Admittedly, we do not know how it that anything (such as a physical universe) exists, let alone exactly how it came about that life came into existence. It is often suggested that there must be a God since it is impossible for anything to come into existence spontaneously through "self-creation" and equally impossible that anything existed forever in the past. Regardless of how elementary the very first particle of matter (or energy) and regardless how long ago it first emerged, it must have come from somewhere and through some process. In the minds of many people, the only logical explanation for the existence of the universe and (especially) of life is that it must have been created by a God. However, there are serious logical problems with that belief. First, it necessarily relies on completely circular reasoning: either spontaneous existence from nothing is possible or it is impossible; it cannot be impossible for the universe but require no explanation for the supposed spontaneous self-creation (or perpetual) existence of God. That fundamental logical problem cannot be resolved by defining God as "that which requires no creator" or as "that which has existed forever." Instead of answering the question of where we came from, the supposition that it is the work of a supreme creator only adds another layer of questions that cannot be answered any more easily than...
Conversely, there is absolutely no objective evidence of any kind to suggest that the existence of any God is more likely than God's non-existence. If one considers any of the moral attributes typically associated with cultural beliefs in God, that introduces are more contradictions than answers. Why would a benevolent God allow famine, disease, and misery? Why would a God allow unmitigated tragedies? Why would a benevolent and all-powerful God create a predatory natural food chain instead of a system that required horrific pain and trauma of prey or the slow starvation of predators?
God vs Evil Forces There is a major problem in the question of the existence of God as well as the presence of the evil forces. If God is almighty, loving and omnipresent how could there be suffering and evil forces in this world? With all the power God has, He could eliminate each and every evil making the world a peaceful and a beautiful place to live for the people.
Existence of God The philosophical questions I will try to answer and why they are of particular interest to me. Opinions that ordinary people tend to have on the issue The great monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam profoundly influenced Western philosophy. In all of these religions, the existence of God is a central claim. For nearly a millennium from 500 S.D to about 1500 A.D., Western philosophy was the handmaiden
In most religious texts, "God is omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing), and all-good (righteous, loving, benevolent)" (Wolf 2011). According to this view, apart from being the source of all that is good, God has the ability to know and do everything -- including stamping out all evil. However, there still exists so much suffering and evil in the world. Calamities of every nature do occur occasionally leading to death, displacement
If something happens, then it is a belief that somebody caused that thing to happen the way it did, and it is an effect of some kind of action. If then several actions take place one after the other, then the earlier/older happening caused the later event thus, "the first cause is the cause of all things and itself had no cause since it always existed." (Trigilio, and Brighenti
Indeed, Russell does not say there is no God, he merely says he is not convinced the Christian God is the correct version of an absolute beginning and end. As a philosopher, Russell finds much to be convinced about the moral validity of Christ. but, if in Christ we have the epitome of morality and goodness, then are there not universals of quality that are imbedded in other great
There is in this premise an implied idea that God's goodness and perfection constitute an obligation that he create and maintain a good and perfect world, or, to quote Mackie, that "good is opposed to evil in such a way that a good thing always eliminates evil as far as it can." Mackie refers to this implied argument as a "quasi-logical rule." The truth of this assumption, however, is not self-evident. The
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now