The Almighty and the Wall: A Paradox of Power and Possibility

Author's Note:
As a reader, your judgement is always right. However, this post isn't what it may initially seem. Therefore, do not judge it by the first few paragraphs; read it entirely before reacting. Many thanks.
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There’s a question as old as time, one that whispers through the corridors of human thought. It’s a question that lingers, not on the tongues of the devout nor the lips of the skeptical, but somewhere between—where belief and doubt quietly observe one another.

If the Almighty, in His boundless power, can do all things, then could He build a wall so tall, so impenetrable, that even He cannot climb it?

It’s a simple question. And yet, it opens a door to a mystery far deeper than we might first realize. If He can build such a wall, does that not make Him powerless before it? If He cannot, then perhaps His power has limits after all?

This is not just a riddle for the scholars or a puzzle for the philosophers. It is a reflection of the human condition itself—a mirror held up to our understanding of power, control, and the nature of creation. Because at its heart, this paradox is about more than walls or omnipotence. It is about the boundaries we all face, even in our moments of greatest strength.

We, too, build walls, don’t we? Not of stone or brick, but of decisions and desires. We create, in our own lives, situations and choices that sometimes grow larger than we can handle, outcomes that outstrip our own intentions. In many ways, the question of the Almighty’s wall is our question—whether we believe in a higher power or not. It asks us to look at the nature of creation and control.

What happens when what we’ve brought into existence—our own walls, our own choices—begin to limit us? When they rise so high, we can no longer see over them? Are we still in control? Are we, like the Almighty in the paradox, suddenly powerless before what we have made?

Perhaps the deepest lesson of this paradox is not about divinity at all. Perhaps it is about humility. For the very act of creation—whether by a god or by a human—carries within it the risk that what we create might surpass us. That it might defy us. In building the wall, the Almighty doesn’t lose power. He simply becomes a participant in the unfolding story of His creation, just as we do.

And isn’t that the most human thing of all? The realization that power is not about dominance or control, but about the willingness to face what we’ve created, to stand before it and know that sometimes, true strength lies not in climbing over the wall, but in acknowledging that it exists at all.

Here, the theist may find a god who is more than just a figure of infinite power—He is a being who understands the limits that even He cannot escape. And the atheist may see in this question a reflection of humanity’s own journey—how we, too, are bound by the walls we build, yet are defined by how we respond to them.

The paradox remains: Can the Almighty build a wall He cannot scale? Perhaps the answer is not in whether He can or cannot, but in the simple, profound truth that even the limitless are shaped by the things they create. Power is not diminished by the existence of boundaries—it is defined by how we understand and embrace them.

-- Pradeep K (Prady)