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God and the Problem of Evil
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by First of Two: [QB] I've decided to accept another theological bait, lodging the hook firmly in all our mouths... Okay, the Problem of Evil goes like this: "The existence of Evil is incompatable with the existence of a all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving, always present benevolent Deity. Yet, evil exists. Therefore, said Deity cannot." Let me show the basic points: We assume; 1. Evil exists. 2. Evil is incompatible with God. 3. God exists as described above. The truth of the first is hardly disputable. The truth of the second is claimed, at least by Christianity, who claim that God and the forces of Evil are engaged in a titanic struggle for Man's souls. The truth of the third is held to be self-evident, by those same people. The most common refutation to the above argument is "evil is man's own fault, his sins getting him back." However, this fails to explain evil that predated man, such as Satan and the Serpent. It also fails to cover "acts of God," and other natural disasters. Another counter is "evil only happens to bad people." This, of course, we know to be untrue. Bad things happen to newborn, christened, baptized infants, and little children. Another counter is "evil serves some beneficial purpose." (Or the "evil isn't really evil" theory.)This one is hard to counter, except with an incredulous look in the midst of great suffering, and the question "HOW?" This belief is a companion to the "everything happens for a reason" statement, which is basically a poor defense and an excuse for anarchy. As I myself replied to a minister who told be that, *TROD heavily on his foot* "Gee, that must have happened for a reason too..." Another reaction to this argument is "if evil happens for a reason, why fight against it?" Now, mostly, this argument, from my point of view anyway, deals with "unnecessary evil," or pointless suffering. That is, suffering from which much will be lost, and little will be gained, if anything. Deaths that have no meaning. For instance, say you're Superdude. You look down as you're flying over Mega-city, chasing villains, and you see a small child about to be caught in the crossfire of a gang shootout. Now, with your super speed, invisibility, and mighty strength, you could easily zoom down, flick the bullet so that it JUST misses the child, and vanish back up to chase the villains at nearly the exact instant you left. You would never be seen, and absolutely NOONE would know you had ever been involved. Or at least not be able to prove it. You claim, in your role as Superdude, to be an invisible, omnipresent fighter for truth, justice, love, etc, etc, therefore you're obligated to your own press to live up to that. And you let the kid get shot. What does that make you? Well, not a very good superhero, to say the least. Now, you may say that to save the kid's life would be a violation of the "Free Will" clause in your superhero contract... but how does free will figure in to an accident? It doesn't. Free will only applies to a decision you make on your own. The kid didn't decide she was going to get shot today, it just happened. And it didn't need to. And nothing was gained from it, except her family's suffering and pain, a few blatherings from politicians and clergy who don't actually DO anything about it, and my wrath. It's worse if you've already shown a willingness to violate the Free Will clause for certain people, causing "miracles," as it were. Why, Superdude, do you deny the rest of us? Even some of your biggest fans? Could it be because you only exist in the pages of your comic book? [/QB][/QUOTE]
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