just a question i've always had, and just so we are clear, this is not a question pertaining to any specific religion, it is simply a hypothetical. please don't cite religious texts, i'd like to hear your personal opinions from purely rational viewpoints
God created free will, which has in turn created evil. And since everyone is referencing Satan (at least the Christian version), Jews believe that Satan is not an evil doer, but more of a mischief maker, sort of like the Robin Goodfellow (Mid-Summer's Night Dream) of deities.
Satan convinced Eve to eat the apple, banishing all of humanity from the Garden of Eden. He also literally invented sin.
And God is the one who put him there knowing he would do that.
God was aware of every event that would transpire when he made Satan. But because Satan had free will, he couldn't stop them.
Of course he could have if omnipotent, he decided not to. And no I don't consider allowing it without intervention in the name of free will to be a loving act.
What kind of free will does god give? "Oh, I know how your life is going to be, even before you where born, thus I will create you to have an ultimate fate of suffering in hell, but hey! Free will!"
"Free will" on godly level is bs. How come I can't fly? How come I can die? How come I can't make stuff appear using my own will? Doesn't sound like free will to me.
fantastic writing, I highly respect Milton, however, not a viable religious text.
He did. It's called Hell
So by saying this you are claiming that there is no evil on earth? Hell is for deceased sinners and the occasional poet, not the living evils that plague the world and the living "children of God".
By free will, it means able to control and think for our selves. Would you prefer if you were just a mind and you couldnt control your body? That god played with us like puppets, makeing us do whatever he wanted?
That god played with us like puppets, makeing us do whatever he wanted?
Ever read the Bible? That's all he does. The "free will" in it boils down to "Do what I say or I punish you, your famliy, and all whom you love until you obey me."
I guess the reasons why in religions there are always 'good' and 'evil' despite there being powerful gods, is because of human nature. Humans are all "good" and "bad", while those two concepts are subjective of course. But the point is, I guess we can't imagine a world with only 'good' things. There always has to be 'evil', or we'd either not understand it or lose interest to it (yes, there being 'evil' is surely a source of interest for that religion). It just fits our world better.
Come on, Ash. Next you'll be using youtube as an argument. You're better than that.
Of course he could have if omnipotent, he decided not to. And no I don't consider allowing it without intervention in the name of free will to be a loving act.
Maybe you should look into it. Without freedom, isn't good meaningless? Hmm... we seem to have stumbled onto something actually interesting here.
fantastic writing, I highly respect Milton, however, not a viable religious text.
It is fantastic writing. I love Paradise Lost. Why isn't it a viable text? Milton said it was divinely inspired.
I like this thread, because we aren't arguing about God's existence. Rather, we're doing something philosophically worthwhile.
Why isn't it a viable text? Milton said it was divinely inspired
. and firstly, Paradise Lost isn't a religious text because it isn't recognized as one by a religion. Also, just because it is claimed to be divinely inspired doesn't mean anything, its just a claim that can't really be proven. If Milton was recognized as a prophet i would respect it as a religious text but as is, it think it is a good secondary interpretation of the bible
