It takes an incomprehensible amount of power to create an entire universe. And, so believers generally call God omnipotent. But, aren’t there things God cannot do?♦ Could He ask a question He can’t answer?
♦ Could He make happenings unhappen?
♦ Could He draw a square circle?
♦ Could He kill Himself against His will?
♦ Could He then cause Himself to exist again?
♦ Could He create a 4-sided triangle?
♦ Could He create a prison from which He cannot escape?
♦ Could He make a stone too heavy for Him to lift?
People love paradoxes and the omnipotence paradox is no exception. Some examples are paradoxical from the semantics of language. For example, “Could God beat Himself at chess?” Although the question can be formulated with a subject, verb, and direct object, it’s just as invalid as “This sentence is false” or “I am now lying.” (Liar Paradox)
There many things God cannot do. The Bible says He cannot lie. "In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began." (Titus 1:2) Likewise, He cannot sin. He cannot abrogate Justice. He cannot be pitted against Himself. He cannot destroy Himself. In fact, He cannot do anything that is inconsistent with His nature. He won’t let Himself.
If He violated the standard for godhood, He would cease to be God. (Al 42:22) He’s too set in His godly ways to ever do that; “For I, the LORD, do not change.” (Mal 3:6) If He did try things that are contrary to His divine nature, such foolish choices would disqualify Him as God. That’s no more complicated than saying if a positron changed its charge from positive to negative, it ceases to be a positron.
There are many stories of powerful fairies, leprechauns, and genies granting wishes. But there are usually conditions or restrictions. In Disney’s movie Aladdin, the genie preempted the boy by stating up front, “ixnay on the wishing for more wishes.” But when the evil Jafar acquired the magic lamp, he sidestepped the restrictions by wishing to become an all-powerful Genie. So, what would have happened if Jafar simply wished to be God? Ixnay on that also. Not even God could grant that wish to an impenitent wicked person.
If God did something ungodly, the hosts of heaven would flee, His light would fade to darkness, and His power would be lost. God is God because He is the Master of eternal laws rather than a trampler or rewriter of them. “It is his total and complete conformity to law that makes him God.” (The Mortal Messiah, Bruce McConkie, vl.4, footnotes, p.215)
As Ben Parker told the young Spiderman, “With great power comes great responsibility.” God never abuses His power. He takes His responsibility seriously. Atheists and anti-theists use the omnipotence paradox to argue that there is no God. However, as it applies to God, omnipotent means all-powerful ─ power over all things rather than power to do anything.