The Problem of Evil

do you know what you believe?

i have said i do not.

i am basically arguing semantics/

"as i see it the only "variable" in the equation is THOUGHT. you are capable of changing this and this alone."

i don't see why you keep saying free will cannot possibly exist with the knowledge of the choice that one will make through it.

"as i see it the only "variable" in the equation is THOUGHT. you are capable of changing this and this alone."

I don't say that. I say it is ridiculous self-pity to say we are the source of all evil in the world.

You do not know what you believe, you still believe it fiercely.

I for the most part do not believe, except in things I can be sure about.

I do not PRETEND to know something and call it FAITH.

"Durch Nacht und Blut das Licht"

I am agnostic. How can one possibly prove whether God exists? Even if God personally and unequivocally proved himself to you, then that would be a first-person experience that, if you tried to convince anyone else that God revealed himself to you with proof, anyone else would generally take you for a fool or for a lunatic.

http://www.renaissance.com.pk/noderefl97.html

i have been speaking only of the bible- as a result you have assumed many things about my views.

one view that i hold is that in everything created, there is some "truth" held within... deceiphering that is another story, but i do believe it is there.

so if you would, check that link out... let me know what you think.

as for your P.O.V's- i feel along the same lines, especially with the comment

quote:

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How can one possibly prove whether God exists? Even if God personally and unequivocally proved himself to you, then that would be a first-person experience that, if you tried to convince anyone else that God revealed himself to you with proof, anyone else would generally take you for a fool or for a lunatic.

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"as i see it the only "variable" in the equation is THOUGHT. you are capable of changing this and this alone."

One must follow the reasoning. If one cannot follow the reasoning, then certain possibilities hold: (1) you are clouded by your bias, which is likely the case, (2) you do not comprehend the reasoning, which is possibly the case, (3) you are not fully reading the arguments before you respond, which is often the case.

I have assumed that you believe man is the source of all evil.

I think that is a completely unreasonable position.

"Durch Nacht und Blut das Licht"

i began talking about free will...

its existence was questioned and, i din't see how.

maybe i went down a few unnecessary paths...
so are we now saying free will exists?

oh shit, almost forgot-
dt- i don't think humans are the cause of famine, tornadoes, meteor strikes, or anything of the like/

"as i see it the only "variable" in the equation is THOUGHT. you are capable of changing this and this alone."

I'm saying that I don't know about free will. It probably doesn't exist as it makes no sense, but I don't really know.

I do know that if God exists then Man must be the source of all evil. That propostion is ridiculous.

"Durch Nacht und Blut das Licht"

Again, if free will, then no plan of action. We can't have our cake and eat it to, to use a well-worn cliche.

about the source of all evil,

you know how it's said that "no one can make you do anything"

if something called choice is ultimately ours, and since there must be something (maybe many things for all i know) to choose from,
it seems that if there is evil, if there is good, anything along either of those lines experienced by us, must be a result of us-or someone else.

excluding "evil's" like PLAGUE and "good" like a beautiful sunrise/

"as i see it the only "variable" in the equation is THOUGHT. you are capable of changing this and this alone."

"excluding "evil's" like PLAGUE and "good" like a beautiful sunrise"
Why has God let those evils exist which man is not responsible for?

And don't say the good and evil "even out". If God is ALL GOOD, then there should be NO non-man made evil at all.

"Durch Nacht und Blut das Licht"

Descartes liked to affirm the existance of God by what he could observe. Hume tore that up by saying that you don't know if you are observing an anomaly. If the sun comes up and keeps coming up, then we don't know if it will come up tomorrow. However, Hume and Russell also say that there is the probability, given the fact that the sun has come up, that it may come up...not, as Descartes suggests, that it will in fact come up. So, science is reduced to probabilities, which is a matter of isolating variables such as observing the rotation of the earth given the motion of the stars and the sun from horizon to horizon. Now, this isolation of the variables, or probability suggests that all will, not simply human will, is not free, because there is no such thing as 100% accuracy in predicting the probabiity of any given event. Further, there is no such thing as isolating 100% of the variables so as to manipulate all of the variables, thus making one's will free.

i disagree strongly with a "balance of good and evil"

i found this website through google/ speaks about the problem of evil and god's character.

http://www.antioch.com.sg/~vcfnus/doubts/problem.htm

"as i see it the only "variable" in the equation is THOUGHT. you are capable of changing this and this alone."

Dumb-Teen: Well said.