God's Dilemma

Can God Experience a Dilemma in His Acts of Creation?

It may seem somewhat unusual that God could be forced into a dilemma. After all, if God is all-powerful (as God is), it would seem that God could do absolutely anything. But the fallacy of this thought is revealed by a dilemma which most of us heard in grade school – namely, “Could God create a rock so heavy that He couldn’t lift it?” (assuming that God has something akin to a physical body with which to lift rocks). The answer is that the question is absurd because it presents a contradiction.

Recall, for a moment, the principle of non-contradiction – something cannot both be and not be a particular characteristic in the same respect at the same place and time. The word “cannot,” here, means “impossible,” which means it is not possible for this to occur under any circumstances – even through divine power. Impossible is impossible in all circumstances, places, times, and universes.

How can we understand this? Let’s take a block of wood, for example. The principle of non-contradiction tells us that the block of wood cannot be in both the shape of a square (four inscribed right angles) and the shape of a non-square (say, a circle, with no inscribed right angles) in the same respect (i.e., the same area) at the same place and time. In other words, our block of wood cannot be a “square-circle” of the same area in the same place and time. But it’s not only the block of wood; it is also in your mind. Go ahead and try it. Envision a square-circle in the same area at the same place and time. Go ahead. Having difficulties? Of course, you can flip back and forth between square and circle, but you cannot conceive it at the same place and time. The principle of non-contradiction would hold that even God cannot conceive of a square-circle with the same area at the same place and time – that even God would have to flip between square and circle.

Why? Because the inability to combine square and circle is not about the limits of human power or the human mind; it is not about the limitations of divine power or the divine mind; but rather, it is about the exclusionary properties of boundaries – the exclusionary properties of anything which is finite. The first thing one learns in elementary logic is that boundaries (finites) which are on the same generic level exclude one another from themselves. The boundary of “four inscribed right angles” excludes the boundary of “no inscribed right angles” from itself in the same respect at the same place and time. That’s what boundaries do. Thus, when God created any boundary or any form of finitude, He simultaneously created the exclusionary property of that boundary. That is, He created boundary A’s exclusion of “all boundaries non-A” from itself. When God created protons, He also created their exclusion of electrons from themselves in the same respect at the same place and time. So also, when God created wave behaviors, He simultaneously created their exclusion of particle behaviors from themselves in the same respect at the same place and time, etc. That’s the nature of finitude – it cannot be other finites in the same respect at the same place and time. If God did not want to create “exclusion,” He could not have created finite realities.

The only being which could be absolutely inclusive (that is, which would not exclude anything from itself) would be one which has no boundary or finitude whatsoever – it would have no intrinsic boundary or extrinsic boundary. It would not be conditioned by space or time. It would not be restricted to any magnitude or quantity; it would not even have a particular way of acting (like a wave, or a particle, or a proton, or an electron). It would have to be pure acting, pure act, pure power, pure existence, without any way, magnitude, quantity, or spatio-temporal condition – just pure Being. We would call that “God.” The moment being has a boundary, it would cease to be purely inclusive, and would begin to exclude other boundaries from itself; just like squares excluding circles, or proton behaviors excluding electron behaviors, or wave behaviors excluding particle behaviors, etc.

God does not exclude anything from Himself because God is compatible with every boundary. Why? Because He, Himself has no boundaries which would exclude other boundaries. We might now return to the idea of God creating a rock which is so heavy He cannot lift it. We can see now that this is an absurd proposition because God doesn’t have a “body” – a finite physical form – which lifts rocks. All rocks are completely compatible with the divine nature. A finite physical body would have intrinsic limits to its rock-lifting capacity, and therefore, there could be rocks that it could not lift.

Nothing is intrinsically contradictory to God, because God is purely inclusive (pure act, pure power, pure being); but anything other than God (which would have boundaries to action, power, or being) would exclude other boundaries (on the same generic level) from itself in the same respect at the same place and time. God cannot force a violation of the exclusionary property of boundaries – He cannot create a contradiction. The only way God could avoid such exclusions or contradictions is if He didn’t create any boundaries or finitude in the first place. Thus, the moment God created finitude, He subjected Himself to dilemmas, that is, He had to respect the exclusionary property of the boundary that He created. The fact that there cannot be a square-circle is not a problem with divine power or the divine mind; it is a problem with the exclusionary property of the boundary of square or circle. As noted above, it really does not matter where that boundary exists – in a block of wood, a human mind, or the divine mind. Boundaries will exclude other boundaries from themselves on the same generic level in the same respect at the same place and time.