"The gods can either take away evil from the world and will not, or, being willing to do so, cannot; or they neither can nor will, or lastly, they are both able and willing. If they have the will to remove evil and cannot, then they are not omnipotent. If they can, but will not, than they are not benevolent. If they are neither able nor willing, then they are neither omnipotent nor benevolent. Lastly, if they are both able and willing to annihilate evil, how does it exist?"
..........Epicures, 300 B.C.
2006-12-21 00:54:40 · 14 answers · asked by Squirrel 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
fascinating!
2006-12-21 01:00:03 · answer #1 · answered by Josephus 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Epicures wasn't so much formulating a response to evil as he was formulating a process by which logic could be applied to a problem.
The kink in his arguement is that, like a if/then statement, you have to accept the previous rational in order to be able to proceed. If, at any point during the process, his reasoning or arguement fails, then the conclusion he reaches fails as well.
The first argumentative section tries to imagine all the possibilities by which God/s relates to evil, kinda like predicting the roll of a dice. In the second section, based upon the answers of the first, Epicures attempts to explain how each solution illustrates a failure in either logic or religion, (knowing the first number of a die, you can predict the range of possible answers using the second, eventhough you haven't rolled it yet.)
His arguement fails, essentially, when he says that "If they can, but will not, than they are not benevolent" for it assumes benevolence would prevent evil from occuring. That is the same as saying that a car did not turn right because there is a left. For a car to be able to turn right, it must also be able to turn in other directions, otherwise the action deserves no distinction. One does not say a living breathing human being for to be a living human breathing it is already given that one must breathe.
Distinction in choice can only come if more than one is available. One does not go car shopping and comparing if only red Nissan Maximas are available.
2006-12-21 09:56:09 · answer #2 · answered by Khnopff71 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Oooooh, that's deep. What writing is it from?
I know I'm not going to solve the question of why evil exists in a little forum, nor will I win any acclamation if I say that the answer cannot / will not be known by man in this age. However, when I come to the conclusion that there is God, and that He is greater than I am, it doesn't matter if I like the way He runs His universe or not.
In the Book of Daniel, a pagan, Nebuchadnezzar, has this to say:
"His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
and His kingdom endures from generation to generation;
all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
and He does according to his will among the host of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth;
and none can stay His hand
or say to him, “What have you done?” "
2006-12-21 09:02:12 · answer #3 · answered by brainiac5 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
SheDevil, you are so deliciously antagonizing them here..lol
I'm quite sure many of your answerers are not familiar with Epicures or his philosophies. I'm not a christian so I won't give my opinion, but I would like to point out that Epicures didn't believe in an ethereal soul (Plato), and believed that the gods had no influence on the lives of humans. He believed that all life was made up of atoms, and that the point of all our actions was to attain pleasure- he was very much a hedonist.
One of his main goals was to sway people from fearing the gods and death. He challenged the concept of evil and a benevolent force looking out for people, pointing out the suffering in the world.
He believed in "gods" per se, but not in the way they were viewed at the time.
Very excellent question!
2006-12-21 09:29:05 · answer #4 · answered by Kallan 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Epicures was a very smart and thoughtful man, but he missed something.
Look at the quote, "If they can, but will not, than they are not benevolent." This would be true if God did nothing whatsoever. Yes, God could take away evil by removing our ability to do evil. But if He were to take away our capability to do evil, He would also be taking away our capability to love. Without the ability to love, we would never have a chance to know God.
Instead of taking away evil, God gives us the grace and ability to eliminate evil from our own lives.
2006-12-21 09:23:50 · answer #5 · answered by Sldgman 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Well, I'm not Christian, but I think Epicures may have overlooked the relationship of good and evil. If evil did not exist, how would we be able to comprehend or recognize good? I don't think the Goddess and God "leave evil here" to punish us. I think it's necessary for us to recognize the difference between what is good and what just is. Plus, that whole balance thing.
Just my two cents.
Blessed Yule everyone!
)O(
2006-12-21 09:14:45 · answer #6 · answered by thelittlemerriemaid 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The quote brings up a point that gets right to the basics of Christianity. God made Adam and Eve perfect and there was no evil in the world. Evil entered the world when Adam and Eve sinned against God. God loves us so much that he came up with the perfect plan to save us from the misery we created by disobeying him. He sent his own Son to live the perfect life that we cannot do, then his Son Jesus suffered for our sins and died to pay for them. What a wonderful gift of undeserved love God freely gave us. On the Last Day he will rescue us from this evil world forever and take us where there is no more evil and pain.
2006-12-21 09:17:34 · answer #7 · answered by d8 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
We don't know why evil exsists, but it does. I don't know what "the gods" can't or can do. I just feel confident in God. I just have faith that goodness and hope and love and peace and acceptance of others is what my own spiritual walk with God has been about. I don't think that God has it out for humans. I don't think evil was put on earth to punish us. I think we are supposed to love and support one another the best we can, even with evil all around us. Good question, by the way.
2006-12-21 09:32:40 · answer #8 · answered by thisisawasteoftime 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Again I say if there wasn't evil..... there there wouldn't be good...
If there wasnt misery, then there couldnt be happiness...
If there wasn't sorrow then there would be no rejoicing..
No wickedness, then no righteousness.
No hatred ,then no love.
No injustice. No justice.
No mean, no nice.
There must be opposition in all things or else all things would be a compound in one and there would be no discernment.. For example, how can you know to do/be good unless, you had done something bad/wrong to understand it was wrong. Then be able to be good or how could you ever be happy saving you had been miserable first. How would you even know that you were happy.. Thefore you see God allows the opposition to exist to bring to pass his eternal purposes..
Also Free agency is an essential part of God's plan.. Men should be able to act without being acted upon. Saving it be their own consequences from their own actions whether it be good or bad.. That is why God doesnt come spank your Butt everytime you sin and also why he doesnt stop murders from killing even the righteous.. For he shall never interfere with free agency.. however what goes go around shall come back around even 7x whether for good or bad.
I want to add some more I shall reveal to ye a secret
If we knew God if we saw heard him speak to us if he didnt hide his face and cause us to act in faith as we must...
Do you think we could be as we are if he was here now?
If we knew God if we remembered our Creators then our actions would be influenced by him. They would not be our own actions it is good that God is not here..That way we grow on our own not being influenced by the presence of such a righteous being would we sin if we were in his presence now this day?? Could we? Talking of the after life and repentance of sins it says" Know ye not that it would be more miserable for ye to dwell in the presence of a just God with a knowledge of your iniquitys then it would be to dwell with the damned souls in hell." hence the need for repentance.
God is not here hence our actions are our own and we shall be judged for the deeds done in the flesh.
2006-12-21 09:30:11 · answer #9 · answered by ? 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I think whomever wrote this is very opinionated and has thought about this alot, but has come to the wrong conclusion or limited the conclusions he's come to.
How about God is able to eliminate evil but has a plan in doing so that does not adhere to our wills or whims. That God being benevolent allows us to choose our own fate in that we can embrace evil or reject it and since He does not like to violate a gift He has given us, namely free will, He does not act overtly against one or another just because someone is being unkind to another. But that they will recieve judgement upon their time of trial. Whether that be the judgement deflected onto Christ for His believers or judgement resting on the person who does not believe Him.
2006-12-21 09:02:07 · answer #10 · answered by sheepinarowboat 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
One person's opinion, and in the realm of philosophy, any one person's opnion is just as valid as any other person's opinion, so I say that Epicures at the time didn't understand the nature of evil, nor the nature of God. To answer his question, if it weren't for evil, we would neither notice nor appreciate the good.
2006-12-21 09:00:09 · answer #11 · answered by togashiyokuni2001 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋