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Your personal take on “The Problem of Evil?”
#1
Your personal take on “The Problem of Evil?”
Good day everyone, I hope you are all doing well?

I’ll begin with a brief story. Not long ago did my oldest sister “lose her faith” and become an atheist. It occurred at a rather difficult time in her life –going through a messy divorce, unfaithful husband, no doubt she was praying that things would turn out better than they did- and she became bitter about that whole event. Some time passes, she heals a bit and is talking with us again, but now she’s challenged my mother to somewhat of a “debate” (and to be fair, my mother -bless her soul- wouldn’t be able capable of defending her faith against cottage cheese). My mother asks me for help, and I read some of the texts back and fourth between them and I see my sister has quoted David McAfee from his book “Disproving Christianity.” Not long afterwards does my sister tell me via text, “I’ve got a great book for you to read.”

“Is it David’s book?” I ask.
[Image: tumblr_ljhx7g621D1qcfyhd.png]

“How’d you know?” She inquired.
[Image: insouciant-335f0f97aea47b34c983c45bcfa9f00f.jpg]

“Because you literally ripped a page out of his book and mom didn’t know what to say and came to me.”
[Image: D6XTH9BPQMAADW5ZL7CR_400.jpg]

[Image: tumblr_lnwltqhA7R1qzj7lm.png] ...she said.

I won’t go into the detail of the book, but if you’ve read David’s book, good for you (we all need to make use of those few moments between clenching certain muscles and rinsing our hands)! But I’ve noticed a reoccurring point in his book that I thought to discuss with the rest of you?


How has “The Problem of Evil” affected you personally?
I’m not asking for arguments, just honest opinions for those who are open to sharing. I noticed within “Disproving Christianity” that David’s main assertion is the argument from nonbelief; basically that it is morally abhorrent that God would send someone to hell that has never had the opportunity to know him. “God is not good, therefore he is not God,” basically. And if I can recall correctly, that there are so many moral stains on Christianity that it’s concept of God couldn’t be true (I’m paraphrasing, it was to that affect though, I’m sure).

So, McAfee seems to (for at least one reason) reject God on the basis of a perceived moral injustice. How do you the rest of you feel towards all this?
Call me Josh, it's fine.
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#2
RE: Your personal take on “The Problem of Evil?”
(September 1, 2014 at 11:25 pm)XK9_Knight Wrote: Good day everyone, I hope you are all doing well?

I’ll begin with a brief story. Not long ago did my oldest sister “lose her faith” and become an atheist. It occurred at a rather difficult time in her life –going through a messy divorce, unfaithful husband, no doubt she was praying that things would turn out better than they did- and she became bitter about that whole event. Some time passes, she heals a bit and is talking with us again, but now she’s challenged my mother to somewhat of a “debate” (and to be fair, my mother -bless her soul- wouldn’t be able capable of defending her faith against cottage cheese). My mother asks me for help, and I read some of the texts back and fourth between them and I see my sister has quoted David McAfee from his book “Disproving Christianity.” Not long afterwards does my sister tell me via text, “I’ve got a great book for you to read.”

if you want professional help ask bad wolf he is sharp like a butter knife

and if your sister is like Bad Wolf,well i feel sorry for your mom.
Blessed are the curious, for they shall have adventures.” ~L. Drachman

4 HorsemenJesus Stoning
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#3
RE: Your personal take on “The Problem of Evil?”
I haven't read the book, and your post does not provide enough explicit information on what exactly it is that David McAfee said in his book besides a truncated and likely generalized statement coming from you, the opponent in this "debate", so it could be a strawman, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that what you've said is in fact, a fair interpretation of this author's position.

Personally, I don't reject Yahweh, God of the Bible because he's a liar, a murderer, or a cheater. Those are all convenient side-reasons to do so, as are the numerous atrocities enacted in "His" name. I rejected "Him" because I was tired of feeling guilty for learning about sexuality outside of the Chruch's definition of moral sexuality. I wanted to be human, and decide for myself what was right and what was wrong.

I take a very strong atheist and anti-Yahweh stance when I think about these things. This isn't Pascal's Coin Toss, it's Pascal's Roulette Table. The chances of being "right" or "safe" for being a Christian go down so wonderfully fast when you consider the thousands of other gods among the hundreds of other religions humanity has spawned. But hey, if I were wrong, and Christians were somehow right, I'll flip off Yahweh as I swan dive into the pit to hell. That's how completely I dislike the guy for the shit his religion put me through for 6 years of my life, and just for how generally shitty of a god he is.
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#4
RE: Your personal take on “The Problem of Evil?”
(September 1, 2014 at 11:32 pm)Greed™ Wrote: if you want professional help ask bad wolf he is sharp like a butter knife

and if your sister is like Bad Wolf,well i feel sorry for your mom.

What do you even mean by this?
'The more I learn about people the more I like my dog'- Mark Twain

'You can have all the faith you want in spirits, and the afterlife, and heaven and hell, but when it comes to this world, don't be an idiot. Cause you can tell me you put your faith in God to put you through the day, but when it comes time to cross the road, I know you look both ways.' - Dr House

“Young earth creationism is essentially the position that all of modern science, 90% of living scientists and 98% of living biologists, all major university biology departments, every major science journal, the American Academy of Sciences, and every major science organization in the world, are all wrong regarding the origins and development of life….but one particular tribe of uneducated, bronze aged, goat herders got it exactly right.” - Chuck Easttom

"If my good friend Doctor Gasparri speaks badly of my mother, he can expect to get punched.....You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others. There is a limit." - Pope Francis on freedom of speech
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#5
RE: Your personal take on “The Problem of Evil?”
Yahweh may be cruel, manipulative, and authoritarian, but that doesn't prove his non-existence. It just proves he's a prick.

There are plenty of other good reasons to think he's not real.
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#6
RE: Your personal take on “The Problem of Evil?”

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#7
RE: Your personal take on “The Problem of Evil?”
As for the OP. You have two options, either your god watches terrible things happen and does nothing to stop them or he can't stop them, that either makes him immoral or impotent. A third explanation would be that he doesn't stop evil because he can't because he doesn't exist.
'The more I learn about people the more I like my dog'- Mark Twain

'You can have all the faith you want in spirits, and the afterlife, and heaven and hell, but when it comes to this world, don't be an idiot. Cause you can tell me you put your faith in God to put you through the day, but when it comes time to cross the road, I know you look both ways.' - Dr House

“Young earth creationism is essentially the position that all of modern science, 90% of living scientists and 98% of living biologists, all major university biology departments, every major science journal, the American Academy of Sciences, and every major science organization in the world, are all wrong regarding the origins and development of life….but one particular tribe of uneducated, bronze aged, goat herders got it exactly right.” - Chuck Easttom

"If my good friend Doctor Gasparri speaks badly of my mother, he can expect to get punched.....You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others. There is a limit." - Pope Francis on freedom of speech
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#8
RE: Your personal take on “The Problem of Evil?”
Don’t worry about David’s book, it was more of a jumping board into a much broader discussion; the point of bringing it up was that it would seem (to me at least) that McAfee rejects God based on what he see as a moral deficiency.

(September 1, 2014 at 11:56 pm)Endo Wrote: I rejected "Him" because I was tired of feeling guilty for learning about sexuality outside of the Church’s definition of moral sexuality. I wanted to be human, and decide for myself what was right and what was wrong.


I would venture to say you feel as though the God of the OT is a cultural device used for manipulating others, and that this restriction on your freedom is immoral?
Call me Josh, it's fine.
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#9
RE: Your personal take on “The Problem of Evil?”
Quote:I would venture to say you feel as though all the God of the OT is a gods are a cultural device used for manipulating others, and that this restriction on your freedom is immoral?

You get half credit for that answer.
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#10
RE: Your personal take on “The Problem of Evil?”
The problem of evil is elementary. I came upon it naturally when I was in grade school. Why does god kill people with hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis? What about all the people deep in the jungles of the Amazon who will never even catch the scent of Jeebus? They go to hell?

To me this doesn't speak to a morally corrupt god, it points to a made up story with some pretty glaring holes in it. Like some bronze age goat herders may have not thought everything through with their oral traditions.
"There remain four irreducible objections to religious faith: that it wholly misrepresents the origins of man and the cosmos, that because of this original error it manages to combine the maximum servility with the maximum of solipsism, that it is both the result and the cause of dangerous sexual repression, and that it is ultimately grounded on wish-thinking." ~Christopher Hitchens, god is not Great

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