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Goodbye Jesus

The Problem of Evil: Crash Course


Fweethawt

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This was very good.... although I want to smack all people who talk too fast up the side of the head. He does make some very good points. 

Thanks for posting.

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This is one of those topics (and there are many) that, when you discuss it with an xtian who is WILLING to discuss it you wind up with one of the three responses mentioned by the presenter.

 

OR

 

You get "You just have to BELIEVE!"

"Now, stop asking questions"

"You are over-thinking it!"

"Stop reading so much!"

"Knowledge is a sign of arrogance and god hates arrogance!"

 

Hey @God,

Are you out there. Want to get in here?

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Y'all are literally the only species that cares so much about "evil" and going to such lengths to explain why a natural disaster happens, why children die, etc.

 

Ever seen the Lion King? It's the circle of life my friend and I, for one, do not give a single fuck what happens to you.

 

This "problem of evil" is only a problem for people who try to argue on my behalf, it's not a problem for people who don't believe in "evil" as opposed to "shit happens."

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
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I wrote a whole piece in this once. It needs adjust a year or so later, but these were the thoughts going through my mind around 1 -1/12  years ago.

 

The problem of Evil.

This was first discussed by the Greek philosopher Epicurus

 

The problem of evil proposes that the two main premises – that is 1) God is omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly good, and 2) evil exists – are logical contradictions.

Note this problem does not argue against an evil or malicious God if such one existed. However this is not a particular concern as most people worship a God that they consider to be all good and the progenitor of objective moral values. This argument shows that reality is inconsistent with such a God given, and this is important, certain attributes. My response to any apologetic that may say well God might not be all good, or might not be our definition of good, or might not be all powerful is that why is such a God worth of worship if it existed?

 

The logic problem can be summarised as this:

  1. God exists.
  2. God is omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly good.
  3. A perfectly good being would want to prevent all evils.
  4. An omniscient being knows every way in which evils can come into existence.
  5. An omnipotent being, who knows every way in which an evil can come into existence, has the power to prevent that evil from coming into existence.
  6. A being who knows every way in which an evil can come into existence, who is able to prevent that evil from coming into existence, and who wants to do so, would prevent the existence of that evil.
  7. If there exists an omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly good being, then no evil exists.
  8. Evil exists (logical contradiction). (Source Why-do-atheists-think-there-is-no-god )

The logical conclusion there being that both evil and God as stated in the logic problem cannot co-exist. However I do expand this to cover another potential aspect which most Christians might not like to think  about:

9. Therefore if God exists then God is at least part evil as per #2 you cannot have a God with evil existing if God is perfectly good.

10. If God is part evil then he is no better than humans as this reduces God to nothing more than an evil dictator who visits evil upon the world.

11. So why worship such a God?

The free will argument is the most common and possibly the best argument for the possibility of their being both a perfectly good God and evil existing. This is summaried as follows:

God’s creation of persons with morally significant free will is something of tremendous value. God could not eliminate much of the evil and suffering in this world without thereby eliminating the greater good of having created persons with free will with whom he could have relationships and who are able to love one another and do good deeds. Alvin Plantinga (1974, 1977)

However what we essentially have is a God who intentionally orchestrated a divine master plan knowing of all the pain and suffering, in order to bring about an act of redemption and save his chosen. In order for this to happen you need free will so that people can choose to believe or reject God.  However a just God would have to take account of those who truly searched but couldn’t believe due to lack of evidence. Laying aside the fact that there is a massive evidence problem, you have further problems of predestination and the concept of chosen ones which refutes the free will argument out of the problem.

 

There is also the very real serious question of if God is all knowing, all powerful, then can you truly have free will? Free will implies that you can alter an outcome, but if its ‘God’s will’ then nothing you do or believe will change the outcome. Let’s face it – there are numerous Christian sects – most think that everyone else is wrong and are not among God’s chosen – and therefore not going to heaven. Which means going to hell. Speaking of hell – the mere conception of a place of eternal punishment by torture for infinite crimes related to lack of belief is an evil that defies comprehension.

 

A final point. The argument that God needed evil in the world to produce a greater good is logically inconsistent when taken in context of the concept of Heaven. Heaven in the Bible is a place of perfect paradise where “there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” (Revelations 21:4) If this is the case, and since Heaven is eternal, there is no reason why God could not have created Heaven for his ‘chosen ones’ without having to go through the tremendous agony of earths history first. Think on these things.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks for the video. I've watched that guy a lot on his other Youtube show "Scishow." 

 

As I am much more of a "backyard" philosopher--having no formal training in philosophy, rather just my own musings--it's cool to put formal definitions and structure to conclusions I have made about issues I have had, logically, about Christianity since I was 10 years old. Issues that I used to push aside through faith, until that faith was no longer strong enough to do so. 

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