cannot lift it. So, God is not omnipotent. Various solutions to this paradox have been
offered. The solution favored here is perhaps the simplest. Given that God is omnipotent,
it is impossible that there should be an object so heavy he cannot lift it. Therefore, a
solution to the paradox is that God cannot create a stone so heavy he cannot lift it, for it is
logically impossible for there to be a stone—or any other object, for that matter—that
God is unable to lift. And, as we have seen above, it is no limitation of power to be
unable to bring about something that is logically impossible. For power extends only to
what is possible.
Goodness
The idea that God is perfectly good, like the idea that God is all-powerful, is connected to
the view that God is a being who deserves unconditional gratitude, praise, and worship.
For if a being were to fall short of perfect goodness, it would not be worthy of unreserved
praise and worship. So, God is not just a good being, his goodness is unsurpassable.
Moreover, according to the classical theology of the principal religions of the West, God
doesn't simply happen to be perfectly good. As with his absolute power and total
knowledge, it is his nature to be that way. God necessarily could not fail to be perfectly
good. It was for this reason that we observed in the section on God's power that God does
not have the power to do what would be morally wrong for him to do. For intentionally
doing what is morally wrong for one to do is inconsistent with being perfectly good. It is
worth noting that in saying that God is essentially good, we are doing more than saying
that necessarily God is a perfectly good being. We are saying in addition that the being
who is God cannot cease to be perfectly good. Necessarily, a bachelor is unmarried. But
someone who is a bachelor can cease to be unmarried. Of course, when this happens (the
bachelor marries), he no longer is a bachelor. Unlike the bachelor, however, the being
who is God cannot give up being God. The bachelor next door can cease to be a bachelor.
But the being who is God cannot cease to be God. Being a bachelor is not part of the
nature or essence of a being who is a bachelor. But being God, and thus being perfectly
good, is part of the nature or essence of the being who is God.
We've noted that an essential aspect of God's perfect goodness is his being morally
perfect. Moral goodness is applicable only to conscious agents. Trees, flowers, and the
like are not capable of moral goodness. Among conscious agents, however, there is, in
addition to moral goodness, a kind of goodness we can best think of as nonmoral
goodness. The difference between moral and nonmoral goodness in beings capable of
consciousness is reflected in two statements that might be made on the occasion of
someone's death: “He led a good life” and “He had
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a good life.” The first statement concerns his moral goodness; the latter centers chiefly on
nonmoral goodness such as happiness, good fortune, and so on. God's perfect goodness
involves both moral goodness and nonmoral goodness. God is a morally perfect being,