If God is all-powerful and all-good, it / he / she would have created a universe with no suffering and no evil. But, evil and suffering exist. Therefore God does not exist, is not all-powerful or is not benevolent. Attempts to justify the existence of evil are called theodicies. There have been no fully working theodicies created to date, even popular ones such as the free will theodicy were rejected thousands of years ago for reasons that still stand today. It seems that if there is a god, it is not the all-good moral being that classical religions would have us believe.
2006-07-21 09:28:43 · 13 answers · asked by Atheist 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
God created a world that was completely good but witht the potential to choose to fall
You are falsely assuming there cannot be a greater good eventually achieved through a fallen world and it may be that a fallen world may be able to demonstrate the mercy and justice of God and teach somethings about God that may never be known such as forgiveness and patience and longsuffering of God
2006-07-21 09:35:24 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
While suffering and evil themselves are not necessary for this universe to function, their potential is in order for us to exercise our sovereign free will choice in our actions and beliefs.
Creating something perfect within the realm of time does not happen instantaneously, and experience is not possible without time.
I suppose god Could have created everything perfect all at once, but man, what an adventure of co-creation we would miss out on!
Experience is truly the best teacher. When you give a child the freedom to make decisions for themselves, they make poor decisions, even hurting themselves; they just don't have the experience or related foresight to know any better. As they grow, and if they have learned from past experiences, they will choose better and better. Letting a child learn on his own-- letting him make mistakes on his own-- does not imply negation of the presence or even attention of the parent.
God is Divine Love, a love only born of True Understanding. Mores change with the times; Truth does not.
2006-07-21 16:51:59 · answer #2 · answered by sunflower_pyxie 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Similar to the old theory whose name I can't recall at the moment:
There is suffering in the world.
If God can stop the suffering but chooses not to, he is cruel.
If God wants to stop the suffering but cannot, then he is not all-powerful.
Either way, he is not a god worth worshipping.
Great argument, except (1) theists will pull out the 'mysterious ways' stuff and (2) I never needed a rational argument to be an atheist anyway. I just am.
2006-07-21 16:36:18 · answer #3 · answered by XYZ 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Here is an example: A teenager rebels against his parents cuz of the crowd that he got mixed up in, then the parents take action cuz the kid was doing things that are endangering him and others around him k.... now the parent takes disciplinary action maybe a good ole fashion spankin, or grounded in his room. Well that kid can talk all he wants about how his parents are not fair and talk bad about them, so his friends think that his parents are terrible cuz of what the kid says. well his parents really love him and needs to show tough love. Well the kid is rebellious and doesn't wana change. Its the kids attitude that makes things worse and he wont wana change his mind til he learns from his mistakes and changes his mind. What I am getting at is that you are looking at the bad things in the world in which we have caused cuz God doesn't posess our bodies and make us do it. You know damn well that you have made choices that you know you shouldn't have! and guess what so have I! There are consequences for our actions regardless. So if you blame God for what people do themselves and have the freedom to make that choice? hah then you don't take responsibility for anything else do you?
2006-07-21 16:42:36 · answer #4 · answered by AlwaysLaughing 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If there were no evil then there would be no goo either. They both have to co-exist to be possible Even if you had everything you wanted to be good you would probably still find something to complain about.
2006-07-21 16:36:15 · answer #5 · answered by Spaceman spiff 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your theory is just a theory ! which came first the chicken or the egg ? , so which came first God or the athiest ? get the drift if not for God athiest's would not exist , you better thank him anyway ! May our creator show you soon !
2006-07-21 18:42:58 · answer #6 · answered by B R H 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
well you left out one word sin. sin chances everything and as understand freewill it all boils down wheter or not you want to follow Jesus. you have the free will not to follow Jesus it is nothing to do about evil or good. if you decide to follow Jesus then He is responisble for the out come. if you do it on your own then the consquence fall to you.
2006-07-21 16:48:53 · answer #7 · answered by rap1361 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If god made all, all came from god. Evil, pain, all came from him, including.
2006-07-21 16:44:03 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your conclusions do not follow from your premise. the whole thing is a non sequitur.
2006-07-21 16:33:27 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Wrong.
2006-07-21 16:50:20 · answer #10 · answered by NickofTyme 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋