Does God exsit?

Question

I am an atheist and I'm curious to understand how religious people would counter the Epicurean paradox of god.

Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to. ... If he wants to, but cannot, he is impotent. If he can, but does not want to, he is wicked. ... If, as they say, God can abolish evil, and God really wants to do it, why is there evil in the world?" (Epicurus, as quoted in 2000 Years of Disbelief)

Metazone, brings up a really interesting point, maybe instead of looking at the world like a binary number system, I should focus my thoughts on the nature of reality,

Answer 1

Having fun constructing or discussing a paradox doesn't change the reality of God's existence.

God gave us the gift of intelligent thought. So, yes, we're able to build a paradox or two. And, being intelligent, we're also able to have doubt.

Which is why faith in God is so beautiful. Faith is able to overcome these obstacles.

Answer 2

that's a really interesting angle of questioning God's existence. i'm not religious; i like balance in nature. is evil necessary to God? meaning, if there is no more evil, does God lose an integral part of something that defined him?

if war was abolished, then the notion of peace would be altered--at least in terms of how it is thought of in contrast to war. and war is a large part of the word peace's definition. does God need an opposite in order to be fully defined as the 'force' against it?

this only opens up more questions! if i could even you out with a thumbs up, i would. (what would 'thumbs up' mean if there were no 'thumbs down'?!)

Answer 3

There is evil in the world, because evil dwells deep in the hearts of men. Yes God can change a person heart but only by coming to Him and asking the Lord Jesus Christ to come into his/her heart and create a new spirit within them. But if a person does not want to humble himself and does what is wise in his own eyes mankind has only to blame themselves for all the evil committed under the sun.

Answer 4

Evil is in the world b/c of PEOPLE and their desire to not change their ways/behaviors
GOD despises evil and he cannot bare the sight of evil but b/c of what his done for us on the cross we can repent and be redeemed
One thing that GOD never took away from us was the ability to make our own choices (free will) and hey some people get carried away and have evil hearts and the desire to hurt/kill others, he has nothing to do with it, although he can stop it, HE has power/control over EVERYTHING

GOD BLESS!!!!!

Answer 5

I believe that God does exist and that he indeed possesses the power to completely destroy evil in all its forms. Evil however, exists due to the original sin of man and not the invention of God. God is love, kindness, righteousness and peace; anything outside of him is the absence of goodness and light. If you accept the premise that Adam and Eve commit ed the original sin, than you are able to then look to the argument that God does not accept evil/sin by his throwing out of the garden of Adam and Eve. If he were to destroy evil he would have to extinguish the lives of countless of people.
Evil exists since man does not accept God. The absence of God is evil and darkness. God wishes to be a part of our lives and give comfort to us. By denying God and desiring to live by our own standards we shut God out when He tries to give us eternal life. He will not wait forever, he has designated the end times as the beginning of end for evil (Lucifer).

Answer 6

if you ever read genises you would know why satan has not been destroyed yet but god will. satan said he could rule the earth and he is but as you can see he is not doing a good job. that is why 1john 5:19 says "the whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one." your logic in correct since your facts arent true.

Answer 7

God could easily 'aboish evil' but that would mean detroying all life on earth because everything on earth has evil in it. God loves us too much to do that, he wants to give us a chance to come to know him. There is evil in the world because of us, God gave us freewill and we chose the path of evil, so basically its our fault.

Answer 8

My thoughts exactly. Plus, omnipotency is a paradox. Can he create a rock he cannot lift?

Expect George W Bush fans to say that "God wants us to 'pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps'" which is another paradox

Answer 9

The god that 99.99% of people (believers and non-believers) concentrate on doesn't exist. People who have a non-dualistic, direct experience of Reality come away with something else.

Answer 10

Hahahahaha nooooooooooooooooooooo! Doh!