In other words, unless life is like a perfectly stage-managed spectacle full of happy endings and healthy people, then there must be something the matter with whoever is in charge. — Wayfarer
Natural evils are things like epidemics, natural calamities, famines, and the like. And they don't seem 'evil' to me either, any more than a landslide is. It seems to me, you can't have a world where nobody dies, nobody gets sick, where there are no carnivous animals and no diseases. — Wayfarer
But one of the inevitable entailements of physical existence is the possibility of accident and injury. How could it be different? In what world does nobody and nothing grow old, get hurt, or die?What religions guarantees that this is how the world ought to be? — Wayfarer
That sense of disenchantment is what gives rise to the feeling (and that is what it is) expressed so memorably by Stephen Weinberg, that 'the more the universe seems intelligible, the more it seems meaningless'. — Wayfarer
Just because it's the best-possible-universe doesn't mean it's actually a good universe. — darthbarracuda
So they tremendously value youth, sex, hedonism, but then of course we all know all of that will age, curdle, wither away in time. That is what gives rise to the sense of bitterness and dissappointment so often expressed in these threads. — Wayfarer
The reason these animals are "exuberant" as you say is taken to be because they aren't as conscious of themselves as we are. — darthbarracuda
But one of the inevitable entailements of physical existence is the possibility of accident and injury. How could it be different? — Wayfarer
And the textbook answer is - and this is from one who doesn't even profess Christianity - that God creates beings who are free to do whatever they like. — Wayfarer
We're talking about God, — Marchesk
so therefore interprets 'omniscience' to mean 'anything I think is possible'. — Wayfarer
The break you're looking for is to actually be God. — Wayfarer
Since God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent, onle he knows why things happen. Despite the fact that you, or me, as mortal humans might witness many seemingly evil things happen, we just see it that way because we do not have enough perspective towards the future, in reality those seemingly evil acts will turn out to have been good in the future, we just dont know it yet, only God knows it. — rickyk95
Get involved in philosophical discussions about knowledge, truth, language, consciousness, science, politics, religion, logic and mathematics, art, history, and lots more. No ads, no clutter, and very little agreement — just fascinating conversations.