极速赛车168官网 Comments on: How to Approach the Problem of Evil https://strangenotions.com/how-to-approach-the-problem-of-evil/ A Digital Areopagus // Reason. Faith. Dialogue. Sun, 16 Aug 2020 22:27:00 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 极速赛车168官网 By: Jim the Scott https://strangenotions.com/how-to-approach-the-problem-of-evil/#comment-211612 Sun, 16 Aug 2020 22:27:00 +0000 https://strangenotions.com/?p=7507#comment-211612 A Classic Theistic Concept of God needs a Theodicy like a Fish needs a Bicycle.

From a Theistic point of view “in a sense” the dilemma of Epicurus is true. In a sense it is “impossible” for God to be “all Good” and or “All Powerful” if God really exists and evil exists as well(or at least maybe half of that is true). All theists approach the problem by taking on one of the horns of the dilemma.

Theistic Personalists who rely on Theodicies(i.e. moral justifications for God's inaction in the face of evil) take on the “All Powerful” horn by adopting the Classic Theistic Thomistic version of Divine Omnipotence which tells us God cannot make contradictions true. You might protest “Can’t God do anything?” to which we would reply “Yes but a contradiction doesn’t describe anything. It describes nothing and adds new meaning to the phrase ‘There is Nothing God cannot do.’.” Someone might hold Descartes Irrationalist view of Omnipotence that God can make contradictions true which would solve the problem of evil. Specifically if God can make contradictions true He can make the seeming contradiction of the simultaneous existence of an Omnipotent/Omni-benevolent Deity & Evil both True. Of course this leads to the break down in all rational categories by abandoning the principle of non-contradiction so it is nonsense.
Anyway given God cannot make contradictions true the Theodicy loving Theistic Personalist tries to argue there are some goods God can only give if He temporarily tolerates evil. Plantinga largely solved the logical problem of Evil with this line of thought but then Rowe counter punched with the evidentalist problem of evil by arguing that there exists in the world seemingly gratuitous evil that gives no opportunity to give people any good. Fr. Brian Davies OTOH cuts down all leading theodicies in this work THE REALITY OF GOD AND THE PROBLEM OF EVIL.

Which leads to Classic Theism's solution (see Davies) which grabs the other horn of the dilemma specifically God being “All Good”. God is All Good but God is not morally good. Or more specifically God is not a moral agent. Or even more specifically God is not a moral agent unequivocally comparable to a virtuous human moral agent & or virtuous rational creature. God given His nature & relationship to creation has no obligations to His creatures so He cannot be morally condemned for not giving them what He "owes" them. God is All Good because He is Metaphysically Good and Ontologically Good or Goodness Itself and the source of goodness in all things. But God is not a moral agent as we are moral agents.
Indeed to say Classic Theistic God is not good for not immediately stopping the Holocaust makes about as much sense as saying Plato's Form of the Good is not really good since It too didn't stop the Holocaust(which is actually saying the same thing but I digress....). Which is absurd. Or it is like saying my good root beer isn't really a good root beer because it didn't stop the holocaust.

Theodicies as they are understood post enlightenment, are predicated on the idea God is a moral agent and they try to morally justify God’s inaction in the face of evil. The Classic Theist presumes God is not obligated to stop any evil in the first place and thus is not immoral for not doing so. Morality simply doesn't apply to him. All of God’s good actions toward His creatures in Classic Theism are Gratuitous and as such they are not owed to them. So God can be praised for his Divine Charity but God cannot be condemned for not following His obligations. He simply has none to His Creatures only to Himself.

]]>
极速赛车168官网 By: Phil Tanny https://strangenotions.com/how-to-approach-the-problem-of-evil/#comment-202164 Thu, 29 Aug 2019 22:26:00 +0000 https://strangenotions.com/?p=7507#comment-202164 Deleted comment because this comment box is hopelessly broken. Unless some new technology is found for this excellent site, my time here will have to be limited, very limited. Said with respect, and great regret.

Respect your own site enough to obtain working technology for it. Forum software is widely available and often free.

]]>
极速赛车168官网 By: Ulla https://strangenotions.com/how-to-approach-the-problem-of-evil/#comment-198912 Thu, 02 May 2019 18:07:00 +0000 https://strangenotions.com/?p=7507#comment-198912 Yes, God Is Good. Always.

But it is wrong to think that God is a ”he”. God is Pure Spirit. Spirit of Truth, Spirit of Goodness. Eternally.

Now let's use some logic and reason. Goodness exists. However, anti-goodness or un-goodness exist too. Anti-goodness isn't proof that goodness doesn't exist. Goodness exists. We can put any of God's attributes here, and the same logic applies.

As God is Good, God is never anything less than absolutely good.

Ah, but why is there evil? Because we are not God, we are not one with God, we are ungodly or anti-God.

We sin. There is no other sin but the sin of Not-God or Anti-God.

God is Good.

But we are not. Yet we create. God gave us souls who are good, but then the souls turned away from God, separated from God, creating sin and evil. Souls are creative spirits.

Actually we are the souls. We are spirits.

But we often forget it. And when we think with our animal selves, we are separated from the higher consciousness required for Divinity. God is Wisdom. There is no foolishness in Wisdom. God is Truth. There are no lies in Truth. God is Good. There is nothing evil in Good.

God doesn't do evil, God never wills evil. God never tortured and murdered Jesus, or any of the saints, but torture and murder are always indication of Evil Spirit, Anti-God. When we know what is God, we know what is not. When we know the truth, we automatically know what are lies about it. As we know 2 + 3 = 5, we automatically know that anything else but 5 is a wrong answer.

God doesn't have the problem of evil. Only Evil has the problem of evil.

Good creates good, Evil creates evil. And so we can know, what is God and what is not God.

]]>
极速赛车168官网 By: Ben Champagne https://strangenotions.com/how-to-approach-the-problem-of-evil/#comment-198600 Wed, 24 Apr 2019 21:39:00 +0000 https://strangenotions.com/?p=7507#comment-198600 In reply to michael.

By both comments, you appear to be lost.

]]>
极速赛车168官网 By: michael https://strangenotions.com/how-to-approach-the-problem-of-evil/#comment-198599 Wed, 24 Apr 2019 21:31:00 +0000 https://strangenotions.com/?p=7507#comment-198599 In reply to Ben Champagne.

I don't answer trolls.

]]>
极速赛车168官网 By: michael https://strangenotions.com/how-to-approach-the-problem-of-evil/#comment-198561 Wed, 24 Apr 2019 07:19:00 +0000 https://strangenotions.com/?p=7507#comment-198561 In reply to Dennis Bonnette.

I firmly believe morality and determinism are compatible and am determinist. Determinism is needed to believe in The Principle fo Sufficient, reason, which is fundamental to logic.

]]>
极速赛车168官网 By: michael https://strangenotions.com/how-to-approach-the-problem-of-evil/#comment-198560 Wed, 24 Apr 2019 07:18:00 +0000 https://strangenotions.com/?p=7507#comment-198560 In reply to Dennis Bonnette.

That' would make him an accomplice to sin.

]]>
极速赛车168官网 By: Ben Champagne https://strangenotions.com/how-to-approach-the-problem-of-evil/#comment-198559 Wed, 24 Apr 2019 07:18:00 +0000 https://strangenotions.com/?p=7507#comment-198559 In reply to michael.

I'm sorry, was this supposed to pass as wit?

]]>
极速赛车168官网 By: michael https://strangenotions.com/how-to-approach-the-problem-of-evil/#comment-198558 Wed, 24 Apr 2019 07:17:00 +0000 https://strangenotions.com/?p=7507#comment-198558 In reply to Dennis Bonnette.

Evil being "justified' is contrary to the very definition of evil. Nad nothing in this article forcibly demonstrates the existence of a origin thing that created everything else, so your arguments for the existence for god are begging the question, which you accuse critics of doing.

]]>
极速赛车168官网 By: michael https://strangenotions.com/how-to-approach-the-problem-of-evil/#comment-198557 Wed, 24 Apr 2019 07:13:00 +0000 https://strangenotions.com/?p=7507#comment-198557 In reply to Ben Champagne.

Prove there are no fairies. if you can't, you must acknowledge that fairies are real!!!

]]>