RE: The Ultimate Why There Is Evil in the World Thread.
May 15, 2015 at 2:48 pm
(May 15, 2015 at 1:15 pm)Pyrrho Wrote: If there were a God, that being could have introduced penicillin in 1800 (and yes, earlier, and could also have created a world where penicillin was not needed, but let us keep this simple). Since God did not do so, we know that this is not the best of all possible worlds.
That’s speculation. You cannot show that the introduction of penicillin at an earlier date would have not had worse consequences then or better consequences in the future.
(May 15, 2015 at 1:15 pm)Pyrrho Wrote: Humans are constantly trying to improve the world, and they do occasionally succeed. The fact that they are able to improve it proves that it was inferior.
Alternate explanations are available. Humans could be correcting deficiencies that are of their own making or simply the result of being finite creatures with finite knowledge, which in itself is not a deficiency.
(May 15, 2015 at 1:15 pm)Pyrrho Wrote: …they reject all reason on the matter and simply dogmatically assert that this is somehow best, in some mysterious, inscrutable way.
You are the one making the claim that the world could be better. I am simply asking you to show that a better world is possible without resorting to speculation. I am just calling you out on your inability to supply valid reasons that support your ‘disproof of God’.
(May 15, 2015 at 1:15 pm)Pyrrho Wrote: The theist needs to prove that creating a universe is better than not creating one.
I assume your life is not without its share of suffering. Does that mean that you would prefer never having been born? Or now that you do exist, in what you consider a crapsack world, will you accelerate your own demise? I doubt that very much.
(May 15, 2015 at 1:15 pm)Pyrrho Wrote: Creating a bad universe is worse than nothing, and we have no reason to suppose that this universe is, overall, better than nothing.
That’s your opinion. Nothing more. Especially since, as an atheist, you cannot offer any objective criteria by which you make value judgments.
(May 15, 2015 at 1:15 pm)Pyrrho Wrote: The idea that this world is better than nothing is ridiculous. The idea that this is the best of all possible worlds is more worthy of ridicule than of argument.
There is no reason why I should accept your opinion.
