-- If a god Existed, We Would Have Been Created in Heaven --
(from Counter Apologist)
#God #apologetics #theism #soteriology #theology #theodicy #Heaven
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEHvDHkqBWk

A quotation from Mencken, H. L.:

«««««
Civilization is a concerted effort to remedy the blunders and check the practical joking of the Creator.
»»»»»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/mencken-hl/61686/

#quote #quotes #quotation #civilization #creation #divineplan #God #society #theodicy

A Christian #Theodicy, by Richard Swinburne: https://forumphilosophicum.ignatianum.edu.pl/docannexe/file/7183/1.swinburne.pdf https://dfaria.eu/twtxt?hashtag=2023-07-02T10:00:02Z

#AlvinPlantinga - Does #Evil Disprove #God?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRx-3drWC-E&ab_channel=CloserToTruth

#Philosophy #Religion #PhilosophyOfReligion #Theism #Theology #Ethics #Morality #MoralPhilosophy #Theodicy #CloserToTruth #RobertKuhn

A quotation from Byron, George Gordon, Lord:

«««««
Because
He is all-powerful, must all-good, too, follow?
I judge but by the fruits — and they are bitter —
Which I must feed on for a fault not mine.
»»»»»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/byron/60460/

#quote #quotes #quotation #benevolence #blame #divineplan #fault #God #omnipotence #theodicy

#MarcelSarot - Alternative #Concepts of #God?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j35_uZvXejE&ab_channel=CloserToTruth

#Philosophy #PhilosophyOfReligion #Religion #Theology #Theodicy #Suffering #DivineSuffering #Metaphysics #Morality #Ethics #Logic #CloserToTruth #RobertKuhn

SMBC, making atheists laugh since 2002.

https://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2292#comic

#atheism #SMBC #theodicy

#RichardSwinburne - What is an #Afterlife?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhBFwDVMPfE&ab_channel=CloserToTruth

#Philosophy #Religion #PhilosophyOfReligion #Metaphysics #Cosmology #Life #Death #God #Theology #Theodicy #Soul #TheSoul #Immortality #Revelation #Resurrection #CloserToTruth #RobertKuhn

The question of "god-belief" is already inherently biased toward religion. When someone asks you, "Do you believe in God," from an intellectual standpoint, it's like asking "When did you stop beating your significant other?"

There's no good response to the question. If you say you "don't believe," people get bent out of shape and start pestering you with nonsense like "how can you not believe--who made the universe, then?" or "no one knows what happens after you die" and "you can't prove that." Well, duh, the question was about *belief,* not proof. On the other hand if you say you *do* believe, most people take your belief at face value as your right under freedom of religion, and leave you alone.

So what's really being asked? Do you conform? Are you willing to submit to social proof? What group identity are you willing to embrace? It's a no-win situation. You either self-identify as a social pariah, you lie, or you face-plant intellectually.

Because the question assumes its own premise, that there's a God that can be "believed in" or "not believed in." Stripped down to its essentials the question is asking you to accept that this all-important thing, hinges on the opinions of human beings.

As George Carlin pointed out, no one has to ask if you believe in the Sun.

The better question about God is, "does it exist?" Well, what is "it?" Most people refuse to define their terms. Let's take a commonly accepted definition:

"God is a supreme being, a creator and ruler of the universe, who is believed to be transcendent, omnipotent, omniscient, and benevolent."

This definition is absurd. Logically inconsistent and nonsensical for all the familiar reasons.

-Any creator of the universe must also have a creator, so "god" solves nothing.

-A "ruler" of the universe would mean that it's an undemocratic place. Hitchens' "celestial dictatorship" is the model for all Earthly dictatorships. Which are a horror show.

-Despite all the efforts dedicated to theodicy over the centuries, there's no way to reconcile the problem of evil with a benevolent God.

-Epicurus famous Trilemma: “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?”

So, to sum up:

1) The question of god-belief is a nasty bit of social engineering to force you into a positive answer, with the implication that a negative response will be punished with exclusion.

2) The question of "god's" existence is logically absurd and meaningless, in addition to being unfalsifiable. Dismissed without regard or hesitation.

So "atheism" (as declared non-belief in god) only makes sense as a political reaction to the cultural hegemony of god-belief. Forget Dawkins' 7-point scale and all that jazz. Without "God" as the default position, atheism has no meaning.

This is why I self-identify as an *anti-theist.* Anti-theocracy. Because what's worth opposing with every gram of passion you can muster, are all the despicable things being done in "God's" name.

#atheism #antitheism #carlin #dawkins #epicurus #hitchens #theodicy #god #theocracy

Robert Buswell on #Theodicy in #Buddhism
https://buddhistuniversity.net/content/articles/origins-of-good-and-evil-and-challenge_buswell-jr-robert-e

@theologidons
@theology
@whimsy
#theodicy
#GodTheProblem
#TheTheologicalImagination

(By the way, sorry about the way the cartoonist assigned a male pronoun to God. I don't really endorse that usage; however, I enjoyed the cartoon.)

Feeling lost and out of place is something we've grappled with our entire lives. Our new single 'Honest Conversations' is all about finding the courage to be yourself, even when it's twisted. Listen to it now on all streaming platforms and let us know what you think. #TheOdicy #HonestConversations #NewMusic #Courage
Click to jam:
https://open.spotify.com/album/0fFVxink1dIiTqhExWbxk7

#Jesus #theodicy #prayer #sports #superbowl

It's weird that people consider #theodicy an unsolved area because like I don't believe God is omnibenevolent in the sense of being obliged to ensure evil doesn't happen, but if I did I would just say God was using Their atemporality and omniscience to minimise evil over the long term and as far as I'd be concerned that'd be an argument ender

-- Michael Hemmingsen on Soul-Making and Social Progress --
(with #JustinSchieber at #RealAtheology)
#theodicy #apologetics #problemOfEvil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBwbmpg0OeU

Monday is #HeraldPetrel day, and it is time to look after our wounded comrades Merrimen and Kartawijaya.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25167412/chapters/111036949

I can never resist placing a #theodicy chapter in my stories, can I? 😏
Skip if this is triggering for you.

@DoctorMonkey2 @doctorwanderer @aslgms @EvelynCold @justdan @QuokkaMocha

May we question God? Can we argue? What does Judaism say about this? What were you taught about this? From Jacob’s wrestling with an angel, to haunting questions about the Holocaust, what does our tradition say about this? Where do we see this directly in our Bible, Talmud, history, and later #Jewish writings?

@mazeldon #theology #theodicy #faith #Jewdiverse #Bible

@NicoleCRust @WiringtheBrain

No time for comment while the blizzard blitzes but here's my #FonsEtOrigo #LocusClassicus #GoToQuote for #PreEstablishedHarmony, #Determinism *Plus* #FreeWill, and #TheHolographicUniverse.

❝There must therefore be no doubt that effects follow their causes determinately, in spite of contingency and even of freedom, which nevertheless exist together with certainty or determination.❞
— #Leibniz • #Theodicy

#ThePresentIsBigWithTheFuture
• https://inquiryintoinquiry.com/2013/04/01/the-present-is-big-with-the-future/

#metaphysics #ontology #Ontological #mereology #count #nouns
A ‘#federation’ of ‘#instances’ - #panpsychism?
#Twitter more akin to #Leibniz’ #Theodicy

In short, universalism, for me and many others, is about theodicy. Not #soteriology. The issue isn't about salvation (traditionally understood). It's about suffering. Universalism, as best I can tell, is the only Christian doctrine that takes the problem of suffering seriously. As evidence for this, just note that when a theologian starts taking suffering seriously he or she starts moving toward universalism. Examples include Jürgen #Moltmann, Marilyn McCord Adams, and John Hick. Take suffering seriously and the doctrine soon follows.

I gravitated to universalism in college because the problem of horrific suffering became (and remains) the defining theological predicament of my faith experience. It is the obsessio of my theological world. And while I find the doctrine of hell distasteful, this is due, again, to my theodicy concerns. Is God really loving if he tortures people for eternity? More, isn't "accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior" largely contingent upon where you were born in the world, a manifestation of what philosophers call moral luck? In every case it all goes back to theodicy.

Here's a test you can try on people. Whenever you find a person who doesn't "get" universalism (not that they have to believe it, they just have to "get" it) you'll have person who doesn't "get" the problem of horrific suffering. The two, in my experience, are of a piece.

Even on my own campus, where there are some very sharp theological minds, I am often frustrated by how often people just don't get it. Not the universalism. I'm talking about the problem of suffering. Because if they get the latter they get the former.

I was reminded of this association this week while reading Moltmann's Trinity and Kingdom. In it he writes:

It is in #suffering that the whole human question about God arises; for incomprehensible suffering calls the God of men and women in question. The suffering of a single innocent child is an irrefutable rebuttal of the notion of the almighty and kindly God in heaven. For a God who lets the innocent suffer and who permits senseless death is not worthy to be called God at all...The theism of the almighty and kindly God comes to an end on the rock of suffering...

The question of #theodicy is not a speculative question; it is a critical one. It is the all-embracing eschatological question. It is not purely theoretical, for it cannot be answered with any new theory about the existing world. It is a practical question which will only be answered through experience of the new world in which 'God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.' It is not really a question at all, in the sense of something we can ask or not ask, like other questions. It is the open wound of life in this world. It is the real task of #faith and #theology to make it possible for us to survive, to go on living, with this open wound. The person who believes will not rest content with any slickly explanatory answer to the theodicy question. And he will also resist any attempts to soften the question down. The more a person believes, the more deeply he experiences pain over the suffering in the world, and the more passionately he asks about God and the new creation.

Innocent suffering is the open wound of life and the real task of faith and theology is "to make it possible for us to survive, to go on living, with this open wound."

Now here's the deal. You either get that, or you don't.

And if you don't, well, I'm sure you're a very nice and devout person.

But you'll never understand why I believe in universalism.

~Richard Beck on why he embraces #UniversalSalvation

http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/2011/02/universalism-and-open-wound-of-life.html is