>What do you think of this quote:
>
>Is God willing to prevent evil but not able? Then he is not
>omnipotent.
>Is he able but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
>Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
>Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him god?
>- Epicurus, Greek philosopher (342-270 BC)
>

This reminds me of Mackie's formulation of the problem of Evil. He basically says that a benevolent God and the existence of Evil are logically incompatible. My response: My problem is with the general notion that God, and It’s actions, must be logically accessible and determinable by our human faculties. But what if every explanation is not accessible by logic? What if there are possible, illogical explanations? Mackie argues that even if the Paradox of Omnipotence can by solved by putting God outside of time, it would not be possible for there to be a God who “binds himself by causal or logical laws" (a God who is unwilling to stop Evil, as described in the quote you mention). The Paradox he describes is basically the idea question of whether or not an omnipotent being can create something which he cannot then control. By placing God outside of time, we rob his actions of any temporal significance. But if this is true, then we cannot understand God as binding himself in such a way that allows him to first, create a thing, and then, subsequently, not be able to control it. In other words, such a God would be operating in a temporal way, which does not compute with the idea of God being outside of Time.
My problem, however is this: even if it is true that such an idea (of an a-temporal God who can commit temporal actions), does not logically compute, what difference does it make? We’re talking about God. Since when must God acquiesce to, or conform to, our definitions of what is possible and what is not possible? Can we really seek to understand God in the same kind of way that we would approach understanding any other being? I suppose my question is, is God subject to our logic? Personally, I resolve the problem of evil by a complex system of beliefs that basically boils down: evil doesn’t exist.

blaw.