The Problem of Evil is a strong argument against the concept of God accepted by some Christians, Jews and Muslims. This is an argument against the classical definition of god. It takes the following form:
- A God that is all powerful would be able to prevent evil and suffering.
- A God that is all knowing would know that evil and suffering happen.
- A God that is all loving wouldn't want evil and suffering to happen.
But evil and suffering do happen. Therefore, a God that is all powerful, all knowing and all loving does not exist, unless it is a very stupid or ignorant god.
Polytheism[]
If more than one god exists, the gods collectively are unwilling or unable to prevent suffering. See Polytheism. If any god exists polytheism seems more reasonable than monotheism. There is too much evil in the world. It is not reasonable to conclude that there is one good god. There is too much good in the world. It is not reasonable to conclude that there is just one evil supernatural entity.
The God of the Bible[]
- Matthew 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? [1] The Bible paradoxically also recognises that agents should be judged by the result of their actions. The bad things in the world are like thorns or thistles. They show that any god has limited power or has limited knowledge or has at best limited love.
- The God of the Bible can be seen as evil.
20:14 But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.
20:15 Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations. 20:16 But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: (20:16-17) "Thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth ... as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee." ( Kill the old men and women, the sick and the dying, the blind and the lame, pregnant mothers, nursing mothers, infants, toddlers, and babies. ) 20:17 But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee:
20:18 That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the LORD your God.
Above is just one example of divine genocide. There are many others. A human being who caused genocide or ordered it on this scale would be condemned by Courts of Law. Such a criminal would face death or life imprisonment depending on the country. Christians, Jews and Muslims see their cruel God as perfectly righteous. Fortunately there is no reason to believe such a god exists.
Implications of the Bible[]
He (God) actually created evil. That would make him more evil than all the despots, dictators, rapists, murderers and torturers that have ever existed. Then you neglect the fact that IF God knows every outcome of every second of existence, then he knew that after the flood, people would multiply and be even more heinous than they had ever been. Then, He had to sacrifice himself to himself to satisfy some blood debt that he specified as payment for people's sins. To me, if there was an omnipotent god, then he could have just zapped sin out and forgiven everyone without the -making the young virgin pregnant-cloning himself-preaching to a tiny slice of the world and then having the Romans (not the Jews) kill him so that everybody who believed the whole weird fairy tale could be forgiven. [2]
According to Christianity, Judaism and Islam God created the world which he/she knew in advance would become evil. Therefore, God indirectly caused all the evil in the world.
External link[]
- All Things Bad and Horrible
- Diseases Are Caused By Sin (Not God) Parody video by an Atheist pretending to explain how a perfect God could create disease organisms