Is there anything God cannot do?

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goout said:
Exactly. That’s the point. God is not a first cause. God is un-caused.
Good observation.
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I think you’re conflating cause and effect.

The ‘first cause’ argument is that God is the first cause, as you said, uncaused himself but still the cause of everything that followed.
 
God cannot do nothing, because nothing is impossible to God.
Logical contradictions, such as square circles, are not somethings, they are nothing.
 
God forfeits some of his omnipotence when he creates free creatures, so there are many things that he cannot (or will not) do. Not because of lack of power but because he doesn’t rescind a gift given.
 
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To change history would be to deceive and God is incapable of deceiving or of being deceived. That would also imply that He could change and He is immutable.

To do something against His nature (Look that up in the catechism) would make Him less than God - IOW, not God.

There is great misunderstanding, and little understanding of God’s nature in our present day. We no longer know Who or what we have turned away from.
 
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Gareth said:
Create a stone so heavy he cant lift it?

Create logical impossibilities:

Female stallians, round squares etc?

Im curious too.
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Can God make marriage = two men? Two husbands? Two men married to each other? A child with two fathers? Men can’t marry men. That’s a logical impossibility.

Yet somehow we mere mortals have managed to square that circle.

So I would think carefully before trying to tell God what He can and can’t do.
 
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I note that many people think God (logically) can’t have a Son.
Hmmm?
 
The universe is like a great big heavy rock.
Can you ‘lift’ the universe? Hmmm?
Which way is up?

Maybe God could make Himself at One with the universe. (Pantheism) Can God ‘lift’ Himself?

"By His power God raised the Lord from the dead, and He will raise us also."
 
Lion_IRC said:
Can God make marriage = two men?
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No, only human judges and legislators can do that.
God cannot do the impossible. But humans are willing to state the impossible and suppose that legislating or judging can make it real. But it can’t.
 
Lion_IRC said:
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Gareth:
Create a stone so heavy he cant lift it?

Create logical impossibilities:

Female stallians, round squares etc?

Im curious too.
Click to expand...
Can God make marriage = two men? Two husbands? Two men married to each other? A child with two fathers? Men can’t marry men. That’s a logical impossibility.

Yet somehow we mere mortals have managed to square that circle.

So I would think carefully before trying to tell God what He can and can’t do.
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It would be worth mentioning that mankind hasn’t changed marriage. Certain men have created something new and called it “marriage”, but they have not “made marriage” in their image.
 
All of these “Can God do this/Why can’t God to that…???” questions only show the concupiscence, i.e. the irrationality of man.

The only - only - things that we have in common with God are those with which he has graced us. All other aspects of God are infinitely superior to us, and we have understanding only as He grants us.

And, so often we attempt to assume His position and point of view. So often we try to reduce Him to human level.

He alone did that, and it was not for the purpose of becoming less, but that we might become more.
 
Lion_IRC said:
I note that many people think God (logically) can’t have a Son.
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God cannot bear a son in the way that physical females bear children (parturition), but He can have a son in the way that males do (generation).

If someone is thinking of “giving birth”, then no… but they’re not fully addressing the question at hand.
 
Gareth said:
Create logical imposdibilities:

Female stallians, round squares etc?
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These are not logic impossibilities, they are questions that don’t make sense. Words have meanings.
A circle is defined as an object with all points equidistant from the center. A square-circle is nonsensical. A female stallion us non sensical.
 
Stradabolt said:
Is it possible to complete this sentence: “God cannot…”? To clarify, this means without the use of a helping verb such as “to be.” (ie, “God cannot be contained,” “God cannot be fully understood,” etc).
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Rather than buttonhole God…

Perhaps we Know Him better by Asking:

God Would Not… ?

Such as… LIE
 
God could not possibly know a particular future happening and write it down for us to see in the present. If mankind has free will, someone could read his prediction then change things a little, guaranteeing the event He wrote down could not take place in the exact way he said it would. I think at best, due to his infinite nature, He might know all possible future events, meaning an infinite number of them. But He could never know a specific one.
 
clarkgamble1 said:
God could not possibly know a particular future happening and write it down for us to see in the present. If mankind has free will, someone could read his prediction then change things a little, guaranteeing the event He wrote down could not take place in the exact way he said it would. I think at best, due to his infinite nature, He might know all possible future events, meaning an infinite number of them. But He could never know a specific one.
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But God’s omniscience is not dependent on men’s knowledge. And it’s not as if He lives within time and is merely aware of what could be. He is wholly outside of time (which He created), and thus sees past, present and future all at once. If He were to “see” an event in the future and choose to tell mankind about it, He would also see Himself doing as much, and that is part of the future. His action would have an effect (if it was meant to) in either assuring or negating that possibility, but the “future” hasn’t changed either way. The future has already happened for Him, being a product of time and therefore a product of His own, which He is not restricted by.
 
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