How can the existence of evil be compatible with the existence of god(s)?

Question

Consider the Epicurean argument:
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?"

I was reading in Wikipedia that "one of the most common arguments against the existence of a specific God is the problem of evil." As an atheist, this is certainly my main argument. How do theists account for this logical incompatibility? The only reasons I ever hear from people are "free will" or "the devil." The first just doesn't make sense and the second is just an excuse.

Answer 1

Your question and statement is excellent.. I've heard the same thing "free will" but then I heard "gods will" So which is it free will or gods will because in my opinion both can not co-exist..

Do not forget the omnipotent paradox also includes could god create a rock so heavy that he himself could not lift it. However the example you have give is great also.

My argument against the existence of god is the concept of god..
god is all-knowing, god is all-loving and god is all-powerful.

You have to understand when it comes to religion people have been conditioned throughout the centuries to believe in this fairytale stories.. and also god was invented by early man to explain what could not be explained when early man was very ignorant about the surrouonding around him...

Example most parents explain to their children at an early age that thunder and lighting are caused by god... Now here is the question why would they do that? The logical reason if you want to to call it a logical reason is because a child at that age is unable to understand the scientific explaination about thunder and lighting; therefore the excuse of god is bowling causes thunder and lighting is when he makes a strike is used..
One can conclude that based on this the argument that god was created by man can certainly be made..

Prayer-- another phoney idea-- religious people say that god answers prayers but when a person asks why did god not asnwer my prayers for the well being of a loved one.. the following copout answers are used... god works in mysteries ways, it is not our place to question god, only god knows, god does not always answer prayers( HUH?) or god did answer them but not in the manner in which we wanted..

So there are plenty of CLEAR reason how religion and god is flawed; sadly people have yet to wake to to realize that and will continue to believe in this god...

And let's not forget how many people have been killed in the name of "god" or how many wars have been started because of "god"

On a side note I firmly believe that religion is trying to hinder the progress of science.. The catholic church sent Galileo to jail for stating the sun was the center of the solar system, the idea of evolution and the big bang still escapes them but a bunch of tribal peolpe gathered around a fire and randomly guessing the age of the earth is proof of creation..

I could go on and on.. but I think you got the idea

Answer 2

It has to do with the arrogance of the human mind. I think that it was back in the 1600's that the idea started to become popular
that it was possible for the human mind with the use of reason
to discover all truth. Now that idea pervades the western world.
The fact is that the human mind and the process of thinking are handy but way too limited to comprehend ultimate reality or even the deep questions of life. When I read Western Philosophers, I can't read them for very long because it's too frustrating. They think like children!

All logic and reason are based upon premises; that which is known, that which is self evident, but that which can not be proved. If A=B and if B=C, then A=C. But is A =B and is B=C?
And, exactly what is A or B or C? this type of reasoning works well for mathematics because the questions I've asked aren't relevant there, but they are with everything else.

Let me give you an example of appearance. Your skin appears to be the same skin you had a year ago. It has the same scars, moles, brown spots, etc. Those people who have some kind of medical background know that the skin has three layers. The top layer dies and sloughs off, the middle layer becomes the top, and the bottomand the bottom becomes the middle. This process takes about 30 days for you to have
a completely new 3 layers of skin. So the apparent fact that you keep the same skin is not true, but it appears that way.

There isn't space here and I don't have the time to do a full treatment of this. The fact of the matter is that God is God. He doesn't have to be good. The wonderful thing that Jesus showed by his teaching, life, and death and resurection is that God is so good that our puny mind can't even begin to comprehend it.

Answer 3

I think that compatibility between evil and God is a somewhat ludicrous question since anything (or nothing at all) can be considered as being a God - it's simply a belief after all, an idea, which is supported by faith and not fact which stands as the only thing to give it the status of an entity. One might consider and believe in a stone idol as God... or one might choose the Tooth Fairy as his God - but neither of these is in fact "incompatible" with evil, they just don't compare at all, really.

Evil is a value judgment. What one person considers evil another might fawn over as the best thing in the world since the discovery of peanut butter. Evil is also a relative entity; it’s a polar point with it's opposite number being "good." This is quite a different thing than God.

There is nothing incompatible between good and the Tooth Fairy that I can see; therefore, one might conclude that there is nothing incompatible between evil and The Tooth Fairy... or between evil and God. Like apples and oranges, they both exist as things unto themselves - neither compatible nor incompatible.

But I understand, (between the lines,) that what you're seeking is agreement over the inconsistency of the personified God, as a being who has the power to move mountains, to create, or to do anything at all that he wills to do, and the idea that he, being benevolent and loving, could not possibly have allowed or created evil – and that the two are as apple and oranges, they both exist... yet how? Well, you're right to raise a question over the dilemma. They do both exist, quite certainly, and you have only a small step to take in order to realize that this just cannot be if you wish to satisfy you mind... therefore, it must be that at least one of the two entities is fantastic... is in error... or is an incredibility.

Either evil does not exist or the perception of a benevolent God is completely in error ... or perhaps they are, in fact, both mythical.

Hmmmm. I think I've seen some real evidence that there are some rather nasty things going on in the world... I don't believe I've seen anything to convince me that there's a Tooth Fairy. There must be some way to figure this thing out... Gosh... what a difficult question.... See what I mean?… it’s ludicrous.

ZZZZ r u randy? ... see my latest blog entry for a hoot. ZZZZ

Answer 4

The fact that God gives us free will and we allow evil ourselves doesn't make sense? Here's what the Bible says in Genesis 1:26:

26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, [a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

So according to God, we rule the world. Whatever happens in the world, unless we pray and ask God for His intervention, is our responsibility.

Evil is the lack of good. It is not a thing of itself. It is like light and darkness. Darkness is the absence of light. Take a bright, sunny day. Okay, now create darkness in the middle of the sunny day. You can't. Now take a dark night. Create light. You can by building a fire.

Evil is the absence of good.

Answer 5

God gave us a freewill, it was a gift, and you're asking why God won't stop our freewill when we commit evil? That's like giving someone a christmas gift, and then taking it back the next day just because you didn't like what he/she was doing with it. In our freewill, we create evil, we are the authors of it. And for God to "stop" evil, then he'd have to "force" us to stop, but God never forces anything on us. He only encourages, because we're not programmed robots that are forced to do this and that. God rewards us when we use freewill for good. Yet, God WILL stop evil, HENCE Judgement Day. He has not stopped evil once and for all, because he's giving people a chance to repent before he unleashes his wrath at Judgement Day. If God obeyed your request to utterly "stop" evil altogether, then guess what, you'd be standing in front of him answering for your sins. But thank God he's giving us time to repent before that occurs.

Answer 6

Well, God could have made us all robotic. He could have constructed us in such a way that we robotically follow His will and do what He says whether we want to or not. But what would be the point of that? There would be no love. He gave us free will because He wants us to love Him and do His will because we want to, not because He forces us to. So, God is omnipotent. But He will not force us do good or evil. He has given us the ability to choose what decisions we make. It makes perfect sense to me.

Answer 7

well, since your an athesist which i dont blame you i am too, ill spare all the religious ideas and go staight to the point. good cannot exist without evil, its just not possible. its like in life, there are certain things you and and cant live with but you cant live without them either. if evil were totally destroyed we would be left alone to stand on our own to feet, not relieing on anything and then it would be human nature and the hunger for power that will corrupt this world over and over again.

Answer 8

Who Created Evil?

As you read this, I challenge you to really let it's meaning sink in.

This eloquently answers one of the profound questions of life.



Did God Create Evil?

The university professor challenged his students with this question:

"Did God create everything that exists? "

A student bravely replied "Yes, he did!"

"God created everything?" the professor asked.

"Yes sir," the student replied.

The professor answered, "If God created everything, then God created evil since evil exists, and according to the principal that our works define who we are, then God is evil."



The professor was quite pleased with himself and boasted to the students that he had proven once more that the Christian faith was a myth.



Another student raised his hand and said, "Can I ask you a question professor?"

"Of course," replied the professor.



The student stood up and asked, "Professor, does cold exist?"

The professor replied "Of course it exists. Have you never been cold?"

The students snickered at the young man's question.

The young man replied, "In fact sir, cold does not exist. According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat. Everybody or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body, or matter, have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (- 460 degrees F) is the total absence of heat. Cold does not exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have no heat.



The student continued. "Professor, does darkness exist?"

The professor responded, "Of course it does."

The student replied, "Once again you are wrong sir. Darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light. Light, we can study, but not darkness. In fact we can use Newton's prism to break white light into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each color. You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a world of darkness and illuminate it. How can you know how dark a certain space is? You measure the amount of light present. Isn't this correct? Darkness is a term used by man to describe what happens when there is no light present."



Finally the young man asked the professor. "Sir, does evil exist?"

Now uncertain, the professor responded, "Of course , as I have already said. We see it every day. It is in the daily example of man's inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil."



To this the student replied, "Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light."



The professor sat down.



The young man's name --- Albert Einstein



May today there be peace within you. May you trust your God that you are exactly where you are meant to be

Answer 9

"Nothing is either good or bad but thinking makes it so." - Shakespeare

Good and Evil are defined by our own morals; a human design. If there's a God, it doesn't believe in good or evil.

Answer 10

http://www.godisimaginry.org


there is no god full stop. my mian argument begins when a relgious person begins the whole "building without a builder" argument. look , something got us here, but it wasnt necaserrily a god