Here's the famous Problem of Evil. The following three propositions can not all be true: God is omnipotent; God is wholly good; and evil exists.
It is very fun to read the historical debates. To make it even more chaotic, I'd like to add some of my own thoughts.
First, the debate on the Problem of Evil is of little practical significance to most people. No matter who wins the argument (temporarily), it does not change anything. It does not bring us anywhere.
Second, the line between Good and Evil is never clear. What seems good to you might seem evil to him. We can hardly find anything that is regarded as evil by all people.
Actually, in the nature, things simply happens. Grass grow, lambs eats grass, lions kill the lambs, and when the lion dies, its body becomes fertilizer for the grass. There's no "good or evil", no mercy or cruelty. It just happens.
So, if they don't exist, then why do we feel Good and Evil so strongly?
Good and evil are notions created by human. For example, a storm kills people. It is just a part of natural and physical laws: storms are formed, things are destroyed. We think it is evil because we sympathize with the dead and their family. Why do we have sympathy for them? Because we don't want to lose our beloved ones. It is human nature. So, Good and Evil arise when the Law of the World hits human nature in the face. We human are roots of both Good and Evil.
Third, God itself is a human fantasy. This will be another topic later.
So, as I see it, neither God nor Good/Evil exists. Therefore the Problem of Evil is not a problem. It is for training purpose only, or for fun, if your belly is full.
4 comments:
There is not a clear distinction up here cause I dont find the examples of evil and good satisfactory. I do not believe you can consider natural events (like earthquake, or tiger eating another being) evil.
Think about this example:
Evil -> Hitler
Good -> Gandi
What do you think?
Before you talk about god being omnipresent, you should validate the existence of his presence in the first place.
Hello Zielong,
I do agree, I like your style of writing. However, I will be very german with you, not wrapping my criticism into compliments.
You(and Ravi Sacharias, btw) argue, that the Problem of Evil only derives from the subjective value humans assing to objective events or actions.
It is correct, that there is no ultimate value of good or evil in a completely naturalistic/physicistic world.
Nonetheless, for the PoE, we take a look at the belief system that features a God, an therefore a inert value system of good and evil. The PoE is used to show a contradiction within the system of faith.
That is why the proposition always has to start with "If there is a god, why"
In a nutshell: Is it not to easy for you, to take an outside perspective to evaluate the intrinsic problems of a given system?
What the!? Of course there is evil and good. Life is about debts and paying them off. Trespasing against our fellow humans. Life works like this....you sow bad seed then someone somewhere wants to make you pay. This is what happens everywhere! Someone has to take vengeance. This is where God comes in....he took on everyone's debt so that you didn't get the judgement of death by him in the end...cause God is the Reaper...and he sowed Good seed and he will reap good seed....cause the end of the cycle ends in a war...and whoever wins the war gets to tell the story and gets the woman. The reaper comes to collect the debt owed....and the payment is blood...as blood is what runs through the body of the universe. And God payed those sins and became the curse so everyone could live.
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