Can God make something so heavy he can't lift it?

This classic puzzle, sometimes called "the paradox of the stone," is designed to look like it traps omnipotence in a contradiction either way: if God can't make such a stone, he's not all-powerful; if he makes it but can't lift it, he's also not all-powerful.

The most widely accepted philosophical response, developed by philosopher George Mavrodes and refined by others, points out that "a stone too heavy for an omnipotent being to lift" isn't actually a coherent description of anything—it's a contradiction in terms, similar to asking whether God can create a square circle. The paradox doesn't reveal a real limitation on God's power; it reveals a self-contradictory request disguised as a meaningful question.

This response has itself been debated and refined by other philosophers, including some who've offered more technical objections. It remains a genuinely interesting philosophical puzzle actively discussed in philosophy of religion, not a simple problem with an obviously wrong or foolish answer on either side.