Philosophy of Religion 101

"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?" – Epicurus (Greek Philosopher)

This is a popular Atheist rebuttal against the idea of an omniscient, omnipotent, and benevolent God. These questions are also an extremely old exercise that takes place in many “Philosophy of Religion” courses around the world. There are a few concessions that an Athiest must allow a Christian if they wish to engage in an actual debate. To not allow these things is to simply use some of the Bible against us without understanding it. What must be allowed is this:

1.) We are not dead when we die, but rather have an immortal soul.
2.) We have been created with free will and are under our own jurisdiction when alive. (this includes all the laws of Science and Reason we observe)
3.) In conjunction with the item above we know that we can make choices and we chose the ‘Knowledge of Good and Evil’ vs. an eternity of childlike innocence and naivety. In order to know both we of course exposed ourselves to the latter which we had the option to abstain from.

Once these items are allowed we can make a few observations.

1.) Our span of existence on this planet is negligible when compared to infinite.
2.) We exist in a world that we define and are defined by. If God interceded on anyone’s behalf for any reason He could directly or indirectly effect the choices of those people. Whether He saves the child starving in Africa or He stops Hitler from committing mass genocide He destroys ‘free’ will and our ability to choose.
3.) The nature of this world, that it’s perilous and destructive, was our choice. We are not dwelling in a place that was created for us, but rather the ‘instructor’ through which we ‘gain’ our knowledge and lose our innocence.

Taking those three points in together gives you an understanding of why Epicurus’ logic is flawed from its initiation. It is a house built on swampy ground that doesn’t have a true foundation. He’s using his very scientific understanding of the world in an argument against a being which he’s not allowing for. God doesn’t exist in Epicurus’ world so his argument is sound. That’s a fallacy in it of itself because if you don’t allow for the existence of your subject then you can’t justify His powers as they apply to this world, because the ‘world’ of your argument isn’t the same ‘world’ of your subject.

God is willing to prevent evil and He does, He filters it out after death in the afterlife which is exponentially more important than here. God is omnipotent because he is the creator. God is both able and willing and justifies himself in his works outside what we know now, which is as transitory as a raindrop.

Evil comes from the choice we made when we chose to defy God and sacrifice innocence for knowledge. God is not the only creator, we too can create and destroy and that’s important to remember.

The reason that God can be all powerful, all good, and all knowing while allowing evil and hardship in this world is because this world is not His. This is our world and while I believe that certain people are allowed 'miracles’, I believe that God doesn’t act here because we have been given an allowance to ‘learn’ as we chose. I think it’s important to also remember that He didn’t give up on us and He didn’t deny us eternal life.

So after these 100 or so years, at best, we are going to exist for an incredibly long time to come in that place which has been prepared for us. What happens on this planet is but a flash of light and a puff of smoke. There is no evil and no pain that can not be overcome by an eternal life that is free from all that plagued us here.

In closing I’d say that Epicurus hadn’t tried to understand the bible. I don’t think he understood what his words truly meant. The greatest evil ever committed is nothing in the tapestry of forever. We chose to not be kids forever and because of that we are allowed our time to ‘grow up’ and as we all know, growing up is rough. The most important thing to remember is that when it’s all done, after we’ve skinned our knees, bashed our chins and broke our bones He’s waiting to take all the pain away, forever.