Not all serious questions are answerable in any satisfactory way.It's a serious question.
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Not all serious questions are answerable in any satisfactory way.It's a serious question.
My arguments have been encapsulated below,
Theists: How do you determine that God is not a malevolent being?
How isn't reading a book about people reading a book, whom BTW, have a mountain of books about a book they clearly have no idea what they are reading not recursive? I love literacy its dangerous.It's a serious question. I am reading a book on philosophy of religion so the question cropped up. Clearly a sufficiently powerful malevolent being can deceive any theist into thinking he is a good God. So how do you verify that your good is not a powerful malevolent being? In fact how do you no that God himself is not a malevolent being? Evidence and arguments welcome.
Note:- This is a thread for those interested in discussing theological, metaphysical and philosophical arguments and evidence that justifies or negates various worldviews. If one is not interested in such things, that's perfectly fine and the thread is not for you.
It's a serious question. I am reading a book on philosophy of religion so the question cropped up. Clearly a sufficiently powerful malevolent being can deceive any theist into thinking he is a good God. So how do you verify that your good is not a powerful malevolent being? In fact how do you no that God himself is not a malevolent being? Evidence and arguments welcome.
Note:- This is a thread for those interested in discussing theological, metaphysical and philosophical arguments and evidence that justifies or negates various worldviews. If one is not interested in such things, that's perfectly fine and the thread is not for you.
A malevolent God would be well able to keep nature stable.So if God doesn't exist, then what makes nature stable, why we don't see disastrous earthquakes happening in your place every hour?
??How isn't reading a book about people reading a book, whom BTW, have a mountain of books about a book they clearly have no idea what they are reading not recursive? I love literacy its dangerous.
That needs further explanation from you.if you define life as malevolent, then god is malevolent.
Not really.that would be more the Brahman concept
Please elaborate.Maybe what seems malevolent and uncaring is just being unaware.
I have a degree in studies of religious studies who study religion studying. What we have discovered is religious studies/religious philosophy is confused. We are objective and religious studies and religious philosophy is actually clueless and subjective to us!!! If we ask how is religious philosophy religious studies not recursive they answer??? Literacy is a funny painting of a painting infinitly. It occasionally reboots as starts again. The grelling_nelson paradox points to a problem.
Why would we see them?So if God doesn't exist, then what makes nature stable, why we don't see disastrous earthquakes happening in your place every hour?
If God is not aware, anything bad that happens is not malevolently motivated.Please elaborate.
Like the God of Aristotle and Deists?If God is not aware, anything bad that happens is not malevolently motivated.
Yes. Hurricanes - as with most meteorological events - occur to correct an atmospheric imbalance; generally during changes in seasonal climate. It's not like the gods threw them at a coastal city built 6 feet under sea level out of spite.Does a world necessarily require hurricanes to exist and be hospitable to life?
You forget that God could have created a completely Oceanic world with sentient dolphin like creatures. Thus, in an instant, hurricanes, volcanoes, earthquakes, droughts and floods could be removed as evils that such dolphin like beings would suffer.Yes. Hurricanes - as with most meteorological events - occur to correct an atmospheric imbalance; generally during changes in seasonal climate. It's not like the gods threw them at a coastal city built 6 feet under sea level out of spite.
You're barking up the wrong tree with that one, as I don't believe in one god. Our solar system is what it is (and our universe, but that's a bigger scale,) and there are laws laid down for how this reality must operate. Fire will burn, cold will freeze. The earth goes through cycles as we revolve around the sun, and this demands a changing environment in relation to Her heat. The sea behaves as She does, generating an oceanic climate, and this clashes with the old (often violently) to bring about change for the new. The Earth moves with life, constantly changing, and brings about quakes and heat from within. This, if anything, is what is taught in the tale of the Ragnarök; that all must die and change, often violently, to bring about the new world of tomorrow.You forget that God could have created a completely Oceanic world with sentient dolphin like creatures.
Earthquakes, disease, volcanoes?
But people do evil things and claim god is good, that they did those things in the name of god. I think that's what @sayak83 means by believers being deceived into thinking the god in which they believe is good while behaving in a manner that is not good due to a personal belief that the god in whom they believe has informed them to behave in such a manner. If a "good" god informs one to do something, as god had informed Abraham to kill his son, then is it not prudent for the believer to follow god's orders?
I'm unsure of Aristotle's God, but Deists might have similar views on god.Like the God of Aristotle and Deists?
It's a serious question. I am reading a book on philosophy of religion so the question cropped up. Clearly a sufficiently powerful malevolent being can deceive any theist into thinking he is a good God. So how do you verify that your good is not a powerful malevolent being? In fact how do you no that God himself is not a malevolent being? Evidence and arguments welcome.
Note:- This is a thread for those interested in discussing theological, metaphysical and philosophical arguments and evidence that justifies or negates various worldviews. If one is not interested in such things, that's perfectly fine and the thread is not for you.
A malevolent being would want us to enjoy some good so that sudden disasters are all the more devastating and shocking. Also, beings need to exist for them to suffer. So a malevolent being needs to create a universe where sentient beings can reproduce so that he gets a steady stream of beings on whom he can employ his malevolent designs.