Omnipotence and Logic
STATEMENT
Over the years, I’ve encountered a lot of thoughts from people on the matter of logic and God’s omnipotence. A while back I came across this statement:
If God created everything, he also created logic, so there's no reason he can't break it. We cannot fully understand God, so it is not right to say that he has to follow our logic. I believe he can create a stone he cannot lift and still lift it. It has no logic to us, but if God can do everything, then he can easily not follow the same logic that we do. (Anonymous)
RESPONSE
If God created everything, He also created logic, so there's no reason He can't break it.
That is incorrect. Logic is not a created thing. It is an integral attribute of God. Logic is how God thinks. He does not "break it." Neither does he need to "break it."
We cannot fully understand God, so it is not right to say that He has to follow our logic.
It is true that we cannot fully understand God. I would not say that "God has to follow our logic." Here it is important to be careful how we employ the term “logic.” Strictly speaking, there is only one "logic" and it is defined by how God thinks about things. In contrast, what men often regard or refer to as "logic" is often not logical. What we call "man's logic" is only truly "logical" to the extent that it agrees with God's thinking on any particular topic. So God is not required to follow "man's logic." Rather, man should follow God's logic as it is revealed to us in his word - which comes from the Logos, God himself.
I believe He can create a stone He cannot lift and still lift it.
He cannot. That is an irrational claim that you should not make about God. Usually claims like this arise from the flawed premise that "God can do absolutely anything." That statement is demonstrably false. The bible speaks of many things that God CANNOT do: He cannot lie (Titus 1:2), He cannot deny himself (II Timothy 2:13). Likewise, He cannot create a stone He cannot lift and still lift it. This is an unavoidable, rational observation that arises from the omnipotence of God - He cannot create something greater than himself, because doing so would overturn one of his immutable characteristics.
It has no logic to us,
Your statement that “[God] can create a stone he cannot lift and still lift it” has no logic period. It is a logical contradiction. It does not describe God at all.
but if God can do everything,
He cannot. This is the flaw in your thinking about God. He CANNOT do everything as previously demonstrated (Titus 1:2, II Timothy 2:13). Once that error is fixed, then the matter of God acting in a consistently logical fashion follows and there's no need to suggest that God does things that are logically contradictory.
then He can easily not follow the same logic that we do.
I am not saying that God must follow "man's logic." Rather, I'm saying that God is always logical and "man's logic" is often not logical at all. God is logical because that is how God thinks. He communicated to us in a rational revelation using language which rests on a foundation of logic. Indeed the Lord Jesus Christ is said to be "the Logos" which is the very word from which "logic" arises. Apart from logic you don’t have language and without language we have no rational revelation from God whatsoever. It follows that logic is inextricably embedded in the matter of God’s written revelation to us. If it is not, then every sentence of the bible is utterly incomprehensible and Christianity devolves into ignorant mysticism.
Bottom line: Logic is indispensable in the matter of learning and understanding what God has revealed to us in his word.