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God can not do something that is a violation of his nature and character. Therefore, He cannot make a rock so big he can't pick up, or make something bigger than Himself, etc. But, not being able to do this does not mean He is not God, nor that He is not omnipotent. Omnipotence is not the ability to do anything conceivable, but the ability to do anything consistent with His nature and consistent with His desire within the realm of His unlimited and universal power which we do not possess. This does not mean He can violate His own nature. If He did something inconsistent with His nature, then He would be self-contradictory. If God were self- contradictory, He would not be true. Likewise, if He did something that violated His nature, like make a rock so big He couldn't pick it up, He would also not be true since that would be a self- contradiction. Since truth is not self-contradictory, neither is God, if He were not true, then He would not be God. But God is true and not self-contradictory. Therefore, God cannot do something that violates His own nature.

Another way to look at it is to realize that in order for God to make something so big He couldn't pick it up, He would have to make a rock bigger than Himself. Since He is infinite in size, He would have to make something that would be bigger than Himself. Since it is His nature to be the biggest thing in existence because He created all things, He cannot violate His own nature by making a rock that is larger than He.

Also, since a rock, by definition, is not infinitely big, then it isn't logically possible to make a rock, something that is finite in size, be infinite in size (no longer a rock) since only God is infinite in size. At dictionary.com, a rock is defined as a "Relatively hard, naturally formed mineral or petrified matter; stone. a) A relatively small piece or fragment of such material. b) A relatively large body of such material, as a cliff or peak. c) A naturally formed aggregate of mineral matter constituting a significant part of the earth's crust." A rock, by definition, is not infinitely large. So to say the rock must be so big that God cannot pick it up is to say that the rock is no longer a rock.

The Bible never claims that God can do all things. In fact, the Bible makes a point that there are things that God cannot do. The Bible says that God cannot commit sin. God cannot lie. Therefore, biblical omnipotence does not mean that God can do all things. God cannot do anything that is contrary to His holy character. However, God can do anything that He determines to do. This is a true meaning of omnipotence - the ability to do anything that one sets out to do.

Though it has the appearance of being a paradox, it is not. It is self refuting, and illogical because it omits important information about God's nature, either to force us to reach the wrong conclusion about God and in turn reject the notion of there being a God, or because of ignorance.

biggrin Not sure I understand the rules but I will post something. A prayer request. My job is in jeopardy and I may be out of a job at the end of December. Pray God allows me to keep this job until HE finds me another that he feels I should do. Praise God and thank you very much! biggrin

Thank you for posting Bible verses. They all encourage me smile

I had just led a reflection for 2013 & goal 2014 for my church youth group. This verse comes to mind:
James 2:26
"Faith without works is dead."

I have no doubt that God can do all things and that through him all things are possible. To the unbeliever that attempts to disprove God's existence and shake the faith of Christians, this seems like a perfect question to trap them. You bring up many good points that an unbeliever does not comprehend about God and his attributes (and some points that I had not considered). The supposed trap in this question is that if you answer no, then God is not supposedly omnipotent to create this rock. If the answer would be yes, then God is once again not powerful enough.
I always learned that an easy answer to the question would be that God has the ability to humble himself (like he did as Jesus). But I absolutely agree with you that there are many other ways to disprove this argument (as you stated above) that point to the misconceptions of what God's power is.

They would teach that in philosophy class. Sad...
It is not a good argument.

I still couldn't come up with a response for the argument though :/ it was a very uncomfortable class at times

Not really; the class was more looking at the various philosopher's views and our POV rather than the teacher's, although she had let her opinions slip out quite a few times