I have often heard the question asked “could God create a rock so heavy he himself could not lift it” or more recently “could God create a burrito so hot he could not eat it”… there are potentially millions of these examples.
Today I would like to answer these questions for you.
First: we should get our terminology right. I am a theist so what God means to me is a being which is outside of the universe, who created the universe. I don’t mean a life force within the universe or anything like that. I assume transcendence of all when I use the term God. Some might not, and for them the answer to this question might be quite different.
Second: all these examples I have heard deal with an attribute of an object contained within the universe. (a rock, a burrito, etc…). The attribute itself is something that is relative to the empirical capacity of the one who is experiencing it, and/or relative to the environment in which the subject is being interacted with. (i.e. the weight of a rock changes based on the gravitational field in which you experience it, the heat of a burrito is something that is only experienced by beings and objects that have the proper receptacles to register the effects of the capsaicin in the peppers used.)
Third: For God to be able to interact with these objects in a way that answers these questions he would have to manifest himself in the world in a way that is particular rather then transcendent. He would have to choose to enter the world in a form that has the capacity to be limited by the laws of physics.
Fourth: We have a term for this, it’s called “incarnation.” For the question to be answered God would have to become incarnate in a form that is able to interact with the given object in a way that allowed him to experience the attribute or quality relative to the question within a point of reference where the attributes are manifest in a way in which the incarnate God could experience them in a way that allowed the question to be answered.
Fifth: as a Christian I believe God did this in the Person of Jesus Christ, and within this form there were many rocks God had created that Jesus was not strong enough to lift. And although I don’t know if Jesus ever had a burrito, there probably were some foods to hot for him to eat.
So I guess the answer to most of these questions would be: YES
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