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Originally Posted by jonathan lall
Just a quick point, the way theistic philosophers have historically addressed the problem of free will is that it is inherently good. Furthermore however, evil exists in the world toward a greater, if impossible to forsee, good. This basically shuts down any argument against the Problem of Evil, because it will always be imposible for humans to prove otherwise. Religious debate is at a standstill because of this. |
Well, I don't care to further exhaust this topic, but I will anyways because I do want to put in my two cents on this.
The idea that God would implement evil to achieve a greater, if impossible to foresee good, seems flawed to me because it is awfully unecessary, in my opinion. Why do millions of people need to die in order to achieve a greater good, when God could have eliminated any problems at the onset of creation, by creating everything perfectly to begin with? Is he just trying to play games with us by watching us have wars, and kill each other, just so he can see if his litttle experiment is going to work? I don't think that any argument is "shut down" because of this, at least in the Christian instance - I think that it is only made deeper. It is further evidence that God is contradictory because he is both perfect, and the creator of evil. Maybe there is some purpose that can't be understood, some problem in the overall universe that he feels he must solve - however, according to what
I see, there is no purpose to torture, pain, and killing - no justification for the deaths of millions, all to solve a problem that God, being all powerful, could have solved the very instant he created us. If there is a purpose, I don't see how it pertains to us since we can't comprehend it - therefore, it seems unecessary.
This touches on why I claim to be agnostic - I do not know for sure whether there is or is not a reason for the pain in this world, and I do not know if it is God(s) who is causing it to happen, and whether or not he/she/it/they has a good reason for doing so. I guess in that sense, you are right Jonathan, that it is impossible to ever prove. Same thing goes for every philosophical argument that can be made. However, I don't agree that anything is "shut down." The very act of stating "evil exists in the world toward a greater, if impossible to forsee, good" opens up realms of possible discussions and counter arguments. One can still investigate the nature of reality, even if it is impossible to prove actual truths.
-- Jaine