“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?”
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
Epicurus could not have said it better. The question of God has always and will always bog man until man himself ceases to exist. For Socrates, God is the daimonion in him, what we would call conscience that commands him to do what is good and avoid evil. For Plato, he is the demiurge, the one who created the world but has since left it alone, much the same as the deist concept. For Aristotle, he is the First Cause, the Unmoved Mover.
Throughout the centuries, thinkers have refined and built upon the concepts on God articulated by the Great Thinkers of Ancient Western Philosophy as represented by Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. St. Thomas Aquinas gave us the five proofs of the existence of God: first cause, prime mover, necessary being, argument from gradation and intelligent designer. St. Anselm of Canterbury gave us the ontological argument for the existence of God: since we are imperfect, there must be something that created us that is more perfect.
The Abrahamic traditions gave us a patriarchal concept of God, a god who is jealous but merciful, just but strict, demanding yet comforting. Other major religions of the world, especially those of the Eastern variety like Hinduism with its multiplicity of gods, the Buddhists with their no-god centered way of life and the Sikhs with their one-god have gave humanity a pantheon of deities that compete for attention and followers.
Despite such powerful organized religious beliefs, there has always been the question as to whether there really is a God, and this question, depending on who you ask, will get one a panoply of answers. Nevertheless, regardless of religion, a god is always conceived of something that is higher than man. Dictionary.com defines God as a Supreme being, the creator and ruler of the universe.
The Abrahamic traditions conceives God as an active participant in the history of man and lists the following qualities of God: existence (think St. Anselm's proof - it is a necessary existence ), perfect (applies to all other traits mentioned here), timeless (eternal), spaceless or transcendent (incorporeal, not subject to physical laws), immutable (unchanging), omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing), omnipresent (existing everywhere at all times), omnibenevolent (all-good), just (punishment always appropriate to offense), merciful, free, personal (answers and hears prayers), provident (affects the physical world), sovereign (source and ruler of all things), creator of the universe (see source).
From the aforesaid traits or qualities man has assigned to God, an analysis of some will lead us to the conclusion that God therefore could not be possible. A good illustration would be a comparison between the trait PERFECT and CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE. If God is perfect, we would say that he has no faults or cannot commit a mistake, that is a reasonable conclusion. Now the Abrahamic traditions insist that God is the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE. We all know that the UNIVERSE is an imperfect entity. Imperfect because it has limitations like death and suffering among others. A logical analysis would tell us that if a perfect God created the universe, the universe would be perfect, but the universe is NOT perfect. So either the universe was not created by God or God could not exist.
Another trait would be OMNISCIENCE and FREE. An omniscient being would always know what he will and he will not do in the future. If so, then he could not be FREE since he would not be able to not do what he knew he will do in the future. In the same way, if he knows that in the future he will not do an action, then he cannot decide to do it. It goes without saying that an omniscient being cannot not do what he knew he will do and he will always do what he knew he will do - therefore he is not free because his actions have already been defined by his foreknowledge of them. An omniscient being cannot therefore be free.
Moving on, a God cannot be both OMNISCIENT and OMNIPOTENT. An omnipotent can do anything. However, an omniscient being can only do what he knows he will do and will not do what he knows he will not do. They therefore contradict each other.
Furthermore, a God cannot be both JUST and MERCIFUL. Being JUST means giving what is due somebody. Being merciful means not giving what is due somebody because of some consideration or because of forgiveness. A God who is both just and merciful therefore is not possible.
And finally, we come to the concept of EVIL. If God is omnipotent, then he can eliminate EVIL; if God is omnibenevolent, then ONLY the good can exist; if God is omniscient, HE KNOWS THAT EVIL EXISTS, and there is EVIL IN THE WORLD.
The concept of God therefore is a logical impossibility, no evidence substantially supports its existence. God is merely an invention of the human mind to cope with the vicissitudes of life at a time in the history of man were he did not understand most of what was in his surroundings. As Bertrand Russell would say, "Religion is a defensive reaction against the destructive forces of nature."
Throughout the centuries, thinkers have refined and built upon the concepts on God articulated by the Great Thinkers of Ancient Western Philosophy as represented by Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. St. Thomas Aquinas gave us the five proofs of the existence of God: first cause, prime mover, necessary being, argument from gradation and intelligent designer. St. Anselm of Canterbury gave us the ontological argument for the existence of God: since we are imperfect, there must be something that created us that is more perfect.
The Abrahamic traditions gave us a patriarchal concept of God, a god who is jealous but merciful, just but strict, demanding yet comforting. Other major religions of the world, especially those of the Eastern variety like Hinduism with its multiplicity of gods, the Buddhists with their no-god centered way of life and the Sikhs with their one-god have gave humanity a pantheon of deities that compete for attention and followers.
Despite such powerful organized religious beliefs, there has always been the question as to whether there really is a God, and this question, depending on who you ask, will get one a panoply of answers. Nevertheless, regardless of religion, a god is always conceived of something that is higher than man. Dictionary.com defines God as a Supreme being, the creator and ruler of the universe.
The Abrahamic traditions conceives God as an active participant in the history of man and lists the following qualities of God: existence (think St. Anselm's proof - it is a necessary existence ), perfect (applies to all other traits mentioned here), timeless (eternal), spaceless or transcendent (incorporeal, not subject to physical laws), immutable (unchanging), omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing), omnipresent (existing everywhere at all times), omnibenevolent (all-good), just (punishment always appropriate to offense), merciful, free, personal (answers and hears prayers), provident (affects the physical world), sovereign (source and ruler of all things), creator of the universe (see source).
From the aforesaid traits or qualities man has assigned to God, an analysis of some will lead us to the conclusion that God therefore could not be possible. A good illustration would be a comparison between the trait PERFECT and CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE. If God is perfect, we would say that he has no faults or cannot commit a mistake, that is a reasonable conclusion. Now the Abrahamic traditions insist that God is the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE. We all know that the UNIVERSE is an imperfect entity. Imperfect because it has limitations like death and suffering among others. A logical analysis would tell us that if a perfect God created the universe, the universe would be perfect, but the universe is NOT perfect. So either the universe was not created by God or God could not exist.
Another trait would be OMNISCIENCE and FREE. An omniscient being would always know what he will and he will not do in the future. If so, then he could not be FREE since he would not be able to not do what he knew he will do in the future. In the same way, if he knows that in the future he will not do an action, then he cannot decide to do it. It goes without saying that an omniscient being cannot not do what he knew he will do and he will always do what he knew he will do - therefore he is not free because his actions have already been defined by his foreknowledge of them. An omniscient being cannot therefore be free.
Moving on, a God cannot be both OMNISCIENT and OMNIPOTENT. An omnipotent can do anything. However, an omniscient being can only do what he knows he will do and will not do what he knows he will not do. They therefore contradict each other.
Furthermore, a God cannot be both JUST and MERCIFUL. Being JUST means giving what is due somebody. Being merciful means not giving what is due somebody because of some consideration or because of forgiveness. A God who is both just and merciful therefore is not possible.
And finally, we come to the concept of EVIL. If God is omnipotent, then he can eliminate EVIL; if God is omnibenevolent, then ONLY the good can exist; if God is omniscient, HE KNOWS THAT EVIL EXISTS, and there is EVIL IN THE WORLD.
The concept of God therefore is a logical impossibility, no evidence substantially supports its existence. God is merely an invention of the human mind to cope with the vicissitudes of life at a time in the history of man were he did not understand most of what was in his surroundings. As Bertrand Russell would say, "Religion is a defensive reaction against the destructive forces of nature."
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