Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?— Epicurus (disputed)
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God?
Evil is primarily a religious concept, even if as a general concept it obviously pervades outside that sphere. As a concept transcending the "really bad, malevolent" it is unmistakably religious in its origins.
I will show in a semi-formal fashion that even if Epicurus does not convince us, a logical deduction should lead us to conclude that followers of Jesus are evil. So without further ado, let me lay the premises:
P1. Evil precedes Yahweh, Yahweh precedes evil, or both have simultaneously coexisted eternally. Exactly one of these three clauses holds.
P2. If Yahweh is not the only eternally existing entity, then Yahweh is not omnipotent since there is at least one thing he cannot do: eliminate the other eternally existing entity.
P3. If Yahweh is omnipotent and precedes evil, then evil could be created only by Yahweh or something Yahweh created. In other words, Yahweh is responsible for creating evil, just as Yahweh is responsible for creating all life on the planet.
P4. Creators of evil are evil.
P5. Lovers of evil are evil.
P6. Killing other than to eliminate evil, is evil.
These are the premises. If you do not agree with the premises, the argument is not going to make sense. But ask yourself why you disagree.
Assuming that you do agree, see if the following assertions can be deduced using the Bible (all verses are from the King James Version:
S1. Yahweh precedes evil. In fact Yahweh is Supreme, omnipotent and the only entity that has eternally existed.
Isaiah 40:28S2. Yahweh created evil.
28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
Isaiah 45:7S3. Yahweh destroys all life except a handful on Noah's ark purportedly so that he may eliminate evil. The flood does not eliminate evil. So either Yahweh is not omnipotent, or he did not intend to eliminate evil. He is defined as omnipotent, therefore if he intended to eliminate evil, he could not have failed.
7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.
S4. Since he did not want to eliminate evil, yet he killed all infants, children, women, men, animals and plants save the ones on Noah's ark, he is by definition (P6), evil.
S5. Jesus's first commandment is to love Yahweh more than anything or anyone else.
Matthew 22:36-38C1. Yahweh created evil (P3, S2), is omnipotent (P2, S1), did not destroy evil (S3), therefore is evil (P4, S4).
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
C2. Those who follow Jesus therefore must love Yahweh and are therefore evil (S5, P5).
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