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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=deco@moscow.com href="mailto:deco@moscow.com">Art Deco</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=philosopher.joe@gmail.com
href="mailto:philosopher.joe@gmail.com">Joe Campbell</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Monday, May 16, 2011 3:33 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Vision2020] Response to Joe, Donovan
[More]</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Thank you, Joe for pointing my out unintended
use of "omnificent" and "omnificence" instead of "omniscient" and
"omniscience."<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This mistake
originally started with a lapse of not carefully looking at spell check
alternatives.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I have replaced
correct versions of the initial post and the response to Donovan's initial
reply below.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">I hope the following will address your
questions.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">The discussion of the Problem of Evil that
has occurred was not intended to show that some superior being, a possible
creator of the universe, or at least some God does not
exists.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">The scope of the discussion was much more
limited.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The intention was,
and I hope, did show that the following assertion leads to a
contradiction:<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>"The universe
was created by an omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent God."<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And therefore such an assertion is
false.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>As you know, the
belief in such a God with these traits is dogmatically asserted by many
religious sects including the Catholic Church and our own local cult.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In shorter terms the demonstration
was that "The existence of an omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent God
who created the universe is a logical
impossibility."<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">It is possible, though at this point in time,
clearly undemonstrated, that the universe was created by some being, call
it God, who was<B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"> not</B>
omnipotent, omniscient, and, omnibenevolent.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>For example, one possibility is
that of a God as described by Alfred North Whitehead.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>That particular God was not quite
up to the entire task, though it tried its best, and therefore humankind
needs to help it achieve a moral earth.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Each argument purporting to show the
existence of some God(s) or other must be examined on its own merits
including looking at the evidence for included or assumed knowledge
claims, looking for logical consistency, looking for consistency with
known probabilities, etc.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">But on the issue of whether freewill and
combined omnipotent/omniscient God are possible in the universe as we now
know it, I can only repeat and augment a little the simply stated argument
I made in response to Donovan.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Assuming an omnipotent God had a plan and
from that plan created the universe exactly according to that plan,
then:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Simply put, at the point of creation,
either:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 1in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 1in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">A.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>God knew that
humankind would disobey it, and knew all other actions of humankind that
would occur.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 1in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 1in" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Or<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 1in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 1in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">B.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>God did not know
that humankind would disobey it, and did not know some of the actions of
humankind that would occur.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 1in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">If A, then all actions of humankind were part
of God's creation plan, and thus <B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">all</B> human actions were
predetermined/preprogrammed including acts of disobedience from the
beginning according to God's plan, and hence, freewill cannot and does not
exist, and thus evil is totally and completely the creation and the fault
of God, and therefore God is not omnibenevolent.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">If B, God lacked specific knowledge of the
outcomes of his creation plan at the point of creation, and therefore God
is not omniscient – there is something that God did not
know.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 1in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Freewill (vs. determinism) is possibly
compatible with the assertion that God is <B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">not</B> omnipotent and/or
omniscient.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But whether
freewill exists in reality would be difficult to prove or disprove -- no
one has yet to do so.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Certainly there is there appearance of freewill, but as you know
with the advancement of the psychological sciences, particularly the work
of B. F. Skinner and followers, and the advancement of the biological
sciences, particularly the work of geneticists, the amount of freedom of
choice available to humankind when carefully examined, appears to have
shrunk and continues to shrink.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">You posit:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">"God could create a world where determinism
is false (to say otherwise means he's not omnipotent)," or rephrased:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>"Could God create a world where
determinism is false (to say otherwise means he's not
omnipotent)?"<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">This is asking whether an omnipotent,
omniscient God could create a world where that God itself was not
omniscient, or asking if God could negate his own omniscience.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This argument analogous to the
argument in the form of a question: <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>"Could God create a stone so heavy
that it could not lift it?"<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>When a question contains a contradiction, then there is no possible
comprehensible answer except that the question calls for the existence of
an impossible state of reality.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Although omniscience is used as a separate
property in the discussion of the Problem of Evil, in really omniscience
is a sub-property of omnipotence -- the power of knowing everything.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>So then the question becomes:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>"Could an omnipotent being destroy
its own omnipotence?"<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This is
another example of a question containing or leading to a contradiction,
and thus without a possible comprehensible answer except that the question
calls for the existence of an impossible state of
reality.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">The question of whether causation is
transitive or not, or stated as "Is the universe a system of inexorably
related (call the relation cause) between everything in it or not?" is not
relevant to the issue.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Either
an omnipotent God knew exactly what it was doing when it created the
universe or not.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If so, then
everything resulting from his plan of creation is determined, and if not,
then God lacks omniscience.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">I am at a loss to understand your fourth
point.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In the context of
those who believe in an omniscient God, the word "omniscient" means: <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>"At all times past, present and
future God knows everything, past, present, and future.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>There is nothing (no bit of
knowledge, fact, fancy, or feeling) that God does not know or did not
know."<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In my discussion that
is the meaning I have taken.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>How can there be a lesser kind of omniscience than full and
complete knowledge?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>"God is
omniscient and knows everything except what will happen next Tuesday"
would be a contradiction.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">There are very interesting questions arising
from the assertion that an omniscient being exists or could even
exist.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>How could such a being
be sure of its knowledge?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Where and how is this knowledge stored?<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>What does it mean to say that some
being knows everything? <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Etc.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I have not addressed these
issues.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I have only addressed
the problems that arise when it is asserted along with other statements
that "At all times past, present and future God knows everything, past,
present, and future.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>There is
nothing (no bit of knowledge, fact, fancy, or feeling) that God does not
know or did not know."<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Further, I make no claim that the traditional
usage of the words "omnipotent," "omniscient," and "omnibenevolent" make
sense or describe possible states of reality.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I am merely taking the words as
they are used by certain believers and apologists then showing that such
linguistic usage leads to a contradiction.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I suspect that asserting "God is
omnipotent" makes about the same amount of sense that asserting that "The
square root of jelly vulcanizes justice" does.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p><FONT
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=philosopher.joe@gmail.com href="mailto:philosopher.joe@gmail.com">Joe
Campbell</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=deco@moscow.com
href="mailto:deco@moscow.com">Art Deco</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Cc:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">Vision 2020</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, May 16, 2011 10:36 AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Vision2020] Response to
Joe, Donovan</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>My own view is that the problem of evil is unsolvable, an enigma. Thus, I
don't think you can that God does not exist, given the existence of evil,
either.<BR><BR>Thanks, Wayne! A few quick questions and points. <BR><BR>1/ Why
think that you can settle one of the perennial philosophical debates (whether
or not God exists) by assuming the answer to another perennial philosophical
debate (whether free will is compatible with determinism)? <BR><BR>2/ Neither
omniscience nor predetermination wrecks free will. It is predetermined that
you will leave some of your clothes on while purchasing your next set of
groceries. I am certain that you will. Is it unfree? No, I think you freely do
so.<BR><BR>3/ Why must an omnipotent, omniscient (omnificent = unlimited in
creative power), and fully benevolent being be the CAUSE of everything? (Note,
I'm not denying that God is the cause of everything. I take it that that is
the issue in (2). Here I'm questioning this view.) First, God could create a
world where determinism is false (to say otherwise means he's not omnipotent).
Second, causation is not transitive. It might be true that something I wrote
caused you to write one of the sentences below but it doesn't follow that I
wrote the sentence below.<BR><BR>4/ You write: <FONT size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><SPAN></SPAN>If there is something that is not
predetermined (unknown to or unpredicted by God), but somehow left to chance
at the moment of creation, then God is not omnificent [or
omniscient].<BR><BR>Suppose "omniscience" means "someone knows everything that
is true," that states of affairs make things true, and that the future is
open: undetermined and unrealized. God might know everything there is to know
-- he might not miss any of the facts -- yet still not know everything (all
that was, is, or will be true).<BR><BR>More later!<BR></SPAN></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Donovan writes:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.5in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; COLOR: blue">"I just think you have too
many false assumptions and false definitions of words in your
arguments."<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">However, no specific examples of false
assumptions or false definitions (which is taken to mean words used in
other than their ordinary established manner) are cited even though the
arguments have been presented in a numbered sequence making them easy to
cite and to discuss.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Therefore, Donovan's above assertion has not been shown to have
any merit, but has the appearance of a rhetorical trick used when one
side of a debate does not have a plausible answer to the arguments
presented by the other.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Next, Donovan cites one of Zeno's paradoxes
to show that anything can be proven by false assumptions and
definitions.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>However, there
is no explanation or illustration of how the arguments presented in the
discussion of the Problem of Evil are structured in a similar manner to
Zeno's argument that was given.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Since no evidence of false assumptions and
definitions has been presented, and no demonstrations of specific
invalid or fallacious arguments have been made, these two claims are
without even attempted demonstrated merit.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Moving on, Donovan then
writes:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.5in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; COLOR: blue">"Evil, is to disobey God's
command. It is not a specific act in and of itself. God created people
with the ability to decide if they wish to obey or not obey. He can do
that because He is all powerful. Humans create evil by doing what God
has given them the ability to do, disobey God. God gave humans this
ability because He wants people to freely choose to be with Him, not be
forced to. Just like me and you don't want to be around just people that
are forced to be.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.5in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; COLOR: blue"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.5in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; COLOR: blue">God always does the most
benevolent thing He can without eliminating our ability to disobey Him.
If God prevented people from killing or hurting each other He would be
doing something far less benevolent then anything else by eliminating
our ability to obey and be with Him after we die."<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Consider:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: blue">"Evil,
is to disobey God's command. It is not a specific act in and of
itself."</SPAN><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This is an
example of the fallacy [<A
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persuasive_definition">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persuasive_definition</A>]
of offering a persuasive definition:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.5in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">"A persuasive definition is a form of
definition which purports to describe the 'true' or 'commonly accepted'
meaning of a term, while in reality stipulating an uncommon or altered
use, usually to support an argument for some view, or to create or alter
rights, duties or crimes. … Persuasive definitions commonly appear in
controversial topics such as politics, sex, and religion, as
participants in emotionally-charged exchanges will sometimes become more
concerned about swaying people to one side or another than expressing
the unbiased facts."<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Clearly, a persuasive definition is given
for "evil" in above argument offered by Donovan.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>For most people, the real evil
of the rape and murder of young children is found in the harm, pain,
degradation, and other life long consequences suffered by the victims,
their families, and associates, not that some alleged God was
disobeyed.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">There are many other problems with the
above argument, including that it is full of knowledge claims about the
traits of some alleged God which appear impossible to verify or even to
give any cogent evidence for.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Once it asserted that God is omnipotent, then it follows that God
can do anything, which includes deceiving humankind without any fear of
detection, therefore all knowledge claims about any other traits of God
cannot be given any convincing or reliable evidence.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Only those claims which contain
contradictions can be conclusively refuted.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">The Problem of Evil shows that asserting
the existence of an omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent God leads to
a contradiction, and thus one or more of the premises of the argument
(omnipotence, omniscience, omnibenevolence) must be false.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Elementary
logic.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">The above argument given by Donovan
asserts:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.5in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; COLOR: blue">"God created people with the
ability to decide if they wish to obey or not obey. He can do that
because He is all powerful. Humans create evil by doing what God has
given them the ability to do, disobey God. God gave humans this ability
because He wants people to freely choose to be with Him, not be forced
to…"</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">This claim does not refute the conclusions
drawn from the Problem of Evil, but, in fact, supports them.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This is the claim of the
existence of 'freewill' or 'freedom to choose' to explain the existence
of evil.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">To see the fallaciousness of this claim of
freewill in Donovan's assertions masquerading as an argument, consider
<B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">the fundamental question</B>
engendered by the assumption that some alleged omnipotent, omniscient,
omnibenevolent God created the universe:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>"<B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Did God know exactly what it was
doing at the moment of creation</B> <B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">of the
universe</B>?"<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">If God knew <B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">exactly what all the
consequences/outcomes of his act of creation were at the moment of
creation</B>,<B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"> </B>including
whether humankind would "choose" to disobey him or not, then these
so-called "free choices" by humankind were totally and completely
predetermined by God's creation plan and execution thereof, and
therefore, the freedom to choose to do anything not originally planned
by God does not exist, freewill/freedom to disobey God is an
illusion/delusion, and thus any argument using freewill or freedom of
choice to justify the existence of evil is erroneous without any hope of
redemption.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">On the other hand, if God did not know
whether humankind would choose to disobey him or not, then God had gaps
in his knowledge at the moment of creation, and thus is not
omniscient.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Hence, the conclusions drawn from the
Problem of Evil withstand Donovan's perhaps quite emotionally satisfying
for some, but transparently fallacious attempt to explain evil, among
other things, away.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Simply put, at the point of creation,
either:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">A.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>God knew that
humankind would disobey it.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: 0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Or<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">B.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>God did not
know that humankind would disobey it.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0.5in 0pt 1in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.5in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">If A, then all actions of humankind were
part of God's creation plan, and thus all human actions were
predetermined/preprogrammed including acts of disobedience from the
beginning, and hence, freewill cannot and does not exist, and thus evil
is totally and completely the creation and the fault of God, and
therefore God is not omnibenevolent.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0.5in 0pt 1in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.5in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">If B, God lacked specific knowledge of the
outcomes of his creation plan at the point of creation, and therefore
God is not omniscient.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Points of Interest and
Corollaries<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Ironically and similarly, the Bible,
allegedly the Word of this omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent God,
offers many illustrations that God, in fact, is not omnipotent,
omniscient, and omnibenevolent, but prone to error, intemperate,
childish, irritable, petulant, and vengeful.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>These illustrations include the
terminal incident in the Garden of Eden and the advent of
Jesus.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Did God know at the moment of creation that
those ingrates, Adam and the particularly fickle Eve, would choose to
disobey God's big command?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>If God knew, then Adam and Eve's actions were predetermined –
they had no real choice in deciding to chomp the apple, but were acting
in a preprogrammed manner.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>If God didn't know what these naked, thankless rotters would do,
then Got is not omniscient.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">The Garden of Eden incident also raises
extremely serious, if not fatal, objections to the assertion that God is
omnibenevolent.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>God
punishes all succeeding generations of humankind with innumerable
instances of pain and suffering because two people disobeyed him by
performing the heinous act of eating an apple or the symbolic act of
attempting to acquire knowledge.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Punishing billions of people for one misdeed of someone else, a
deed over which the billions punished had no control or choice, is
good?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Sorry Charley, but
this is next to impossible to accept as a sane assertion, let alone a
plausible one.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Most of us
find it abhorrent when only one person is punished for some evil they
did not commit, let alone billions.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Why was it necessary for Christ to appear
to save humankind from their folly?<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Did God know at the moment of
creation that people were going to turn out to be such rascally
miscreants?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If not, God is
not omniscient.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If God is,
in fact, omniscient and knew exactly and completely all the outcomes of
his creation plan, then all the sins and debaucheries of humankind were
predetermined at the point of creation, and regardless of any claim of
freewill, such evils were inexorably part of God's creation plan, pure
and simple.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And yet most of
humankind is to suffer eternal punishment for their actions which were
completely determined by God's creation plan.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And this is
omnibenevolence?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Wonderful.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Both the alleged incident in Garden of Eden
and the advent of the alleged Savior Jesus also raise serious, if not
fatal objections to the claim of God's omnipotence.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If God had to intervene at least
at these two points of its creation, thus have to try to alter its
original plan due to unanticipated events, errors, and bumblings, how
can God be omnipotent?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Omnipotent beings, by definition, cannot make mistakes.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And if God screwed up in the
creation of parts of the universe (humankind), what else has it screwed
up?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Can it deliver without
error on any of the many fantasies of some alleged
heaven?<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Donovan's argument further
asserts:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.5in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; COLOR: blue">"God always does the most
benevolent thing He can without eliminating our ability to disobey
Him."</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">So killing millions of people, sometimes in
very torturous, grim, and disgusting ways via natural disasters is
"t<SPAN style="COLOR: blue">he most benevolent thing He can without
eliminating our ability to disobey Him,</SPAN>" and is good, not
evil?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>God is doing us
wondrous, great, colossal favors by causing natural disasters and
murdering millions?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Get
real.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">If God cannot prevent natural disasters,
events like earthquakes, volcanoes, and tidal waves, over which
humankind has no control or choice, events that have killed millions in
horrible ways and deprived the living of their presence, God is not
omnipotent.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If God can
prevent these natural disasters, God is not omnibenevolent, unless God
considers these gruesome, painful deaths to be good, not evil, something
that most of us do not.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If
God considers these events to be good and not evil, what kinds of
surprises await humankind in some alleged heaven, a place of allegedly
infinite good?<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Consider also the following
assertion:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.5in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; COLOR: blue">"God gave humans this ability
</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">[freewill]<SPAN
style="COLOR: blue"> because He wants people to freely choose to be with
Him, not be forced to."</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Poor God.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>God is lonely and insecure, and
thus needs our praise, reassurance, and company.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If so, then God is incomplete,
has vulnerable human traits, and thus cannot be said to be omnipotent,
but dependent on some lowly beings to satisfy its cravings for
attention, love, and approbation.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Further, as illustrated by characterizations in the Bible, God is
tetchy, petulant, spiteful, and vengeful to the point of inflicting
immense and widespread pain, suffering, and sorrow on those that
displease it.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>These cannot
be the traits of an omnipotent, omnibenevolent, or even greatly
forgiving being, but are the traits generally found in maladjusted,
egotistical, power hungry humans who cannot brook, and are not open and
mentally healthy enough to brook dissent.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Does it make sense that some alleged being,
a being with the alleged ability to create the universe with all of its
complexities and to keep it operating, is so vulnerable and incomplete
that it craves humankind's praise and approval, and then tests the
strength of that approval by making damningly evil many things it
knowingly and intentionally programmed as natural parts of humankind's
biological, psychological, and social makeup?<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Such a view is really a damning
insult to this alleged God intelligence, powers, and goodness by its
believers.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">So failing to show any false assumptions
and definitions, failing to show that any fallacious arguments have been
offered, and offering as an alternative an argument which also proves
that God cannot be omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent, we await
the next transparent attempt to deny reality.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">[Footnote:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In addition to authoring the
present sacrilegious discussion of the Problem of Evil, I have been
reprimanded for calling God, the alleged creator of the universe, "it"
instead of "He."<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I am
unaware of any credible argument demonstrating that the alleged creator
of the universe has male genitals.]<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> <FONT
size=2>_______________________________</FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p><FONT size=2></FONT></o:p></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p><FONT size=2>
<TABLE
style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse; mso-yfti-tbllook: 480; mso-padding-alt: 0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt"
class=MsoTableGrid border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0>
<TBODY>
<TR
style="mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes"><TD
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vAlign=top width=734>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">The Problem of Evil:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>One
Formulation<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Did some allegedly all-powerful
(omnipotent), all-knowing (omniscient), perfectly good (omnibenevolent)
God Create the Universe?<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Let's assume so for the sake of
argument.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">If this omnipotent, omniscient,
omnibenevolent God created the universe, then God is the
cause/determiner of everything which happened/happens/will happen or
exists in the universe because if this God is omniscient, it had exact
foreknowledge of everything that would happen as a result of this
omnipotent creation from the moment of creation.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>To say otherwise would be to
contradict God's omniscience and omnipotence.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Hence, <B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">everything</B> that happens in the
universe was predetermined by God at the moment of creation.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This includes <B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">all acts of humankind</B>, and
excludes completely the possibility of actual freewill/freedom to choose
between performing good and/or evil acts, but not does not exclude the
possibility of the fallacious appearance to humankind that freewill
exists.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Simply stated:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If there is something that is
not predetermined (unknown to or unpredicted by God), but somehow left
to chance at the moment of creation, then God is not
omniscient.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">If all is predetermined, the appearance
that freewill exists is like a <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Hollywood</st1:place></st1:City> set – possibly convincing to
look at, but with naught behind it.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>To say there is a meaningful,
left-to-chance choice is to say that God did not either cause/determine
and/or know what the result of that choice would be – a denial of God's
omnipotence and/or omniscience.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>If there is real choice (something God left to chance), then
there is not predetermination, and thus a gap in God's knowledge, and
therefore God would not be omnipotent and/or
omniscient.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">If God is omnibenevolent (perfectly good),
then <B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">everything within God's
control that happens, including all human acts is good, not
evil</B>:<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>God would not
knowingly and intentionally perform any evil act, any act that would
result in evil, or even allow anything evil in itself to exist.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Nothing evil (the opposite of
good) can exist if God is omnibenevolent and in total, complete control
and the determiner of all that happens in the
universe.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">For example, the acts of Jeffrey Dahmer
where he tortured and murdered at least seventeen persons (<A
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Dahmer">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Dahmer</A>)
were good, not evil acts.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Nor were the acts of Joseph Duncan evil
acts, who among other crimes murdered three adults who were in the
company of eight-year old Shasta Groene, abducted her and her nine year
old brother Dylan, then raped, sexually tortured, and murdered Dylan in
view of Shasta (<A
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_E._Duncan_III">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_E._Duncan_III</A>).<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But such acts, having been
initially knowingly and intentionally determined by an omnipotent,
omniscient, omnibenevolent God, were good, not evil
acts.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Therefore, the belief by humankind that
evil exists is in grievous error, if God is omnipotent, omniscient, and
omnibenevolent.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">The Problem of Evil occurs because many
persons believe that evil acts actually exist – the acts of Dahmer and
Duncan would be called evil by many.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Asserting that these acts were
evil (not good) and were knowingly predetermined/caused by an
omnibenevolent God, who could have done otherwise, creates an obvious
contradiction between God's alleged omnipotence and omniscience on one
hand, and God's alleged omnibenevolence on the
other.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">If evil acts exist,
then:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 1in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">A.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>God, if
omnibenevolent, could not have foreseen nor prevented such acts or God
would have prevented them, hence God is not omnipotent and/or
omniscient.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 1in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 1in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">B.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>God could not
be omnibenevolent in that God knowingly and intentionally
caused/determined evil acts to occur despite that if God were omnipotent
and omniscient, and thus the determiner of everything, could have
prevented such acts.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 1in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 1in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">C.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>Therefore, <B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">God cannot be omnipotent,
omniscient, and omnibenevolent</B>.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Once the premises are accepted that this
alleged God is omnipotent, omniscient, and thus this God created and
determined the universe as it now exists and everything it contains and
all occurrences within it, then it follows that God, given all the
infinite choices open to it:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 1in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">A.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>Knowingly and
willfully chose to create/determine the universe in the way it now
exactly exists, and<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 1in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 1in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">B.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>This God knew
exactly everything (perfectly, to the last watermelon seed) what would
occur as a result of its creation.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 1in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 1in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">C.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>Therefore, <B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Evil is a knowing and intentional
creation of God</B>.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">There is no wiggle room here, despite
centuries of theological attempts to solve this
disturbing-to-the-faithful dilemma by various transparent
ruses.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">If God is omnipotent and omniscient, then
it knowingly and intentionally caused/determined all things that
happened in the universe from the point of creation onward including the
acts of Dahmer and Duncan.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>To attempt to say otherwise is to deny either the omnipotence,
omniscience, or both of God.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>This would be in effect saying:<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>"Poor God.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>God didn't quite know or quite
care enough about what it was doing and/or the consequences of its act
of creation, and consequently bumbled a bit.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Nice try."<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">To further assert that evil does not exist
is to deny the basic reality of humankind's experience and pervert the
established use of language beyond credibility, and thereby call certain
acts not evil, thus good, that most of us find extremely and horridly
evil.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">There are many interesting corollaries to
the consequences of the Problem of Evil – that God cannot be omnipotent,
omniscient, and omnibenevolent.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">One is that the Bible (allegedly the Word
of an alleged God), for example, acknowledges/asserts that evil acts do
occur, and, in fact, asserts that God punishes and will eternally punish
some people for their evil acts.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">{According to the Bible didn't Jesus show
up because something went radically wrong with God's creation – the
super-prevalence of evil?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>(Isn't this assertion about Jesus an admittance by the Christian
followers of God that God admits that it screwed up and needed to find a
way to unscrew things [which doesn't appear to have worked either, in
fact seems to have been counterproductive] another contradiction to the
assertion of God's alleged omnipotence?)}<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">If this God is the omnipotent, omniscient
creator of the universe and determiner of everything in it, then God is
the determiner of all the evil acts and occurrences within it.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Punishing someone for acts not
even remotely within their control hardly constitutes
omnibenevolence.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Citing
that punishing seven subsequent generations of progeny for the acts of
one individual as an example of omnibenevolence indicates that such
citers/believers are in greatly need of the services of competent mental
health professionals and/or that their understanding of very elementary
logic is egregiously defective, perhaps beyond
repair.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Another problem that arises is the promise
of and the nature of an afterlife.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>If evil does not exist, especially in the eyes of an alleged
omnibenevolent God, then the good (not evil) acts of Duncan and Dahmer
would not be barred from heaven, but would be allowed.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The horrors experienced by
Shasta Groene could be re-experienced by her and others for an eternity
to provide a paradise for the Dahmers and Duncans.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">If evil exists, then God cannot be
omnipotent and/or omniscient.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Hence, how can this God or any of its followers be confident that
God can deliver on its promises of heaven and what will occur there, or
even the correctness of its choices about whom will be housed
there?<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Another problem with the assertion of
omnipotence and omniscience of some alleged God is that it makes both
entreating and laudatory prayer meaningless except as phatic
communication.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Why would an omnipotent, omniscient God
ever change its intentions about the operation of its creation, the
universe, when entreated by a much-less-wiser-than-God member of
humankind?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>To do so would
be a clear indication that God had made a misjudgment/error during the
act of creation, and thus a contradiction of God's omnipotence and
omniscience.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Such an
entreating prayer would be a gross insult to God, insinuating that God
is not running things as it should and should heed the exhortations or
requests of a much less knowledgeable human.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Such entreating prayers are
indirectly, but clearly telling God that he lacks omnipotence,
omniscience, and omnibenevolence and that God better pay attention so
that it gets things right.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">To say that God needs or wants praise or
approval for his act of creation and its consequences is attributing to
God a fundamental weakness of humankind.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If God is omnipotent, and thus
completely and totally confident and completely assured about all its
acts, why would it crave, need, or relish the approval and reassurance
of one small, clearly not omnipotent or omniscient being of its
creation?<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">A fourth problem that arises is the problem
of faith in God's alleged trait of benevolence [or any other alleged
trait].<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If God is
omnipotent (or even greatly wiser than humankind) then God could easily
deceive humankind about its (God's) alleged goodness.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>To say that God could not
deceive humankind would be to assert that humankind, or at least the
believers among them, think that they are smarter than God and have him
correctly pegged, clearly a contradiction to God's omnipotence.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It also should be clear that
asserting the omnipotence of some alleged God makes any other knowledge
claims about any other of this God's alleged traits or intentions
unverifiable in any way since this God could be The Great Omnipotent
Deceiver, and therefore humankind would not be in a position to verify
any other claims about God, or to refute them except by finding
contradictions in such.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">So that responses to the above, if desired,
can be discussed without irrelevant side trips and emotional pleas and
confessions of faith, below is the main gist of the above formulation
broken down by premises, inferences, and conclusions.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Those disagreeing can then state
by number which they disagree with and why.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">In what follows, if not explicitly stated,
"God" should be read "alleged God."<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Main Initial
Premises.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">1.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>There is a
God.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">2.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>God is
omnipotent (all powerful, can do anything it chooses,
etc).<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">3.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>God is
omniscient (knows <B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">all/everything</B> there is to
know, past, present, and future including the consequences/determinants
of all its acts and all the conscious and unconscious thoughts and
feelings of every human).<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">4.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>God is
omnibenevolent (<B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">perfectly</B>
good, abhors and would not permit anything evil (clearly not good) ever
to exist or to occur, if it could prevent it.)<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">5.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>God knowingly
and intentionally created the universe as we know it and exactly as it
is.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Beginning of
Inferences<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">6.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>If this God is
omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent, and created the universe,
then God is the cause/determiner of everything that happens as a result
of its all-knowing and intentional act of creation from the moment of
that creation.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>God
was/is/will be in complete control and the determiner of everything at
all times.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>To assert there
is something that God is not in complete control of (something somehow
left to chance) is to deny either God's omnipotence and/or
omniscience.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">7.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>Since God is
omniscient, God had exact foreknowledge of everything that would
occur/be determined as a result of its omnipotent act of creation.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>To say God didn't know exactly
to a tee what would occur or be determined as a result of his creation
would be to contradict God's omniscience.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">8.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>Since God is
omnipotent and omniscient, <B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">everything</B> that happens in the
universe was knowingly and intentionally predetermined from the moment
of creation.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Therefore, all
future acts of humankind were predetermined at moment of
creation.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">9.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>If all acts of
humankind are predetermined, then there can be no freedom of choice or
so-called free will.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If
there are acts of which God did not have foreknowledge of, then God is
not omniscient.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If there
are acts of which God is not in control of or the determiner of but are
somehow left to chance, then God is not omnipotent.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Therefore, the appearance of
freewill is an illusion/delusion if God is omnipotent and
omniscient.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">10.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>Any act that occurs
in the universe was either predetermined at the moment of creation or
not.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If God is omnipotent
and omniscient then God intentionally and knowingly created/determined
the universe to be the way it now exists.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If there is something, like a
human act which is not predetermined, but has been somehow left to
chance (an unknown outcome), then God is not omniscient.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If there is real choice, and
thus an indeterminate gap in God's knowledge, there is not
predetermination, and thus God is not omniscient. If there was no gap in
God's knowledge/foreknowledge at the moment of creation, then all acts
are therefore knowingly and intentionally predetermined by
God.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">11.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>Therefore all acts of
humankind are predetermined and occur regardless of the appearance of
choice/freewill, if God is omnipotent and
omniscient.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">12.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>If God is
omnibenevolent (<B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">perfectly</B>
good), then every act that God has control over or determines would be
good and not evil.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>God
would not knowingly and/or intentionally perform or allow the
performance of any act that was not good, that is, evil.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If God is omnibenevolent (<B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">perfectly</B> good), and thus
totally and completely abhorrent to and completely opposed to evil, and
this omnipotent, omniscient God was in complete control and the
determiner of everything that happens in the universe from the moment of
creation, then nothing evil would or could ever exist in the
universe.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">13.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>Since God is
omnipotent, omniscient, and thus is in a position to unequivocally
impose its omnibenevolence, then <B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">evil does not and cannot not
exist</B>.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Hence, no acts
by humankind are evil, but <B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">all
such acts are good</B>.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">14.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>Since evil cannot
exist if God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent, the belief
of humankind holding that evil exists is in grievous error.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Evil cannot exist if God is
omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">15.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>Therefore, the acts
of child torturers, rapists, and murderers are not evil, but good
acts.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">16.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>Further, since evil
cannot exist, the acts called evil in the Bible, the alleged word of
God, are not evil, but good.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Therefore the Bible is in error, and could not have been
authored, even by proxy, by an omnipotent, omniscient, and
omnibenevolent God.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Therefore, the Bible is not the Word of this God, but a grand,
but not evil deception of God since there is no evil – everything is
good.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">17.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>The Problem of Evil
occurs because many persons believe that evil exists, for example, the
acts of child molesters.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Since these acts of child molestation would not have occurred
unless they were knowingly and intentionally predetermined by an
omnipotent, omniscient God, then God cannot be omnibenevolent if <B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">child molestation</B>, for example,
<B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">is
evil</B>.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">18.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>If evil acts exist,
then:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 1in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">A.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>God, if
omnibenevolent (<B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">perfectly</B>
good), could not have foreseen nor prevented such acts or God would
have, hence God is not omnipotent and/or
omniscient.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 1in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 1in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">B.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>God is not
omnibenevolent in that God knowingly and intentionally caused/causes
evil acts to occur since God, if omnipotent and omniscient, could have
prevented such acts of which he was the
determiner.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 1in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 1in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">C.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>Therefore, <B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">God cannot be omnipotent,
omniscient, and omnibenevolent</B>.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">19.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>Once the premises are
accepted asserting that this alleged God is omnipotent, omniscient, that
evil exists, and this God knowingly and intentionally created the
universe and everything in it, then it follows that God, given all the
infinite choices open to it:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 1in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">A.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>Knowingly and
willfully chose to create the universe in the way it now exactly exists,
and<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 1in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 1in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">B.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>Hence, this God
knew exactly everything (perfectly, to the last watermelon seed) what
would occur as a result of its creation at the moment of creation, and
<B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">evil</B>, as we now know it <B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">is God's creation</B>, and thus
clearly demonstrates that God is not
omnibenevolent.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">20.<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>We are left with the
unavoidable, but unpalatable-to-some conclusion that God cannot be
omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>We are then left with a host of
problems created by that this clearly demonstrated insufficiency of God,
if God as presently conceived by humankind, exists at
all.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=3
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P></FONT></o:p></SPAN></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>