# Could God make a burrito so big even he could not eat it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 29, 2002, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-god-make-a-burrito-so-big-even-he-could-not-eat-it/121341 "2002-07-29T07:03:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![red\_dragon60](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@red\_dragon60](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/red_dragon60)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-god-make-a-burrito-so-big-even-he-could-not-eat-it/121341/1 "2002-07-29T07:03:03Z")
I know that this has been done before, but after a half an hour of fruitless searching, I couldn’t find one scrap of the threads. If you find the threads, please post the links! Now to the heart of the matter: Could God create a burrito so big that even he could not eat it? The clincher is that if He could create something like that, then He would not be capable of doing everything. If He could not, he would still be incapable of the ability to do everything. Previous discussions were about rocks and lifting, but I was thinking South-Of-The-Border. Feel free to use a rock if you wish. I will start with the Socratic declaration of “I know nothing”. I don’t have the debate calibre neccessary to argue this point, but I would love to see an enlightened discussion. I am stepping into philosophy, and this is one of the most intruiging questions I have heard. Show me what you have, great minds of the Straight Dope, so that I may observe and learn! ---
**Author:** ![BraheSilver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@BraheSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BraheSilver)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-god-make-a-burrito-so-big-even-he-could-not-eat-it/121341/2 "2002-07-29T07:13:25Z")
Loath as I am to join in merely to make a joke… “God’s Burrito” would make an awsome name for a sleeping bag. So warm and toasty. If there was anything that could eat God’s burrito, chances are the results [wouldn’t be pretty.](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0074540) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-god-make-a-burrito-so-big-even-he-could-not-eat-it/121341/3 "2002-07-29T07:16:19Z")
I’ll just post the boilerplate response that ‘omnipotent’ needn’t be defined as ‘capable of doing all things, _even those things that are logically impossible or those things that are not things at all_’; you might just as well be asking "can God goxiuwhezaf?’ ---
**Author:** ![zen101](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c68b51/32.png) [@zen101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zen101)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-god-make-a-burrito-so-big-even-he-could-not-eat-it/121341/4 "2002-07-29T07:51:20Z")
This is the crux of many a theological argument. It’s the “well of forgetfullness” and the omnipotent/omnibenevolent/omniscient argueent. According to some of the faithful god throws your sins into a well of forgetfulness when you confess or ask forgiveness. So while god knows everything, god is also capable of keeping a secret from himself. The only time I heard anything logical explaining this is that by asking forgiveness or confessing god un-does what it was you are asking forgiveness for thus while it’s aftereffects still exist and your own memories still exist to god it never happened and thus it has no reason to remember it. I have never heard a logical explaination for the omni/omni/omni god in a world where evil exists. It just seems cruel. Which is why I think the ancient Greeks or Norse were more realistic. Zeus may have been all powerfull, or damn near it, but he was subject to being the kind of jerk who would just let bad things happen. ---
**Author:** ![RexDart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b77776/32.png) [@RexDart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RexDart)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-god-make-a-burrito-so-big-even-he-could-not-eat-it/121341/5 "2002-07-29T08:08:42Z")
As we’re all sick of it now, I won’t point out how “God’s Burrito” would make an excellent band name. If you’re gonna do this thread, why not use the line from _The Simpsons_ that’s very similiar? Flanders comes to see Homer, who’s stoned on mary jane, and Homer asks Flanders **“Could Jesus microwave a burrito so hot, He Himself could not eat it?”** It blew my mind for sure. Anyways, that was the first I’d considered that sort of dilemma, so I’ll leave this discussion for those who’ve encountered the issue before. For me, it seems to be just another of many flaws in the “3-O God” theology. ---
**Author:** ![Phoenix\_Dragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Phoenix\_Dragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phoenix_Dragon)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-god-make-a-burrito-so-big-even-he-could-not-eat-it/121341/6 "2002-07-29T09:34:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BraheSilver \* > **Loath as I am to join in merely to make a joke… “God’s Burrito” would make an awsome name for a sleeping bag. So warm and toasty.** I think “Satan’s Burrito” sounds warmer, thought maybe not as comfy. 🙂 > [@](#): > > **I’ll just post the boilerplate response that ‘omnipotent’ needn’t be defined as 'capable of doing all things, even those things that are logically impossible or those things that are not things at all’** Except the general teaching I’ve heard from christians is that god _can_ do anything, including the logically impossible. Supposedly, he can change what is or isn’t possible. He is, after all, supposed to be the one that created everything from nothing, and done a whole lot of other things that are logically impossible. Yet when someone comes up with this, he’s suddenly unable to do the impossible any more? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-god-make-a-burrito-so-big-even-he-could-not-eat-it/121341/7 "2002-07-29T09:59:02Z")
There is no burrito so big that it can’t be eaten. Burritos are like that - no matter how big it is, or how many you’ve already had, you can always eat just one more. It’s like a miracle or something. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-god-make-a-burrito-so-big-even-he-could-not-eat-it/121341/8 "2002-07-29T10:06:29Z")
You’re getting mixed up, I believe, between things which are impossible for humans because of our limited resources, and things which are _logically_ impossible; you could make a triangular circle by altering the definition of circle so that it includes triangles, but what have you really done? It’s not that asking God to goxiuwhezaf is really really hard, so hard that even he can’t do it, it’s just that it’s a request that has no meaning. The irresistable force/immovable object paradox (if that’s the right word) is equivalent to asking God to disprove his own existence (I mean, how hard can _that_ be; you can do _anything_, right God?). I’ve never heard it seriously taught that God could do _literally_ anything, including those things which are not things or are logically impossible; I have heard it taught that of the set of real things that are not logically impossible, there is nothing that God cannot do (cannot, not necessarily _will not_). [sub]I predict this discussion will soon move on to predestination/foreknowledge[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![RexDart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b77776/32.png) [@RexDart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RexDart)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-god-make-a-burrito-so-big-even-he-could-not-eat-it/121341/9 "2002-07-29T10:38:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > \*\*[sub]I predict this discussion will soon move on to predestination/foreknowledge[/sub] \*\* Wow, you made it small type _and_ gave it this silver color to blend with the background…do I surmise you wouldn’t be looking forward to (what is probably for this board) yet another discussion of that sort of thing. Sort of like, if God was planning tomorrow to try microwaving a burrito so hot he himself could not eat it , and had already figured out through omniscience how well that plan would work, but he makes himself forget so that he can be genuinely surprised? I mean, if you’re gonna try that, the best part has gotta be when you put the burrito in your mouth and you have that anticipatory concern, “Is it too hot…it seems really hot…man, I can’t believe I made it this hot…well here goes…HAAAA, HAAA, Gah, that’s frickin’ hot!” If you know how that scenario is gonna play out in advance, it really takes some of the fun out of it. I mean, you’d probably know exactly what time and temperature level were best to microwave burritos, there’d be no experimentation, no pride at finally solving the “hot on the outside, cold on the inside” dilemma. Would God deny himself this pleasure? Surely not. So clearly God has the ability to make himself forget the physics of microwaving burritos, so as to add suspense to what would otherwise be a tedious existence filled with perfectly microwaved burritos. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-god-make-a-burrito-so-big-even-he-could-not-eat-it/121341/10 "2002-07-29T10:56:39Z")
Well, it was just that the predestination/foreknowledge issue is fraught with what seem to be _logical_ inconsistencies; If God knows what he is going to do in the future then he no longer has freewill concerning those actions and is thus not omnipotent. These are fairly easily explained with concepts such as God existing independently of spacetime, but such explanations, however sensible they are, are rarely treated as anything but weaseling, so I was hoping we wouldn’t have to go there, although I know we will. ---
**Author:** ![RexDart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b77776/32.png) [@RexDart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RexDart)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-god-make-a-burrito-so-big-even-he-could-not-eat-it/121341/11 "2002-07-29T11:01:22Z")
Hmm…that explanation sounds fine to me **Mangetout**. I wouldn’t call it weaseling. I have plenty of other problems with the 3-O god, I have no problem with a solution like that. Really every argument in defense of god sounds like alot of handwaving most of the time, because most of the attributes people assign him are so incomprehensible as to be more or less indescribable by language. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-god-make-a-burrito-so-big-even-he-could-not-eat-it/121341/12 "2002-07-29T11:16:30Z")
God can do anything. He can both exist and not exist simultaneously. Just ask the people around here. Now, existing and not existing at the same time, _that’s_ something. Forget the burritos. ---
**Author:** ![dreamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@dreamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dreamer)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-god-make-a-burrito-so-big-even-he-could-not-eat-it/121341/13 "2002-07-29T12:45:38Z")
So what if God made a burrito he couldn’t finish, maybe he ate to his hearts content and wasn’t hungry anymore. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-god-make-a-burrito-so-big-even-he-could-not-eat-it/121341/14 "2002-07-29T13:18:08Z")
**RexDart** , you’ve used the term “3-O god” twice now. I have no idea what that means. Please enlighten. ---
**Author:** ![peasea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc79bd/32.png) [@peasea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peasea)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-god-make-a-burrito-so-big-even-he-could-not-eat-it/121341/15 "2002-07-29T13:49:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Homebrew \* > \*\ ***RexDart** , you’ve used the term “3-O god” twice now. I have no idea what that means. Please enlighten. \*\* I apologize to Rex in advance for speaking for him, but, judging from zen101’s post above, I believe 3-O refers to > [@](#): > > omnipotent/omnibenevolent/omniscient ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-god-make-a-burrito-so-big-even-he-could-not-eat-it/121341/16 "2002-07-29T14:30:37Z")
you underestimate god. he could make a burrito so big that even he couldn’t eat it. then he’d eat it anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-god-make-a-burrito-so-big-even-he-could-not-eat-it/121341/17 "2002-07-29T14:56:25Z")
I thought 3-O referred to **Omnipresent** /Omnipotent/Omniscient ---
**Author:** ![JDM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/90db22/32.png) [@JDM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JDM)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-god-make-a-burrito-so-big-even-he-could-not-eat-it/121341/18 "2002-07-29T18:03:08Z")
This is an hijack, and I realise that it sounds flippant, but I don’t mean it to be- I really am curious: If God ate a burrito, would it have to be a kosher burrito? JDM ---
**Author:** ![Drastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-god-make-a-burrito-so-big-even-he-could-not-eat-it/121341/19 "2002-07-29T20:08:28Z")
Nope, it’s omnibenevolent. Omnipresence doesn’t cause any sort of Problem of Evil if that which is present everywhere isn’t totally good. ---
**Author:** ![Dragline](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@Dragline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragline)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2002, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-god-make-a-burrito-so-big-even-he-could-not-eat-it/121341/20 "2002-07-29T20:29:22Z")
Assuming that the universe itself is the burrito, God would have to be outside of it to eat the damn thing. Then if he’s outside, I think that limits what can be done inside. Maybe the big bang was just a giant burrito driven **fart**! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-god-make-a-burrito-so-big-even-he-could-not-eat-it/121341.md?page=2)