Wednesday, March 01, 2006

The Riddle of Epicurus

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?

Read this years ago at university and thought little of it. Coming across it again watching Jonathon Miller on atheism I was very impressed by the reasoning.

I don't think their is an answer to the riddle.

You are an intelligent human being. Your life is valuable for its own sake. You are not second-class in the universe, deriving meaning and purpose from some other mind. You are not inherently evil;you are inherently human, possessing the positive rational potential to help make this a world of morality, peace and joy. Trust yourself.
— Dan Barker, former clergyman, quoted from his book, Losing Faith in Faith

Another worthy quote for those of us who walked away.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home