{"id":72136,"date":"2019-03-28T19:40:49","date_gmt":"2019-03-29T01:40:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=72136"},"modified":"2019-03-28T20:11:46","modified_gmt":"2019-03-29T02:11:46","slug":"72136","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/03\/72136.html","title":{"rendered":"“Can God make a rock so heavy that he can’t lift it?”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Triceratops<\/a>
A friend was lucky enough to take this photograph from the window of my high school American history class. Dinosaurs were less common then, but they hadn\u2019t yet died out altogether. You\u2019ll notice, too, that southern California was slightly more humid and green at the time.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

First, some Brigham Young University news:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBYU Law\u2019s pipeline to the U.S. Supreme Court continues\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

A somewhat older article:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe seven most underrated law schools: Study that judges schools based on students says BYU is a Top 20 law school\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Also from BYU:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

New Testament Study Helps<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

On a recent small BYU-related controversy:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBYU responds to DPS notice of intent to decertify University Police\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And now for some non<\/em>-BYU news:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not yet an actual design, but it\u2019s good to know something about the new building:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPreliminary Plans Released for First Temple in Virginia\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The new temple will be a bit smaller than the temples in Billings, Montana<\/a>, and Atlanta, Georgia<\/a>, and somewhat larger than the temple in Fort Lauderdale, Florida<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some recent developments in the Heartland \u2014 or, if you will, in Neville-Neville Land:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s Hard to Give Neville the Benefit of the Doubt\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cInventing History with Jonathan Neville\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIllusory Truth, Straw Men, and Jonathan Neville\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But don\u2019t imagine that the unfortunate John Dehlin has received a free pass for his<\/em> manifold errors:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mormon Stories Essays: Reviewing John Dehlin\u2019s \u201cTruth Claims\u201d Essays<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about time<\/em>, say I. \u00a0My thanks to the anonymous folks who have taken it in hand to call attention to Dehlin\u2019s mistakes and misrepresentation. \u00a0I don\u2019t know who they are, but I admire their work thus far.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the broader front:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBad Theology, Bad Atheism\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The hackneyed old question \u201cCan God make a rock so heavy that he can\u2019t lift it?\u201d has been around for a very long time, of course.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since at least the time, eons ago, when I was in high school.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The first time that I encountered it, though, it was formulated in a rather different way, but with the same general intent and meaning:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happens,\u201d an atheistic classmate of mine asked me once in the cafeteria during our lunch break, \u201cwhen the irresistible force meets the immovable object?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

His \u201cirresistible force\u201d was obviously a stand-in for God, and his \u201cimmovable object\u201d was the legendary rock that is too heavy to lift.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

So what does<\/em> happen, when the irresistible force meets the immovable object?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I experienced a moment of inspiration:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe indescribable event,\u201d I replied.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I still consider it a fairly good answer. \u00a0Certainly on a high school level.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I rank it right up there with another one that I was once privileged to deliver:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I had left my coat in a long narrow seminar room, with a long and narrow seminar table, at UCLA. \u00a0I could see it through the window in the door. \u00a0A professor whom I didn\u2019t know was holding forth at my end of the table, near the door, to a group of students in\u00a0another seminar \u2014 and my coat was on the chair at the table\u2019s opposite end.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t want to interrupt the seminar, but I also didn\u2019t want to leave my coat. \u00a0I figured that this new seminar might be, like mine, three hours long. \u00a0And it was a cold and rainy day. \u00a0I paced back and forth for a while, but I finally determined to go for my coat.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I opened the door, said \u201cExcuse me, I left my coat,\u201d and went to the distant chair. \u00a0Having retrieved my coat, I passed the professor, who was glaring with quite surprising irritation and even anger at me for forcing him to pause in his eloquence.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOh. \u00a0My. \u00a0God,\u201d he said, very coldly.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d I responded. \u00a0\u201cI\u2019m just a graduate student.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And I quietly closed the door behind me as I went out.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I felt pretty good about that one, too.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 First, some Brigham Young University news: \u00a0 \u201cBYU Law\u2019s pipeline to the U.S. Supreme Court continues\u201d \u00a0 A somewhat older article: \u00a0 \u201cThe seven most underrated law schools: Study that judges schools based on students says BYU is a Top 20 law school\u201d \u00a0 *** \u00a0 Also from BYU: \u00a0 New Testament Study […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n"Can God make a rock so heavy that he can't lift it?"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    First, some Brigham Young University news:   "BYU Law\u2019s pipeline to the U.S. Supreme Court continues"   A somewhat older\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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