaps you are the rock that God cannot move.

How to Be a Christian Without Being Religious

If there’s anything that makes me sick, it’s religious people.  I have surprised a lot of people when I’ve made this statement, especially considering I’m a pastor.  But so many of the things that turn off skeptics to Christianity stem from people trying to be religious.  And it’s just garbage.

In 1944, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “To be a Christian does not mean to be religious in a particular way, to make something of oneself (e.g., a sinner, a penitent, or a saint) on the basis of some method or other, but to be a man—not a type of man, but the man that Christ creates in us.” (Letters and Papers From Prison, p. 190)

Today it is common parlance among evangelists to declare that Christianity is not a religion because religion is “what you do to get to God,” while Christianity is “what God did to get to you.”  And while this is basically true, it is somewhat misleading.  God does require certain things from believers, and though good works will never get you to God, they are an indication that an inward change has taken place, and that God has “gotten to you.”

In fact, the need for some sort of religion is biblical.  James 1.26-27 says, “If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.  Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

The word religion in this passage is the Greek Θρησκεια (threskeia), which BDAG defines as “expression of devotion to transcendent beings, esp. as it expresses itself in cultic rites, worship.” So for James, the proper way to express Θρησκεια towards God, the proper rite or ritual, is not putting on robes, lighting candles. burning incense, or chanting; it is helping the less fortunate and living in purity.  In other words, love God with your whole being and love your neighbor as yourself.

The fact is that Christianity requires a measure of religion, of outward actions.  The very fact that we must function together as a community demands it.  The problem is that our natural inclination is to pull religion away from right living and to put the emphasis on empty ritual or dead theology.

Jesus had all kinds of things to say about it.  Matthew 6.1 is representative, though the entire passage is relevant.  He says, “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.”  The key that makes true religion work is relationship with God.  As soon as you forget God but keep going through the motions, you have become religious in the worst sense.

God help us if we become so comfortable with religion that we no longer need Him as we go through the motions.

The #1 Secret of Spiritual Christians

Do you know what thing is most likely to cause you to crash and burn in your life?

There’s two kinds of people in church: spiritual people, and people who are just pretending to be spiritual.  Last week I had the honor of guest preaching, and I shared the #1 Secret of Spiritual Christians.  Click here to download the mp3.

Four main streams of New Testament Christianity converge on how they answer the question of what it means to be “spiritual”.  You can make sure that you are a spiritual Christian instead of just pretending to be one.  The sermon was preached in the context of our local church community, so I am able to take a number of things for granted.  Specifically, I am assuming that my listeners want to respond to the Biblical message.  But even if you’re not a Christian, take a listen and give me your feedback.

You can also visit the Cornerstone Church Sermon Archive for streaming audio and powerpoint of the sermon, as well as all the sermons from other spiritual Christians that have preached throughout the year.

 

Do you know what sin is most likely to cause you to crash and burn in your Christian life?

Imagine standing before the judgment seat of Christ as He examines your heart.  He’s looking to see if He was truly Lord of your life.  He examines all of your actions, your words, your thoughts, your motives.  He’s looking to see if you’ve become like Him.  He’s looking for one thing.

There’s two kinds of people in church: spiritual people, and people who are just pretending to be spiritual.  Today we’re going to look at the #1 secret of Spiritual Christians, and how you can make sure you are one, instead of just pretending to be spiritual.