To worship is to value something more than anything else in the world. It is impossible not to value anything. Otherwise you would not value your opinion or bother to express it! I leave you to decide what your supreme value is…
How do you know that? Have you ever created a universe?
Right, because Hume believed that God did not exist. If this is not what you meant, show me the quote, I’d be interested in seeing it. Although I greatly respect the opinion of David Hume, I do not necessarily agree with all the opinions of him, or any other atheist. Atheists make mistakes too, and I look at the quality of the arguments, not just who is making them.
This is not how the word ‘worship’ is typically defined. It is typically defined as something like this: the reverent love and devotion accorded a deity, an idol, or a sacred object or the ceremonies, prayers, or other religious forms by which this love is expressed. I value many things in this world: my life, the life of my family, and the lives and happiness of every person and animal on earth. But I do not think it would be appropriate to say that I worship anything.
I have described some ways in which God could reduce the amount of evil in the world. God is all powerful, so there can be no additional constraints on him. God would have even created the laws of how universes behave. So he could have created universes in whatever way he wanted.How do you know that? Have you ever created a universe?
“EvilAtheist” you may not know it but your “bride” is PRIDE!
No, I’m not sure which of the various possible reasons you like. I am not saying that all evil cannot be consistent with an omnibenevolent God; I’m just saying that I think there are particularly problematic types of evil which an omnibenevolent God could not cause or permit.
I guess you could call the universe the villain, although there is certainly too much good in the world to see it as pure evil. However, I generally don’t like blaming things on inanimate objects. I might be upset when the weather is bad, but I don’t see that as the weather being evil.
Many people do. I think that most of our suffering is brought on by our own decisions. However, I do not think that all people who grow up in war-torn countries in a state of near starvation brought on their own suffering.
It’s just that based on everything I’ve read, there doesn’t seem to be any good evidence that Jesus died for our sins or that heaven and hell exist.
On a personal level, I’m not very concerned about heaven and hell because Christianity in general seems pretty implausible to me (for a variety of reasons). But we’ll both be in trouble if the true God is something else entirely.That perfect world you are pining for exists, but you have to earn it. You can also earn the other world that is opposed to perfection … hell. That is an existential choice you have to make … and I think at the hour of your death you just might be singing a rather different tune about natural disasters … what with the possible personal disaster looming straight ahead for anEvilAtheist.
What say you?
I would say that I’m humble about that as well. In fact, I’m probably the most humble person who has ever lived.
Two very good questions so I will address both
Sorry it sounded too personal:blush:
Very clever responce:thumbsup:
He is not the direct cause. He permits evil because the only alternative would be not to create beings with free will. Would you prefer never to have existed? Even if you said “yes” why should everyone else be deprived of the opprtunity because of your lack of appreciation?
God is the “cause” of “Natural Evil” is a very limited understanding of God.
I think there is no good evidence that the Christian God exists. So I think his existence is about as likely as the existence of any other conceivable God.
I do not think it would be proper to say that it is impossible for some specific non-logically contradictory God to exist, and there are versions of the Christian God that are not logically contradictory. That doesn’t mean I think there is a decent probability that Christianity is correct. I am not willing to give the Christian conception of God the benefit of the doubt, and I am unwilling to give the Flying Spaghetti Monster the benefit of the doubt (since the probability of either one existing is incredibly small).
I’m sure that some people don’t want to believe, and that contributes to their disbelief. Not for me. I just haven’t seen any reasons to think that Christianity is true.
So do you think I would rather spend eternity in hell then heaven?
But if God is all powerful, there can be no constraints on God’s power. So God could prevent some incidents of evil and still achieve all the beneficial side-effects of that evil by some non-evil means.Two very good questions so I will address both
Nothing can exist outsidw the perview and Divine Providence of God, who is “The First Cause” of everything and everyone. additionally, this same God by virture of being The Creator" actually keeps all CREATED THINGS moving and in existence.
So all Good is directly or indirectly caused by God, and all evil is permitted by God, at times for reasons only God Himself is able to understand.
Isaiah 55:8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."
Well, you think your idea of God is closer to the truth than the ideas of every other religion (otherwise I presume you would be a member of another religion). Maybe a demon is making you think you think that you know better than Muslims, and maybe Islam is actually correct.