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“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?”
— Epicurus (via samuraifrog)
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8 comments:
A theologian might reply: "IF he is willing and not able he'd still be more omnipotent than you. If he is able but not willing it would not be malevolent if for a greater good (though any soldier on the front line might disagree) If he is it still wouldn't nullify prior promises that allow us to have free will. IF he is neither he's still more a god than you. It's not satisfactory but in a universe without a santa claus we must make do I suppose.
Lazarus Lupin
http://strangespanner.blogspot.com/
art and review
I refuse to subjugate myself to any such 'being' who hides behind the wall of 'free will' whenever he let's us down. What is so great about something that is suppose to omnipotent if He never uses his power today to make things better. What? He took a break after Genesis and never got around to us again? It'so convenient to deny us the proof by saying everything bad we do is our own fault. Bad things still happen to the most pius of people. If he were real he wouldn't leave us with such doubt. Not believing fit's more easily when I open my eyes and see the reality all around me. The world follows a more random path of evolution than any kind of master plan that this 'God' may have.
Then again, if He were a She, perhaps we would be in this mess in the first place.
xoRobyn
That is exactly the point. Faith, be it in the Judeo Christian God or Allah or the Indian pantheon, is belief without proof. That is why it is faith and not science.
Lazarus Lupin makes a good point. The question we should ask is not "How can God allow such awful things to happen?" but how can WE allow it?
Your dad can't stop your brother from cheating at a game, he can only remind him of the rules. That may seem trite, but to an omnipotent being, our struggles here on earth may well seem like children playing at a game. If one believes the orthodoxy then when we "lose" the game our souls continue to exist but in a better place. Unless we cheat, in which case there is punishment.
You know, they cover this idea in Superman every now and then. If Superman could stop the war why doesn`t he? Superman could get rid of all the nuclear weapons or round up all the terrorosts. Why doesn't he? Whatever justifications the writers come up with usually seems unsatisfactory, but we keep on reading. That's the way humans are.
Didn't mean to get so long winded, but I think about this a lot.
The painting in this post is by Roy G. Krenkel, by the way. One of my favourite artists.
I too think about this alot and it frustrates me that I have no answer that I am happy with. Maybe that is the true nature of faith - to constantly quesion. When you just accept the dogma without reservation then you are totally lost.
An interesting wing nite discussion sometime? Like many others I've given it alot of introspection and would love to share thoughts with someone in realtime.
Anytime you are free Noah. You know I have no demands on my time.
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