The existence - or lack of - a God is one of humanity's fundamental questions. Since the first birth, the first sunrise, the first death, humans have sought to explain the world around them. The whole of human existence, in the end, comes down to this: Is there a God?
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to the question "if God exist where is there evil?"
a reply ...
Free will cannot explain evil for a couple of reasons. Presumably good is inherently better for all than evil; humans do evil things because they are too weak or too ignorant to choose rightly; both our ignorance and our weakness are 'fixable' by God (if God exists). Having chosen to give us free will but not the wisdom or skill to use it rightly is analogous to giving a deadly object to a child, and then blaming the child for the outcome.
Free will also cannot explain the evil that befalls us due to natural events. This is a different category of evil; and is independent of human action. Blaming humans for this is irrational.
If God is all-powerful and Good, it follows logically that along with free-will he would give us the ability to use it rightly. The pervasiveness of suffering and evil show He did not; therefore (logically, again) God is either not all-powerful or not Good.
The argument that our suffering is meant to bring us to God is perverse. Again, we sin out of ignorance or weakness. God does not NEED to "lead" us to him, He could just give us the information we need to come to him. Remember: for God, no infliction of suffering on us is ever NECESSARY; for God, nothing is necessary. Therefore it is a choice. We are how we are because God (if God exists) chose to make us as we are.
- sean s
September 23, 2008 12:30PM
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"Good" and "Not-Good"
Keep in mind that "good" and "not-good" - I reject the notion of "evil" - are completely context dependent. There is no "good" or "not-good" without point of view. The suggestion that anything is "good" or "not-good" inherently outside of point of view is the same mistaken suggestion that there is meaning or purpose behind all. The fact is, the meaning of a thing is individually determined. Without point of view, there is no meaning.
Meaning and the word "meaning" are human invention.
One must and can only act from one's own point of view in specific context. The "good" can be anything. The "not-good" can be anything. You must answer why it is "good" or "not-good" and to whom - every time.
- Naumadd
October 16, 2008 9:30PM
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Side: No
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