Quote:
Originally Posted by Willravel
The point Epicurus makes isn't that a god or gods are either not omnipotent, are malevolent, etc., but that you can't apply standard reason to theology. You can't apply reason to the supernatural. You can't apply reason to god.
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IMHO, Epicurus, in that oft-quoted observation of his – as logical, enlightened, and unbiased as it appears to be – was speaking out of ignorance and narrow-mindednes, and perhaps even out of personal bitterness and resentment toward religion and believers in the supernatural. (Yes, I'm saying that about Epicurus! LoL.)
We human beings (mortals though we be) can indeed apply our reason (limited and imperfect as it is) to God, i.e. to his existence, to his characteristics, and to his actions. However, when we do, when we consider or postulate what God is, and what God does or does not do, and the why's and how's thereof of his actions/inaction, we must look at not only the big picture (and I do mean the BIG picture, which includes all of humanity, throughout all of human history), but also the eternal scheme of things. Thus, it appear to me that Epicurus was being short-sighted and probably even sarcastic.