God could certainly have created a different pair, like George and Susie, who would NOT have succumbed to the temptation. This is impeccable logic. Pallas Athene is justified in being baffled. There is no doubt whatsoever that this world could have been a paradise without any unnecessary suffering or injustice. No one need have sinned and there could be peace and harmony for everyone.
Unfortunately logical possibilities are worthless in the face of reality. Was Schopenhauer right in claiming that it would be better if life had never existed on this planet?
The OP amounts to a death wish for the entire human race. It implicitly rejects the value of the whole of civilisation from start to finish. It implies that none of us, including Pallas himself, has the right to exist in view of the crimes of our ancestors. All of us without exception should be denied the gift of life because of what has occurred before we were born. Does he sincerely believe that evil outweighs everything else?
Yes, Tonyrey with the save! Thank you for “resurrecting” this thread. It had decayed into dithering about whether or not we are required to believe that which we accept as true.
Now we can have a meaningful dialogue. I believe you have highlighted one of the issues with this question. Maybe God shouldn’t have created us, but isn’t that the most self-destructive and pessimistic philosophy? I will agree, that given a Catholic worldview and eschatology, yes, absolutely evil outweighs good and it is an inexcusable crime for God to have created us if he could have done otherwise (whether he created nothing at all or the perfect world of George and Susie).
However, the Catholic world-view assumes that tons of human beings will undergo endless physical, mental, and spiritual torment forever and forever without relent. In my opinion, I would much rather that no one have ever been created than for even one human being to have to endure this mind-bogglingly horrific fate. If my existence and happiness are predicated upon the necessity of this kind of catastrophic evil, then I cannot accept that my existence is a “good.” If the whole of humanity is predicated on numerous instances of this magnitude of evil, then yes, Schopenhaur is absolutely correct. Existence simply isn’t worth it.
However, if there is no eternal hell and no original sin, if there is no radically evil fate awaiting most of humanity, then I don’t reach the same conclusion. Even with all the evil in the world, we have no reason to suppose that life is not worth living. I can agree that, on the whole, life is a good thing for most human beings in most times and places. There is a tremendous goodness and wonder in life, and we should all embrace it to the fullest extent even though it does come packaged with pain, evil, chaos, and sorrow.
I can accept this:
- God is all powerful, all good, all knowing.
- The world is not totally perfect.
But, I can’t accept this:
- God is all powerful, all good, all knowing.
- One or more conscious beings are tormented in an endless, relentless hell.
This is just too much unnecessary evil and suffering. It isn’t worth it, not for any us of singularly or all of us collectively.
Pointing out alternate possibilities, which improve the quality of life does not mean a “death wish”.
