If there is a God, why is there evil?
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If there is a God, why is there evil?
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I've pondered this myself as well. What do you think?
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God's existence
The spiritual world, if it exists, could not, or at least should not, (if we are to have confidence in our abilities of reason for thinking of a higher or separate level of existence) contain the same kind (to say the least) of consciousness as we would expect in the physical realm. Otherwise, if we are not to be so bold as to believe we can logically explain things of the spiritual world, then there is no way we could or should ever try to explain any kind of "conscious" thought or activity of God or any other spiritual being.
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I think you need to worry about considering whether or not there is a god first. If you can answer that question, all your other questions will make more sense (or less, as it were).If there is a God, why is there evil? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why is there so much needless suffering in the world, from natural disasters and such? Why would a loving God do this?
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Yeah I'm pretty much in agreement with you on this one. Well put. Althogh I personally do believe God is all good, I'm with you all the way in terms of free will.Bk2Kant wrote:My idea of what God is does not feed into this apparent contradiction. I think of God as the creater I think God developed us, gave us free will, and left us to our own ruin or prosperity. No need to think God is all good because God is all powerful (or at least more powerful than us...presumably)

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Re:
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Re: If there is a God, why is there evil?
Maybe God doesn't care if God exists.Floyd wrote:If there is a God, why is there evil? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why is there so much needless suffering in the world, from natural disasters and such? Why would a loving God do this?
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Re: If there is a God, why is there evil?
Do we even exist? Why or why not?calenture9 wrote:Maybe God doesn't care if God exists.Floyd wrote:If there is a God, why is there evil? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why is there so much needless suffering in the world, from natural disasters and such? Why would a loving God do this?
you smart, it's knowing what you don't know.
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Re: If there is a God, why is there evil?
I'm not trying to persuade anyone to follow a certain religion, but here's my idea on this:Floyd wrote:If there is a God, why is there evil? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why is there so much needless suffering in the world, from natural disasters and such? Why would a loving God do this?
When you look into a dark closet, what is
usually the first thing you do? Turn on a light, maybe?
You couldn't see without it, so now you are able to see everything around you. Everything's not quite as scary
as before. I see that God works in a similar fashion.
If there was no darkness in the world, would there be any need for a higher power? There would be need for
prayer, compassion, etc... It would be a world devoid
of suffering, but there would also be no joy.
Happiness cannot exist without sadness, just like a
light in a hallway or closet cannot exist without
the darkness to greet it.
you smart, it's knowing what you don't know.
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Some people don't. They think of evil as negativeTito wrote:The easy answer is that there is no God. I also do not believe in 'EVIL' per se but that can be for another topic.
force which can affect us for the better. I think
it's actually a Zen Buddhist philosophy.
you smart, it's knowing what you don't know.
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We have to have a free will.captain_crunk wrote:Yeah I'm pretty much in agreement with you on this one. Well put. Althogh I personally do believe God is all good, I'm with you all the way in terms of free will.Bk2Kant wrote:My idea of what God is does not feed into this apparent contradiction. I think of God as the creater I think God developed us, gave us free will, and left us to our own ruin or prosperity. No need to think God is all good because God is all powerful (or at least more powerful than us...presumably)
you smart, it's knowing what you don't know.
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Re: If there is a God, why is there evil?
Obviously we DO in fact exist otherwise we'd be unable to ask the question as to whether we exist or not. However as for proof that we exist, I don't know that we'll ever really prove it. Descartes was right on with the whole "I think therefore I am" thing. That's about as close to a definitive answer as we can get, I think.MyshiningOne wrote: Do we even exist? Why or why not?
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2023/2024 Philosophy Books of the Month

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