You’ve probably heard the old Sunday school riddle. Can God create a rock so heavy that even He can’t lift it? If He can’t build the rock, there’s a limit. If He builds it but can't budge it, there’s another limit. It’s a logical trap, a linguistic loop that makes people think they’ve outsmarted the concept of an all-powerful being. But when people say what god cannot do doesn't exist, they aren't just playing word games. They are touching on a deep, ontological argument that has kept philosophers like Thomas Aquinas and René Descartes up late at night for centuries.
It sounds like a double negative. It is.
Basically, if we define a deity as "that than which nothing greater can be conceived"—which is the classic Anselmian definition—then the moment you find something the deity "cannot" do, you’ve hit a wall of logic rather than a wall of power. This isn't about God being weak. It’s about the fact that "nonsense" doesn't become "sense" just because you put the words "God can" in front of it.
The Logic Behind the Impossible
We have to talk about C.S. Lewis. In his book The Problem of Pain, he tackled this head-on. He argued that meaningless combinations of words don't suddenly acquire meaning just because we’re talking about a divine being. You can't ask God to draw a square circle. Not because God lacks the artistic skill, but because a "square circle" is a non-entity. It’s a nothing.
Therefore, the category of what god cannot do doesn't exist because the things we claim He "can't" do are actually just linguistic errors. They aren't "things" at all.
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Think of it this way.
If you ask someone to "glibber the flarb," and they can't do it, are they incapable? No. You’ve just said nothing. You’ve made a noise. Philosophers call these "pseudo-tasks." Logic is the framework of reality, and if God is the author of that reality, He isn't going to act against His own nature.
Omnipotence and the Law of Non-Contradiction
For a long time, people thought omnipotence meant "doing literally anything." But most theologians today agree that's a bit of a misunderstanding.
The Law of Non-Contradiction states that something cannot be both A and not-A at the same time and in the same sense. Even an infinite being operates within the "truth." If God is truth, He can't lie. If He is life, He can't die. If He is light, He can't be darkness. These aren't limitations in the way we think of them—like a runner who can't finish a marathon because their legs are tired. These are "limitations" of perfection.
- God cannot fail.
- God cannot be ignorant.
- God cannot cease to be.
If these "cannots" exist, then the statement what god cannot do doesn't exist starts to make a lot more sense in a practical, spiritual context. To the believer, a "failure" by God is a logical impossibility. If it happened, He wouldn't be God. So, the act of "failing" is a non-existent reality in the divine realm.
René Descartes vs. The Rest of the World
Descartes actually took a wilder path. He was one of the few who argued that God could actually make square circles or make 2+2 equal 5. He believed God was so sovereign that He created the laws of logic themselves. If He wanted to change them, He could.
Most people think Descartes went a bit off the rails there.
If logic is arbitrary, then nothing means anything. We couldn't trust our own thoughts. Most modern thinkers lean more toward the idea that logic is a reflection of God’s own mind. It’s stable. It’s firm.
Why This Matters in Real Life
You might be thinking, "This is all very heady, but why does it matter to me?"
It matters because how we define "possibility" changes how we view our own lives and struggles. If you believe in a framework where what god cannot do doesn't exist, you are essentially saying that there is no situation so broken that it is beyond the reach of the ultimate reality.
It’s about the removal of "impossible" from the vocabulary of the infinite.
When people face terminal illnesses or financial ruin, they often look for a "miracle." A miracle isn't God breaking the rules of the universe; it’s God exercising a higher rule that we don't fully understand yet. It’s the difference between a kid thinking a magician "broke" physics and a scientist knowing the magician just used a different law of physics the kid hasn't learned yet.
The Semantic Trap of "Nothing"
Let’s get nerdy for a second. There’s a famous quip: "God can do everything, and nothing is impossible for Him."
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If "nothing" is impossible, then "nothing" is the only thing that fits in the "cannot do" box. And since "nothing" is, well, nothing, the box is empty.
Empty.
Void.
Non-existent.
This is why the phrase what god cannot do doesn't exist is so popular in certain religious circles. It’s a rhetorical shield. It’s a way of saying that the power of the divine is so all-encompassing that the very concept of "inability" has no place to land. It’s like trying to find a shadow in the middle of the sun. The shadow doesn't exist there.
Common Misconceptions About Divine Inability
People often confuse "will not" with "cannot." This is a huge mistake in these discussions.
- The Choice Factor: Just because something doesn't happen doesn't mean God couldn't do it. It might just mean He didn't want to.
- The Nature Factor: God cannot be "evil." This isn't a lack of strength; it’s a presence of character.
- The Human Will: Many traditions argue God "cannot" force someone to love Him because forced love is a logical contradiction—it’s not love. Again, we’re back to the square circle.
When you look at the history of this debate, from the Summa Theologica to modern apologetics, the consensus is usually that God’s power is directed by His wisdom. Power without wisdom is just chaos.
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Applying the Paradox
If you want to apply the concept of what god cannot do doesn't exist to your own perspective, start by identifying what you consider "impossible."
Are those things actually impossible, or are they just difficult? Are they logically inconsistent, or just unlikely?
Most of the time, we use the word "impossible" as a hyperbole for "I'm really scared this won't work out." But in the grand scheme of a universe that is billions of light-years wide and governed by laws we’ve only begun to scratch the surface of, "impossible" is a very small, very fragile word.
Actionable Insights for Shifting Perspective
If you find yourself stuck in a "this is impossible" mindset, try these steps to reframe your logic based on the principles discussed:
- Audit Your Language: Stop using the word "impossible" for things that are merely "improbable." If it's not a logical contradiction (like being in two places at once), it's technically possible.
- Study the Laws of Logic: Familiarize yourself with the Law of Non-Contradiction. It helps you separate real problems from "pseudo-problems" that are just mental clutter.
- Identify the "Nothing": When you feel like you’ve hit a wall, ask if the "cannot" in your life is a lack of resources or a lack of imagination.
- Research the Source: Look into Thomas Aquinas’s Questions on the Power of God if you want to see how the smartest people in history wrestled with these exact same definitions.
The takeaway is pretty simple: The only things God "cannot" do are the things that aren't actually things. Once you realize that, the world starts to look a lot more open. You realize that the limits we see are often just the edges of our own understanding, not the edges of reality itself. Focus on what is substantively real, and let the "nothings" go.