God and Suffering.
@Chiang_Mai_boy (3882)
Thailand
December 20, 2008 7:38pm CST
The Riddle of Epicurus
If God is willing to prevent evil, but is not able to
Then He is not omnipotent.
If He is able, but not willing
Then He is malevolent.
If He is both able and willing
Then whence cometh evil?
If He is neither able nor willing
Then why call Him God?
Epicurus was a Greek philosopher who lived some three hundred years before Christ. Some see him as the father of disbelief. There is some debate as to whether he actually wrote this but if he didn't he should have.
What do you think? How do you respond to this?
2 responses
@ParaTed2k (22940)
• Sheboygan, Wisconsin
21 Dec 08
"Make it all better, or I won't love you!"
There's no difference between anyone who would say this to a parent, child or spouse and someone who says what Epicurus said about God.. or anyone who agrees.
If there is no God, then it doesn't matter if God can take the suffering out of the world or not. If there is a God, then God doesn't cease to be simply because we refuse to worship God.
@Chiang_Mai_boy (3882)
• Thailand
21 Dec 08
The difference is that was not addressing god, he was addressing the nature of god.
@ParaTed2k (22940)
• Sheboygan, Wisconsin
21 Dec 08
Either way, he was whining that God could only be God if God did things the way he thought God should.
@Chiang_Mai_boy (3882)
• Thailand
22 Dec 08
For you to characterize a question by a man who is recognized as one of the greatest philosophers of all time about the nature of god as whining tells me that you either don't understand the question or you are so caught up in your own religious dogma that you fear the answer.
@freethinkingagent (2501)
•
21 Dec 08
Very good argument. I would only be able to answer this by saying that if there is a God that is willing and able to act, then he has already acted on his will, By this I mean if God created man in his image, and likeness, and gave Man dominion over the earth, then it is the God within us who is malevolent and evil.
If I give you the keys to My store and say to you it is yours, run it well. But instead you treat your customers ill, and gouge the prices, why would people say it is my fault? Because I gave you the store and you misused it? NO the blame is yours and yours alone, I am not going to come back and take the store back, at least not yet, I may wait till your about ready to burn it down and come back and take it back.
The only answer to your riddle is that it is the God within us who is able to act but does not, It is the God within us who does not have the will to change things, so it is the heart of man that is most evil.
