RE: Problem of Divine Freedom
April 17, 2014 at 5:34 am
(This post was last modified: April 17, 2014 at 5:35 am by fr0d0.)
(April 16, 2014 at 4:59 pm)MindForgedManacle Wrote:Quote:1) For an agent to be morally good, that agent must possess libertarian free will and thus the capacity to do evil. [Plantinga's Free Will Defense]
2) God is an agent, yet cannot do evil. [Common theological position/Divine Command Theory]
3) Therefore God does not have libertarian free will or moral goodness.
Now one response I anticipate is the claim that God could do evil, but he simply chooses not to do it. Despite being in contradiction with Divine Command theory, this makes it mysterious as to why God created beings who had the ability to do evil, and whom inevitably do so. After all, it's logically possible for God to have actualized the possible world where agents with libertarian free will never do evil.
God can't do evil, because he is good. Good is his most basic property. If a positive ion couldn't change into a negative ion, then God would be the positive ion. The negative ion exists as a natural counterpart, but is never the positive ion.
1. For an agent to be morally good it must be free to act.
2. God is an agent for good
3. God is free to act as his nature dictates
Morality isn't applicable where there is no choice to do evil.
