In the philosophy of religion and theology, the coexistence of GOD and evil has gnawed many great thinkers. A chronic philosophical dilemma is to reconcile the existence of evil with the idea of an omnipotent, omnibenevolent and omniscient deity.
They say existence of such a GOD is incompatible with the existence of evil outright. I say God's creation of persons with morally significant free will corroborates HIS diligence.True free will cant exit without the possibility of evil, that suffering is necessary for spiritual growth of Humans.
Time and again tycoons of theology have attempted to draw a parallel between evil and GOD.An example of many such attempts as follows
- If an all-powerful and perfectly good god exists, then evil does not.
- There is evil in the world.
- Therefore, an all-powerful and perfectly good god does not exist.
Later philosophers also added some alluring refinements:
- God exists.
- God is omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly good.
- A perfectly good being would want to prevent all evils.
- An omniscient being knows every way in which evils can come into existence.
- An omnipotent being, who knows every way in which an evil can come into existence, has the power to prevent that evil from coming into existence.
- A being who knows every way in which an evil can come into existence, who is able to prevent that evil from coming into existence, and who wants to do so, would prevent the existence of that evil.
- If there exists an omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly good being, then no evil exists.
- Evil exists (logical contradiction).
They try to show that an assumed hypothesis leads to a logical contradiction so our hypothesis of GOD's existence is erroneous.
This seems preposterous to me as i reckon GOD and Evil are compatible. This can be best explained in great scientist and philosopher Albert Einstein's words: "Evil does not exist, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God." How beautifully he explained God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat, or the darkness that comes when there is no light.".
I have a strong conviction that God has taken utmost care in defining the norms of this world. Free will which is the ultimate privilege to make choices free from any constraints has been bestowed upon us. In a simple analogy, like a mother gives freedom to her child to make choices.
We can conceive a parallel world in which an omnipotent and omniscient God exists and He corrected this abuse of evil by HIS creatures only and consequently free will is absent. A metal beam becomes a straw of grass when used as weapon and air refuses to carry your sound waves if it doesn't contain truth. Air stops to receive any foreign element in it which pollutes it. Seemingly this hypothetical world seems to me prefect but when i fancy myself to be a resident of such a world i feel a suffocation there. God would seem a traitor to me making us to move at the stroke of HIS fingers and obnoxiously enjoying the game. One can never feel the prestige of taking birth and realize the worth of this life. Such a toy world has no value. God would never be so Great in my eyes as HE is now by giving me the "free will".
Irony is that the coexistence of free will and evil satisfies the conception of compatibilism. Evil is caused by original sin which in turn is caused by free will. Free will could exist without the degree of evil seen in this world and can be accomplished by inducing humans to make more and more just and moral decisions and circumventing the woeful deeds and having faith in the supremacy of insuperable GOD.
This world and this birth as humans is a gift to us by the almighty. The ultimate honor to the free will bestowed upon us is to be righteous accepting the almighty's supremacy and treating all your brothers equal as "Children of GOD". Lets Honor HIM by being morally strong , incorruptible, invidious to none, pure, just and noble and make HIM feel that HE made no mistake creating this world or at least by giving us FREE WILL.
- Saurabh
"The world suffers a lot. Not because of the violence of bad people,but because of the silence of good people." 
but yeah....1 thing i want 2 ask.....if we believe dat der is really god....den y does he bring des natural destruction...lik tsunami...volcano...flood....i mean seriously y wud he want 2 giv such problm 2 his children wen der is no way 2 com out of it.....
ReplyDeleteYes, Natural calamities like earthquakes and many diseases may seem to stand against the free will but if you observe the different strand closely, these are caused under natural laws that operate as they do if intelligent, free agents are to exist.God has not only made this world but also tied it with some laws to govern it as a system. Now by overusing this free will if governing laws itself are encroached upon, then do expect catastrophes.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion existence of good(or god) n evil goes side by side as light n darkness.One can not signify god w/o evil and evil can not grow w/o our darkness.Natural things are a gift for us from almighty and whenever people go against those,something happens because its nature's law:every action has its equal n opposite reaction.. I m totally agree with writer on this discussion..
ReplyDeleteMy simple belief is to fear the "power" who is running the universe. That power one may call as god or whatever doesn't matter. If there is fear of that supreme power everyone will definitely tend to be in the right path. As you said "Lets Honor HIM by being morally strong , incorruptible, invidious to none, pure, just and noble and make HIM feel that HE made no mistake creating this world or at least by giving us FREE WILL". So fearing that supreme power will do it.
ReplyDeleteSaurabh, So do you agree that God has also made atheists? Why would he make such beings who do not believe in Him? What could be the underlying purpose to even infuse within us the thought that God might just be a particle of human imagination and nothing more? And finally, the biggest of all: If God created everything, then who created God? Isn't it a paradox: man creates God and then he thinks God created him. I am not saying that I totally refuse to accept the existence of God, but these are a few questions people fear to ask as religions give no such scope to its followers to put forward their doubts. Isn't it true that faith begins where logic ends? Since you have written about it, I think you might be able to answer.
ReplyDeleteDear Anand,
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking your time and think about it.i'll definitely write a post on this issue.
well its a very debatable topic which has been elusvie to all philsophers but i'll try to give you legitimate answers:
I guess if you read the post carefully you will get the answer that why God has made atheists?
Being a theist or an atheist again is a belief which depends on the free will given to us. As i said His greatness doesnt lie in the fact that you should beleive in HIM and worship HIM as your master. He has created us and gave us the command. Those whose consciences feel His presence evrywhere around us are Theist and vice versa. He has left this decision to us.
Every religion shows us a way to meet the GOD. Let it be Bible 'Thou meetest him that rejoiceth',or 'Nishkaam Karma(desireless actions) & Moksha' for Hindus, Niravana in Jainism and Buddhism, But our senses are so impure and these impure elements, that mingle with what the world calls 'joy,' are such as to shut Him out from us.
You cannot get at a clear conception of God by speculation, or by thinking about Him or about what He is in Himself. Lay hold of the clue of His acts, and it leads you straight into His heart.
There are few things which are inexpressible and can only be felt which is called faith. Faith and logic are mutaully exclusive. Thinking logic alone can lead someone to faith is like thinking,logic can convince someone that something is beautiful. Let me put it this way, think about a situation in which you travelled to Rajasthan and you liked the exquisite beauty of it's deserts. Would logic alone convince your friend that deserts were actually beautiful. For every reason you think of demonstrate its beauty, your friend will counter with a reason for thinking it ugly. Some of the most important things in life transcend logic and one of them is also 'Existence of GOD'.