Epicurean Paradox

[NoMoreFaith]

Why do we use God's interpretation of Evil rather that the pop cultures understanding of the word?

Aaah, NOW we don't use the dictionary then.

Because it is God's actions (or lack of) that are being questioned in relation to Evil. If God is being judged against a standard then we must establish Who God is, against the very same standard in which He is being Judged.

Indeed, Needless pain and suffering.

If we are speaking of the God of the bible then it is to the biblical standard in which we are to also judge evil.

Nope. No dice. Epicurus is all about traditional evil, the death of an infant, the tsunami that kills beyond human control..

That is unless you feel you need to stack the deck in your favor to judge God unfairly in order to win your conviction.

You may see it as stacking the deck. We see it as you have no good answer.

A fair assessment would indeed single source (as there is only one source that defines the God of the bible) information of God and sin/evil, inorder to make a sound judgment.

You mean other than the Qu'ran, Zend Avesta. If there is an all powerful God. Whom is as Epicurus states, Omnipotent, Not Malevolent, blah blah, then he is a contradiction, a paradox given the world we live in.

otherwise it would be like asking who were the better soldiers? the 300 of Sparta or a current active duty seal team, simply by judging the effective usage of their weapons. If one wants an accurate assessment the one has to look at the soldiers as a whole, meaning times and conditions of service, and not the one aspect that favors your argument.

Oooh, Good analogy.. oh wait, bullshit.

So is your God a great soldier who is now outdated? That regardless of his power he is unable to act against those now more powerful given better technology?
Not Omnipotent.

so people like you can not rely on the loop holes you think you have found in the biblical account.

What biblical account? We are talking about Epicurus.

Answer this;
Do these things describe your God, yes or no is all that is required.
Is he Omnipotent, and is he not Malevolent, in context of HUMAN LIFE.

He may not be malevolent by his standards, but he certainly is by ours is the whole of the argument.

You may not feel he should be judged by Human Standards, but this is OUR life, and our pain and suffering, and he should be judged by them. You instead argue for the malevolent despot, because whilst he keeps the country safe from harm, does so by tyranny and injustice.

---

The proponents of this argument are transposing human characteristics on an entity which is in no way bounded by our characteristics (I'm generalizing the argument to all possible Gods, not just the one of the Bible). A few questions I have for those who hold this argument: Is all death evil? Is evolution evil? Is natural selection evil? Is the fact that millions die daily, yet we as humans do nothing to stop it from occurring, evil? Are we evil?

No. Next?

Neither are we capable of preventing any of these things, whereas God would be, so the needless pain and suffering, which are not always caused by man, would be simple to remove.

If we are evil, then who are we to assert what benevolence looks like?

Not Evil here.

If we are not all powerful, then who are we to assert what omnipotence acts like?

Then God is malevolent. No problem there, we are determining that if such a being exists, he is malevolent, or not omnipotent, or not existing. You have no point here.

If we are not all knowing, then who are we to assert how omniscience works?

Where did Omniscience come into Epicurus' Paradox?