Epicurus on God

The split and battle is between animal-man and spiritual-man.

Animal-man does everything that other rutting animals do. Rutting animals don't have the language skills to call what other animals do to them "evil", but if they did, I suppose they would.

When animal-man externalizes his internal conflict, it grows to grander scales.

Spiritual-man can experience things and aspire to things rutting animals cannot. Though when reading the daily news, it seems often that not a lot of effort goes into that...
 
Quote from peilthetraveler:

You want to know why God doesnt stop evil, but his idea of evil and yours are completely different.
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so if someone were to kidnap one your children and rape torture and murder her that would be ok with you since god allowed it to happen? what if you prayed about it and god actually answered back and said i wont stop it because its not evil and besides i get a kick out of watching rape,it turns me on. would you still worship this monster?
 
God didn't write the Bible, people did, and they wrote it a long time ago. Does the universe not exist because astronomical writings from thousands of years ago didn't describe it accurately?
Quote from trendlover:

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Because the Bible tell the story of god the superhero.
http://bible.cc/psalms/121-7.htm
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Far from being a "free thinker," you sound more like a spoiled brat throwing a temper tantrum. Things not going how you think they should means and proves absolutely nothing.

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
-- William Shakespeare
Quote from Free Thinker:

so if someone were to kidnap one your children and rape torture and murder her that would be ok with you since god allowed it to happen? what if you prayed about it and god actually answered back and said i wont stop it because its not evil and besides i get a kick out of watching rape,it turns me on. would you still worship this monster?
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Quote from Ghost of Cutten:
It's not that simple though. For example, there is an instinct in humans to rape, plunder and pillage. Just look at any war. Why does that obvious evil exist?

Because people who rape, plunder, and pillage when they have a high chance of dying in a few days, weeks or months, are more likely to pass on their genes through violent sexual reproduction, or by winning a war via ruthless aggression, than nice smiley happy people who welcome their enemies, feel their pain, and take vows of chastity whilst respectfully refusing to lay a finger on vulnerable women of a fertile age.

So, natural selection ensures that the really good guys die out under certain situations, such as regular warfare, and that "evil" tendencies get bred into us. Our ancestors were the cavemen who were best at killing, conquering territory, hunting and fucking as many women as possible whether consensually or not. They weren't tree-hugging chaste pacifists.

If god did exist, and created excessively "nice guys", they would lose to "nasty guys", or at least nice-ish guys who have it in them to be ruthless when the chips are down. So, he would need to put a bit of steel and fire in our bellies, so we don't wimp out when our lives are on the line. And that inevitably means that in some situations we are going to have a violent response when it was uncalled for, and people who are a bit more violent than the norm will exist, and cause trouble.
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You make interesting points, but if I understand correctly, you're still suggesting if god did exist, evil would have to be a necessity.
As far as that goes, the cards fall in favor of Epicuris, as it only re-affirms god does not have the power it is supposed to
have, to not make evil a necessity.
Remember this is supposed to be omnipotent power, so the idea is nothing should have to be a necessity for god.

Quote from Ghost of Cutten:
But then that would come at other costs i.e. loss of free will, the inability to show moral conscience, lack of opportunities to demonstrate heroism and self-sacrifice, and so on. If one lacks the ability or free will to choose a path of evil, then there is nothing praiseworthy about choosing to be good.

Also, it would make us unable to be self-sustaining. Maybe god would view it as an acceptable price to pay that we have evil, in order to be able to more control our own destiny, rather than always be relying on divine intervention to set things 'right'.

The point is just that there are alternative scenarios to the ones Epicurus considered. His argument relies on their being only malevolent reasons to allow evil to exist, whereas there are plausible neutral or even beneficial reasons.
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On the face of things it might sound a reasonable argument about loss of free will, but I can think of a very straightforward, easily understandable way god could include evil without having to invoke it AND leave free will for the individual to decide whether to use it or not AND without disabling that self-sustaining AND have built in consequences too. Can you? :)

Now if I can, why can't / why hasn't god?

Epicuris gives a number of reasons for that.
One additional compelling reason is that there obviously is no god and as you've described, there are more evident and rational natural explanations for what is being categorized as evil anyway.
 
Quote from Trader666:

God didn't write the Bible, people did, and they wrote it a long time ago. Does the universe not exist because astronomical writings from thousands of years ago didn't describe it accurately?
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I know god did not write the bible. People write storys about gods. I know this is not describe accurately. The bible is fiction. That is why is so stupid to mix religion and the politics. Because the religion is from the fiction book.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMo2ghPzEGE
 
Your thinking is as flawed as your writing.
Quote from trendlover:

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I know god did not write the bible. People write storys about gods. I know this is not describe accurately. The bible is fiction. That is why is so stupid to mix religion and the politics. Because the religion is from the fiction book.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMo2ghPzEGE
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Quote from CaptainObvious:

...Man's enternal folly is to question the will and wisdom of the Gods, but only an arrogant fool would declare absolute certainty on the topic.
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Who's talking about certainty? I'm only referring to an operating principle based on the evidence at hand. Occam's razor would suggest there is no god because there is no evident need for one or any evidence of one. On that basis, I will go about my life in such a manner. Should he, she or it deign to make himself, herself or itself known to me in a manner other than fanciful imagination on my part, then I will reevaluate my perception regarding this matter. In so doing, I relieve myself of all manner of unnecessary mental clutter ranging from witches and warlocks to flying spaghetti monsters and unicorns.

"If you hear hoof beats, think horses—not zebras." In the normal course, that's how the smart money would respond.
 
Quote from MarketMasher:

Bingo.

But it's funny to contemplate how big the unknowns in the universe/multiverse are and hear someone claim their sub-peanut sized brain has it all figured out....

Even worse when they blaspheme and say they "know the mind of God" - and you better listen to them, or else!
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You have already made it quite clear that you know nothing and choose faith over thought. No need to overemphasize.
 
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