INSIGHTS
LETTERS OF THE LUBAVITCHER REBBE
“O Lord, my rock, my fortress and my rescuer; my God, my rock, I will take refuge in Him...”,(Psalms 18:3).
by Aron Moss
Question:
Can G-d create a rock that is too heavy for Himself to lift? If He can, He isn't all-powerful because He can't lift it. If He can't, He isn't all-powerful because He can't make it. Either way there is something He can't do. Doesn't this disprove the existence of an omnipotent G-d?
Response:
The answer is quite simple. Yes, G-d can create a rock that is too heavy for Himself to lift. And He can lift it too.
Now according to logic, this doesn't work. If the rock is too heavy to lift, He can't lift it. And if He can lift it, then it isn't too heavy.
But that's logic. G-d created logic. He is not bound by it. He isn't limited by laws of logic just as He isn't limited by the law of gravity. He made both, so He can defy both, and lift a rock that is too heavy to lift. G-d is fine with contradictions. That's a feature of being infinite.
So it turns out that your question doesn't negate G-d's omnipotence, but highlights it: being all-powerful means that nothing can define Him, even the rules of logic. He makes the rock and lifts it too.
Stop trying to put G-d between a rock and a hard place. Rather than limiting G-d to fit into our thinking, we can stretch our thinking to go beyond its limits. That's what faith does. With faith, anything is possible. As it says in Psalms, “G-d is my rock, my fortress and my rescuer.”
