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STT
Guest
Pascal argue that those who believe in good God keep more safe position compared to non-believers. But what if God is evil. Of course non-believers will be in trouble but believers in good God will be in more trouble.
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seagal
Guest
The Christian apologist William Lane Craig answered this question this way:
“By definition the concept of God is a being that is worthy of worship. That’s what it means to be God. And to be worthy of worship entails perfect goodness. Any being that was morally defective is not worthy of worship. And that’s why absolute goodness is part of what it means to be a maximally great being. If there is such a being necessarily it has to be good.”
“By definition the concept of God is a being that is worthy of worship. That’s what it means to be God. And to be worthy of worship entails perfect goodness. Any being that was morally defective is not worthy of worship. And that’s why absolute goodness is part of what it means to be a maximally great being. If there is such a being necessarily it has to be good.”
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Tim_D
Guest
Excellent.
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z_0101
Guest
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USMC_Convert
Guest
I remember reading that John Calvin once compared God to a malicious being who holds human souls over a fire like a kid torturing a spider trying to decide whether or not to toss them in.
I feel sorry for people who believe like this, pray for them, and understand that God is our Father and as such He does nothing but the best for us.
Try praying a thanks to God and thank Him for everything He has given you, and for everything He has taken away. Remember that even if we don’t understand, don’t like it or don’t agree with it, everything God does is for our benefit. Even when He takes away our favorite toys…
I feel sorry for people who believe like this, pray for them, and understand that God is our Father and as such He does nothing but the best for us.
Try praying a thanks to God and thank Him for everything He has given you, and for everything He has taken away. Remember that even if we don’t understand, don’t like it or don’t agree with it, everything God does is for our benefit. Even when He takes away our favorite toys…
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Charlemagne_III
Guest
I guess, playing the devil’s advocate here, you could say God creates others to exist so that he can torture them.
This, however, would fly in the face of common sense. If we were all being tortured, we would pray daily to die so as to end the torture. But the contrary is true. We believe life is good, and we hold on to it out of this profound conviction that life is good, not terrible.
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STT
Guest
What is the relation between existence of anything and evil God? Evil God has its own purposes.
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STT
Guest
So you want to tell me that you won’t worship an evil God even you face eternal punishment?
I totally understand what you are saying but we are arguing against Pascal’s argument.
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STT
Guest
Life is neither good or evil so you cannot be sure whether God is good or evil.
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tonyrey
Guest
Critics of God take all the good things in life for granted and utter not one word of gratitude…
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STT
Guest
We are ruled with our nature to live. Once you subtract your tendency to follow your nature then you will see that life is neither good or evil.
Of course there are evil and good.
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Reepicheep
Guest
How can we even have the concept of ‘good’ if the Creator of all that exists is not good?
And to anticipate a possible objection: no, the same argument does not apply to evil. Evil is not equal to good. Evil is the absence of good, or a defect in good. Evil can exist in the creation of a good God. Good could not exist in the creation of an evil god, if such a god were even possible.
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Randy_Carson
Guest
Let me see if I understand you correctly:
If we choose to worship an evil God, we will not face eternal punishment. From our perspective, worshiping Evil God is good and not worshiping Him is bad. So, Evil God does something good for us by not subjecting us to eternal damnation if we worship Him.
But if Evil God does something good for us, then He is not purely evil, is he?
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Vonsalza
Guest
Hey STT,
It really depends on what you mean by “evil”, doesn’t it?
The means by which mankind could be influenced toward evil was set in place by God’s willful creation of Lucifer - the originator of all rebellion - who was created to do exactly what he did, does and will do. Lucifer fell, then tempted man and man fell.
Evil is, thus, the product of choice. If God were to eliminate evil as we know it, it could be vigorously argued that He’d have to do it by destroying your free moral agency - reducing you to an automaton.
You’d have no more “will” than the fax machine in my office.
We can then reasonably conclude that “evil” exists because “will” exists. And it goes without saying that God wants you to exercise your will to His greater glory - even though you are not FORCED to. Ergo, the problem
And while we may insist that God and “evil” cannot abide together (which is true), God obviously understands “evil” because he judges and punishes it - which explains how He can create a being (Lucifer) to enact it apart from Himself.You could reduce your question (in another post) even further to “Why did He make all this junk (the universe) anyway?” And as we can’t get inside the mind of God, but know that’s He’s all powerful, we can reasonably deduce that the answer is this - He wanted to.
As your “label” indicates you’re looking for truth, I’ll share with you why I’m working to be a member of the Pope’s team.
I am a theist because theism is the only rational basis for morality.
I am a Christian theist because I think Christianity best represents the complex interface between the Divine and Human Conditions in a redemptive context.
I am a Catholic because Christian Truth derived from “Personal Divine Revelation” (Protestantism) is chaos. Plus, I can make a way better historical and theological argument for it than I can any other Christian sect (although I respect the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Communions enormously - we were brothers once).
I hope I have been helpful.
Go in Peace.
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