A Quick Solution To The Paradox of The Stone

Can God create a stone so heavy that He cannot lift it ?

Introduction

The Paradox of the Stone is a type of omnipotence paradox. Omnipotence paradoxes aim to demonstrate that the concept of omnipotence leads to contradictions, thereby suggesting that omnipotence is logically impossible and, by extension, that the existence of omnipotent beings, such as God, is also logically impossible. Here, omnipotence is understood as the ability to do everything that is logically possible.

The Paradox

The Paradox of the Stone is often presented as the following question:

Can God create a stone so heavy that He cannot lift it ?

The paradox examines both possible answers:

• Yes: If God can create such a stone, then He would not be omnipotent, as He would lack the ability to lift it.

• No: If God cannot create such a stone, then He would not be omnipotent, as He would lack the ability to create it.

In either case, the conclusion suggests that God cannot be omnipotent.

How to Address the Paradox

In my opinion, the simplest and most effective response to this paradox is to answer "No." Although this may initially seem to limit God's power, it actually reaffirms His omnipotence. By answering "No," one is not actually saying that God lacks any power, instead, one is simply asserting that there is no such stone so heavy that God cannot lift it. It’s just saying that, in the set of possible stones, there is no stone that God can’t lift. This is because God, being omnipotent and therefore not constrained by any physical law, can lift any stone regardless of its weight.

Thus, saying "No" does not imply any limitation on God's power. The “inability” to create a stone too heavy to lift is not a weakness but a necessary consequence of being omnipotent.¹

1. This article was initially posted as a note on my substack