Andrew B. Chung, MD-PhD
Your lord doesn't even exist. You are delusional.
IS THERE A GOD? Strong Atheism's answer.
A BASIC DEFINITION OF GOD.
The general overarching definition of god as per the major religions of the world is:
A. God is personal, God has will and consciousness. B. God has free will. C. God is the creator of all. D. God is omnipotent. E. God is omnibenevolent. F. God is omniscient. G. God is that which nothing more powerful can be imagined.
These are the basic attributes that can be claimed for the god of orthodox Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism.
Omnibenevolence and omniscience are actually logically derivable from the claimed attribute of omnipotence and so aren't not truly independent attributes, and may be considered special aspects of omnipotence.
There are other attributes of god, that he is the only such god, that he is is immortal and that god has always existed that are not important for this discussion and for now, can be ignored. They are secondary arguments and are for the most part not foundational or truly necessary, except those that can be logically derived from the attributes listed above.
A CLbutt OF GODS
It is important to note here that this is a definition not for a particular god, but an entire clbutt of gods. Sub-theories about god are not important here. Christianity claims one may attain salvation only through Jesus, Islam claims the Christian dogma that Jesus was the son of god is blasphemous.
Ideas like this though, are of little importance to the overarching and general claims made for a personal, creator, omni-everything god. I have coined a term, The Grand God of Grand Theologies for this sort of god, this sort of theological system of expansive claims for god. Grand theologies are those theologies that have adopted this clbutt of god as their basic attributes concerning the nature of god. But it is important to remember here that what is being discussed here is a clbutt of gods, not particular gods or specific gods.
THE FOUR GREAT THEOLOGICAL TRADITIONS
Again, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism hold to this basic Grand God and are typical Grand Theologies holding to this basic clbutt of god as their basic definitions of what god is at god's most basic level.
A big problem with this clbutt of gods is, it collapses rather easily into internal self- contradiction.
THE PROBLEM OF EVIL.
Dont Worship The Antichrist 2089Geoff Without the LORD, your opinion is meaningless (Ecclesiastes) Not "all over the web." Who is Google? Correct. Please do. If you were secure in the truth, you would have...
The problem of evil was first written down by Epicurus in about the third century BCE.
Today's formulation is: A. God is defined as omnipotent; B. and as omnibenevolent. C. Evil exists. D. God therefore, is not omnipotent as claimed. E. Or God is not omnibenevolent as claimed. F. Or god is neither omnipotent or omnibenevolent. G. Or god is not existant.
THE FREE WILL DEFENSE
The free will defense of the problem of evil goes back to St. Augustine who popularized it. It is still popular, and is championed most notably today by Alvin Plantinga, but also by other theologians.
The Truth 2085Andrew B. Chung, MD-PhD ORD, your opinion is meaningless (Ecclesiastes). Here is the truth...
God gave man free will. Man freely chooses to do evil. Ability to do evil is less evil than lacking free will.
THE FREE WILL DEFENSE DEBUNKED.
God has free will. God is omnibenevolent, he has a good nature incapable of doing evil.
A. If god can have free will, and a good nature, this good nature is not allowed to count against god's free will. B. Nor is god's lack of ability to do evil allowed to count against god's omnipotence. C. Likewise, man could easily have a god like free will and a god like good nature. D. Inabilty then to do evil would no more count against man's free will than it does for god's free will. E. If so, it also counts against god's free will and god does not have free will as claimed. F. If god does not have absolute and total free will, thus free will is not a true necessity at all. F. If god is omnipotent and omnibenevolent, and can give man a god like free will and a god-like good nature incapable of moral evil, god must do so or god is not moral, not omnibenevolent. G. Evil exists because he allows it to.
So free will does not exist, or it does and we can have a god like free will and a god like good nature. Either way, free will cannot explain away the existence of evil. This free will defense then, is a failed argument.
OMNISCIENCE VERSUS CREATORHOOD OF GOD
God is defined as creator of all in most religions. And god is claimed to be omniscient, all knowing.
A. God created the Universe and all in it. B. God is omniscient, all knowing, he knows all in the Universe and he knows the future of the Universe and its contents. C. If god creates a Universe, he will know that in 13 billion years this Universe will have a man named John Smith in it. D. If John Smith is good and saved, or evil and damned, God will know that. E. As he knows that the Universe in its present state will have a John Smith, god may then contemplate the future state of Smith and decide if he will tolerate an evil Smith. F. If yes, Smith will be evil only because of a specific personal and will choice made solely by god. G. If Smith is evil, then evil exists solely because of a choice made by god. In fact all moral evil done by creations of god will be evil and do evil only because of personal and willful creations of god allowing evil acts to be done, by direct decision of god. H. If evil exists in a world with an omniscient creator god, it is solely and only because god allows evil. I. If evil exists solely because of personal choices of god, god then is not as defined, omnibenevolent. J. Man and any other sentient being in such a Universe cannot have any free will, not even in principle. A Universe with a god that creates all and knows all precludes free will for all beings god creates in the strongest possible manner.
The Grand God of Grand Theology is thus self destroying, it is incoherent and contradictory as a theory and such a god is impossible.
THE SITUATION SO FAR.
1. A minimalistic clbutt of gods is defined, this Grand God has been defined here with as few terms as possible. 2. The problem of evil dooms such a claimed god. 3. The attempted defense, free will is banely flawed. God's good nature and free will doom claims free will makes evil necessary for man to have free will. 4. Omniscience and creatorhood of god further doom claims of god's omnibenevolence and man's free will free will cannot exist for man. All evil is the direct and knowing creation of god contradicting claims of omnibenevolence. 5. Since Free will for man is totally impossible, free will cannot be a good quality, much less necessary.
Here, the Grand God of Grand Theology has collapsed. As has Grand Theology. As pointed out, this destroys the claims and viability of an entire clbutt of possible gods, all secondary and tertiary claims for such a god of this clbutt also fail, as do dogmas or secondary or tertiary claims.
If a these Grand Gods cannot exist as defined, specific gods cannot, nor can claims such as this or that Grand God sent this or that revelation to man or some prophet or did this or that.
God is thus disproven and is utter irrelevant to anything real and existant.
***********
--
So you want to fight the Master! First you must fight my brother Chang!
Cheerful Charlie
