So my oldest Minion,now in college decides to call me up before class and lay this one on old Dad:
“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 [341–270 B.C.]
"I'm bored, therefore I philosophize."
So summoning up my best before-Coffee answer, I gave him:
God chose to give man freewill. Man creates evil, not God. There is no evil in the natural world only in the man-made world. God decided to allow evil when he decided to give man freewill. God could easily remove evil from mankind but in doing so he would have to control man. apparently, controlling man is not Gods intention.
Basically that's all I had.
I'd love to go back to the days when he asked me questions like: How do light bulbs work?
Glad to see you back posting again DM!
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree with your answer.
An oldie but a goody :)
ReplyDeleteI might disagree on there not being evil in the natural world.
I suppose it depends on how you define evil.
Example: is it evil to kill children, even if it is a benefit to you?
I'd wager most people would say yes, in which case, lions are evil, because they do this: kill the young of other males so that they can impregnate the mother with their own children. If a human did this, we'd call it evil, I'm not rushing to let lions off the hook.
So if evil exists in both the natural world and that of our own making, and we too are part of the natural world, then if this is all created by a god then that god is the source of, and capable of evil as well. Which would not disprove a god, merely redefine it as a creature capable of evil too.
Yeah, I like this answer.
DeleteAnd a god who chooses not to prevent evil being inflicted upon innocents is by proxy evil. Also a sin of omission?
It is like light and dark. While the light is shining there is no darkness but when the light goes out then there is darkness. The same for God. Where God is there is "light". Without God there is only "darkness".
DeleteIt is man who does evil as this is a free choice. Man blames God for allowing evil when it is man's choice to do evil even though they could choose otherwise.
This is the problem with free will. Where there is free will then there can be great good. On the flip side there can also be great evil. Either we have free will with the benefits and problems that are associated it or God controls like mindless slaves.
As for defining what evil is and what is not there are guidelines. For many these seem harsh and judgemental but the fact is they are there and man chooses to ignore them.
Evil exists before man, man did not create/start evil,even within the Bible there is the fall of Lucifer who predates man by an immesurable amount of time. That is one possible awnser that also is propped up by free will(something the archangels supposedly had). Yet, any solution with free will abdicates all responsibility from god,and if god created everything,god either created evil or is not all good,after all there can be no light without dark,nor good without evil. Then there is the fact that god didn't exactley act very "good" within the old testament,actually demanding genocide and the abortions of babies more than once. So free will is just a handy excuse that doesn't explain evil at all it just allows folks to remove any blame from god.
ReplyDelete