Sunday, September 10, 2023

Sunday Worship

 

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.

–Epicurus (quoted in Losing My Religions)


That summary - sometimes called "the question of theodicy" - really captures it all. 

Of course, zillions of words have been desperately thrown against this logic to justify a belief in an omniscient, omnipotent, and benevolent god. 

For example, when I posted this on Facebook,* several people said that god gives us free will, and we choose to do evil. 

But of course, if god is omniscient, he knew what we'd do, and he created us anyway. Furthermore, "free will" doesn't explain why bad things happen to good people or why innocent individuals suffer (I assume I don't have to give examples).

Every argument against the simulation hypothesis ("Worse than Hitler" in Losing) applies even more to god.

* Someone posted that evil exists because of homosexuals. Goddamn, can you imagine how horrible it must be to be that person?  😱

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