Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - God is not all-powerful.

Yakk · 02-23-2006, 08:15 AM

What if God is all-powerful, and all-good.

But we don't understand what good is. Turns out that everything that has ever happened is a good thing.

Can we allow tradeoffs? If god wanted to create a being who is truely free willed, can god let that individual do evil and still be doing good -- because the existence of free will in that being is a greater good than revoking the free will and preventing the evil?

If good and evil exist somehow independant of god, and if "free will" is defined as a being whose choices are not determined by god, then god must withdraw control in order for the good of "free will" to exist. This would include disasters, like volcanos, that kill large numbers of "free will" beings -- preventing the volcano eruption and protecting the beings who freely chose to live near it would be an act that reduces the free will of those beings.

If you disagree with "good" vs "evil" existing independantly of god, then it only makes sense that the deity defines good by it's actions. It is good for god to allow two toddlers to kill each other because it is god who did, or did not, do it. Once again, not a problem.

02-23-2006, 08:15 AM	#59 (permalink)
Yakk Wehret Den Anfängen! Location: Ontario, Canada	What if God is all-powerful, and all-good. But we don't understand what good is. Turns out that everything that has ever happened is a good thing. Can we allow tradeoffs? If god wanted to create a being who is truely free willed, can god let that individual do evil and still be doing good -- because the existence of free will in that being is a greater good than revoking the free will and preventing the evil? If good and evil exist somehow independant of god, and if "free will" is defined as a being whose choices are not determined by god, then god must withdraw control in order for the good of "free will" to exist. This would include disasters, like volcanos, that kill large numbers of "free will" beings -- preventing the volcano eruption and protecting the beings who freely chose to live near it would be an act that reduces the free will of those beings. If you disagree with "good" vs "evil" existing independantly of god, then it only makes sense that the deity defines good by it's actions. It is good for god to allow two toddlers to kill each other because it is god who did, or did not, do it. Once again, not a problem. __________________ Last edited by JHVH : 10-29-4004 BC at 09:00 PM. Reason: Time for a rest.