A Quick Thought on Euthyphro
Socrates’ younger friend, Euthyphro, has undertaken prosecution of his father for murdering a slave (or so Euthyphro says); that is, his father bound and tied a field laborer who, in a fit of drunken rage, killed a domestic servant. In this condition the field laborer was thrown into a ditch until word could be fetched from an Athenian diviner as to how to handle the laborer. While waiting for word, the slave died. It is with this background that the well-known Euthyphro has been formulated:
Socrates: Then, my friend, I remark with surprise that you have not answered the question which I have asked. For I certainly did not ask you to tell me what action is both pious and impious: but now it would seem that what is loved by the gods is also hated by them. And therefore, Euthyphro, in thus chastising your father you may very … (Read more)
Is all suffering meaningless?
The more I think about it, the more I realize that it isn’t the case. Which forces me to conclude that anyone who says that “suffering is incompatible with a benevolent God” hasn’t given suffering proper consideration. It seems that the problem is we aren’t content with not knowing. God’s answer to Job wasn’t enough! Job should have insisted. Hmm, gives me a few good thoughts… And by the way, Making Sense of Suffering (which I’ll review soon) is an excellent book, well worth reading.… (Read more)
Arguments from evil
One thing I never understood about the argument from evil is how people came to view it as an argument against the existence of God, or at least against the existence of a personal and all loving God. My confusion over this argument isn’t simply because if it’s formulated incorrectly, you must assume what you’re trying to disprove (an objective moral standard with which to differentiate between good and evil, necessarily requiring God). My confusion over this argument is because ‘evil’ as a thing from which people argue, if they argue from naturalistic presuppositions, simply doesn’t exist. Whether it’s gratuitous evil and suffering (animal or otherwise) or simply bad actions. Epicurus was wishfully thinking, there is no evil in his argument to remove God.… (Read more)
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