An online acquaintance recently sent me an e-mail explaining why he believes there is no God. He presented a logical theorem as proof that God does not exist. Here’s the theorem:
Assumption (1): God exists.
Assumption (1a): God is all-knowing.
Assumption (1b): God is all-powerful.
Assumption (1c): God is perfectly loving.
Assumption (1d): Any being that did not possess all three of the above properties would not be God.
Premise (3): An all-knowing being would be aware of the existence of evil.
Premise (4): An all-powerful being would be able to eliminate evil.
Premise (5): A perfectly loving being would desire to eliminate evil.
Conclusion (6): Evil does not exist. (from (1),(3),(4),(5))
Contradiction: But evil does exist. (from (2))
Conclusion (7): There is no being that is all-knowing, all-powerful, and perfectly loving. (from (2),(3),(4),(5))
Conclusion (8): God does not exist. (from (7),(1d)
So what do you think? Does the logic hold water? If so, are the assumptions that lead to the conclusion valid as stated? Feel free to share your thoughts below. I’ll share my response to my friend in my next post.
So ... according to this theorem, Evil exists but God doesn't.
ReplyDeleteUnder such a theorem goodness would have to flow out of Evil then.
That would be miraculous! Evil allowing the luxury of freewill to reign so that goodness could slip out of it.
How generous and kind of evil to be more lenient in the freewill department than God would be.