Assumptions:
-For the purposes of this discussion, the Deity exists, and is all-powerful. (I myself am an atheist, but this question is still interesting.)
-‘Move’ is defined as physically altering an object’s location in space as relative to another object. No tricks allowed. (Merely changing coordinate systems won’t work here.)
Question:
Could the aforedefined Deity create a rock too massive for the Deity to move?
Debate.
Well, there’s three solutions that I know of:
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God moves the rest of the universe around the rock; the rock is therefore “moved”. Dam’ cheatin’ way, IMHO, but not really any skin off my nose.
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God is omnipotent, but “omnipotence” only means he can do anything logically possible, just as you can’t have a immovable object and an irresistable force existing at the same time. Works for me.
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God is not restrained by logic, so He can create a rock so big he can’t lift it, and then lift it. But that’s OK, even if it doesn’t make any sense, since He isn’t bound by logic. I think there’s some problems with this, because (for example) a God not bound by logic cannot use the “free will” excuse for the existence of evil; He could give us perfect free will and no evil, He just didn’t feel like it. So He inevitably seems to be a bit of a capricious jerk, which most religions wouldn’t go along with.
No.
Any created “rock” would have to have a finite mass. (I think, given sufficient mass-or density-it would cease to be a rock.) Since the assumption is that god is all powerful, He could still move the rock.
This doesn’t prove the non-existence of an omnipotent God, since being all powerful does not mean being exempt from the laws of logic.
How to move a rock so massive it can’t be moved -by manhattan
For this exercise, you’ll need a needle, a camel, an infinite number of angels, several thousand tons of loam, some fir trees and a copy of the Koran.
First, pass the camel through the eye of the needle. After the head has passed through but before the hump has entered, induce the angels to dance on the pointy end. Doubtless the reader can imagine on his own how to do this. OK. Now, after almost all of the camel has passed through, wedge the camel’s tail under the rock. Since you can’t yet move the rock, you’ll have to find a small space on your own. Don’t be afraid, just jam the tail in there!
With me so far? Good. You’re almost there, having already created the metaphysical conditions necessary for the task. Now scatter the loam on top of the rock (this is imporatant: don’t suffocate the camel or the angels!), and plant the fir trees therein. What you’ve got there now is not so much a rock as a mountain. And as everybody knows, if you can’t move Mohammed to the mountain, move the mountain to Mohammed.
QED.
No, no, that’s not it; leave out the loam and grab a mustard seed instead: “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”
QED II
Could God make a birthday cake with so many candles that God would be unable to blow them all out at once?
I’ll go with Gaudere #2 (I feel like I’m ordering off the menu in a chinese restaurant.)
Could God make a sitcom so stupid even He couldn’t watch it?
(of course it’s assumed it’d be on UPN)
Could God create a debate so pointless that he wouldn’t participate? Oh,wait…anyone can do that.
Hey, I said it might be moved to MPSIMS. Besides, anyone can call a debate pointless, but it takes a little brain to have an opinion.
Well then I’ll refrain from having one on this issue. Who wants a little brain after all? 
OK, very funny. Now let’s get back on topic.
Why? This is one of those questions that George Carlin used to talk about in his old Catholic schooldays routines… “Heavy Mysteries”, I believe he called them…
When I first came across this question, it was in Bart Simpson’s Guide to Life (hey, I was thirteen!). It was “If God was all-powerful, could he create a corndog so big that even he couldn’t eat it all?”
I eventually decided that, if God couldn’t eat an entire corndog, no matter what size, I could. Therefore, I am more powerful than God (at least digestively).
No problem!
The omnipotent deity simply removes everyother object in the universe except the rock.
Cheap, and it’s been done. Read the rest of the thread.
FWIW, Derleth, My earlier post was ment entirely tongue in cheek and was in no way a reflection on you. I’m sorry if it seemed pointed to you, it wasn’t ment that way. Now, back to the rock!
And yea verily, did God say,
“I am that rock”
Being infinate and beyond the understanding of man was the firmanent thus created.
“Let this rock be so large that is most unto infinate”, and it was so.
Then came a man and a real estate lawyer and did indeedy tie up all with words of the viper.
And ye shall work in the dust of the earth and the sweat of the brow for full five and twenty years until ye have rendered unto the money lender that which is the money lender’s and then shall ye be cast unto old age.
And the rock saw that it was good.
My Catholic school education finally pays off!
Yes. God could create a rock he couldn’t move. Here’s how you do it:
Step 1.
Be God. (more difficult than you think, the omniscience seems easy when your fifteen years old or so and already know pretty much everything but it’s deceptively tricky since you’re always forgetting stuff at the same time you’re trying to cram it all into your brain. I never could quite get a handle on the omnipotence though. I can’t even tie a bow-tie or make a good pot roast.
Step 2.
Create large boulder in a convenient location.
Step 3.
At this point as an omnipotent being you need to surrender your omnipotence for fifteen minutes or so (You’ll know how to do this once your omnipotent.) It’s important not to make your omnipotence go away permanently since you’re probably going to want it back later (picture Superman being dosed with kryptonite.)
Step 4.
Walk over to boulder (remember you can’t fly so don’t jump off a cliff or anything, you might break your ass.)
Step 5.
Attempt to lift boulder (don’t strain yourself too much, remember you’re not omnipotent anymore, and if you pull your back out you’ll just have to live with it for the next fifteen minutes.
step 6.
Couldn’t lift the boulder, could you? Conggratulations on a job well done! Now all you have to do is wait around for your superpowers to come back (but then again you knew this since you’re still omniscient)
Hey, wait a minute! You’ve been omniscient this whole time haven’t you? That means you already knew my six easy steps! What are you doing wasting your time reading this then? Get out there and start not lifting boulders!
How’s this:
Step 1: God stops spatial expansion.
Step 2: God makes a hollow rock whose boundaries exactly match the size and shape of the current universe, making it immovable.
Step 3: God instantly enlarges the universe to a million times its previous size and kicks big rock around for a while.
Note that while this works, it technically only makes a rock too large to be moved, not too massive. And of course this is cheating anyway, since th
I think that the basic question of the OP restated could be:
Can there be absolute omnipotence and if so, is it bound by logic?
Without cheating the tests I would have to say that absolute omnipotence cannot exist. Relative omnipotence, or the ability to perform any action not precluded by logic, would get my vote. Therefore I would answer the OP with a simple “No.”
There you hit the question. Omnipotence is impossible because it creates paradoxes. Big, nasty ones that furrow brows and bend minds. Any action or state that creates paradoxes cannot exist because the Universe must make logical sense. We prove that by saying that if the Universe makes no sense, anything goes, regardless of probability. If anything goes, I might as well fly by lifting my heels above my head. As long as I keep lifting, I’ll keep rising. Here goes. (Oof!) Well, so much for that theory. Since that did not work, there must be binding laws. Since there are binding laws, paradoxes must not occur. Since paradoxes must not occur, omnipotence must not exist. Simple, no? (A paradox is irresolvable. Science has been beset with false paradoxes that were resolved by new discoveries and theories. The Michaelson-Morley Experiment is a famous example. Look it up.)