• geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml
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    2 days ago

    If there is no evil how can there be good?

    If the purpose of life is to be a test, how can you test without challenges (evil)?

    The crux of the problem is once again the modernized version of Christianity. Where hell has been written out and Adolf Hitler goes to heaven because “Jesus died for his sins”.

    • Zagorath@aussie.zone
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      9 hours ago

      If there is no evil how can there be good?

      Easy. You take the world as it is right now…and then remove the evil things. Evil is a metaphysical concept. We often use analogies of light and dark, but it doesn’t literally work that way.

        • Zagorath@aussie.zone
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          7 hours ago

          First, you’ll note that I started this conversation by conceding free will and concentrating my discussion of evil on evils that are not performed by humans, but by the planet itself, or by fundamental biology.

          But as for “the concept of life as a test”…why is something supposedly omniscient performing a test? It should already know the result of said test, thus making the test itself irrelevant. That’s what omniscience is.

          • geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml
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            7 hours ago

            Evil existing is necessary for a test in good and evil. Whether done by humans or natural causes.

            Angels were created as perfect servants who obey all commands without free will. Humans were created as the opposite. Those who have free will to perform both good and evil.

            It should already know the result of said test, thus making the test itself irrelevant. That’s what omniscience is.

            An all-powerful entity is not bound by paradoxes. If that was the case it would end at the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnipotence_paradox which is even more extreme than the free-will paradox for which some explanations can be thought of.