RE: Is Eternal Life Even Desireable?
April 25, 2015 at 3:22 pm
(This post was last modified: April 25, 2015 at 3:36 pm by Pyrrho.)
(April 25, 2015 at 11:42 am)robvalue Wrote: Indeed. I don't know whether a deity is possible or impossible.
It would help if I knew what the fuck a deity was in the first place.
What can be known depends on the deity in question. Consider, for example, a deity that is perfectly benevolent, omniscient, and omnipotent. Such a being cannot possibly exist. The reason it is not possible for such a deity to exist is that bad things happen. If there were such a deity, it would know about the bad things, being omniscient, and it would be able to prevent the bad things, being omnipotent, and it would want to prevent them, being perfectly benevolent. Consequently, if such a being existed, it would actually prevent all bad things from happening. Since it does not prevent bad things from happening, we KNOW it does not exist. Such a being is incompatible with the world as we know it, and so such a being cannot exist. It is impossible.
For other deities, other discussions would be appropriate.
If someone chooses to make a general statement, like:
It is possible for a deity to exist.
Then it would be perfectly reasonable to request that they say more precisely what they mean. If one looks up the word "deity" in a dictionary, like:
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/defini...ctCode=all
One of the definitions is:
A representation of a god or goddess, such as a statue or
If that is all they mean that can exist, then it would be foolish to disagree with them. But, very likely, they have something else in mind, and, if so, they should clarify their meaning and state what, precisely, they mean.
"A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence."
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.
