(November 24, 2015 at 2:50 pm)Esquilax Wrote: I'mma go with apatheist, in practice at least: in my real life I don't give a shit whether god exists or not. If there's evidence I'll believe, but I'll formulate my religious beliefs about that deity based on its character, not its existence. What I do give a shit about are bad arguments and hideous overreach, and there's plenty of that in the religious ideologue and theocrat circles for me to step in on.
Catholic_Lady Wrote:Actually, the "problem of evil" has never for one second made me question God because I believe in free will.
It always weirds me out to see people using free will as an escape from the problem of evil, because it doesn't work for a reason so obvious that I have trouble believing that anyone hasn't seen it yet: it's morally good to curtail free will from those that are using it for evil ends. If I see a robbery in progress and I stop it, I've done a morally good act, so how is it that something that's morally good if a human does it becomes less so when god does it? Hell, the whole purpose of the police force is to curtail free will where necessary, and nobody would argue that a properly functioning police force is a bad thing. Inaction for free will's sake is not a justification.
Moreover, god can, by definition, intervene to stop evil without doing a thing to curtail free will anyway; free will consists of one being free to attempt to do something, it's not a guarantee of success. My free will hasn't been curtailed just because I'm unsuccessful at certain things. Therefore, god could arrange so that evil can be attempted, but not successful, without interfering in free will at all.
I can actually understand what they mean by that. Basically god doesn't intervene for now, and he'll reward us in the afterlife based on our behaviour. It's only fair, right? Except, of course, apparently he does intervene(you know, miracles and such).
But it's a moot point, anyway. There's no free will - it's as ridiculous a concept as God is.
