Epicurus on the question of God

Discussion in 'Religion and Spirituality' started by Frederick Foresight, Apr 9, 2017.

  1. userque

    userque

    In my opinions:


    Yes. He is willing and able.


    Free will.

     
    Last edited: Apr 10, 2017
    #21     Apr 10, 2017
  2. My belief of a creator does not portend the creator meddles in the affairs of men. Either you believe he does or you don't. That can be nothing more than faith. That's not what I argue.


    The above does not affect my 100% belief that a creator created the universe.

    I guess i lean toward deism in the spirit of America's founding fathers.

    surf
     
    #22     Apr 10, 2017
    userque likes this.
  3. People underestimate the power of negative forces in the universe. There is a dark side to creation, and this is as it must be. There is no existence without negative and positive forces colliding. All life is the result of this constant collision. There is no saving because there is no need. Hell doesn't exist. There is only the evolution of all life. Does the butterfly remember it's life prior to the metamorphosis? You will move to another plane after this. To where? Is the selection random? It is not for us to know. In this life suffering is our destiny. It is our preoccupation with self which does us in. We are given an out. Be of service to others. The darkness of serving one self is much more seductive.
     
    #23     Apr 10, 2017
  4. MrScalper

    MrScalper

    One day you will know, that is for sure :)

    For me, I currently have 2 Gods, one is 11 months old and the other is 9 months old.

    They look very alike, but one has a snout a little bit longer.

    I would do anything for them, as they for me.

    Heaven, is indeed, a place on Earth :)
     
    #24     Apr 10, 2017
  5. Eternal life would be a real punishment.God is great!
     
    #25     Apr 10, 2017
  6. stu

    stu

    Then Epicurus was right.
    If there were a God then it is malevolent if it chose to work within a framework that is "red in tooth and claw".
    If it couldn't create an alternative framework, for instance one where you knew good without needing to know evil, then it is not omnipotent, so not a God at all.

    Even as a child you fathom the concept of existence without ever having to come into contact with anything non-existent.
    The same instinctive knowledge of good without needing to know evil should not be outside the purview of any God..
    Unless of course a person is conditioned to believe you can't understand one without the other.

    The point is as Epicurus noted, your God couldn't or wouldn't have good without evil.

    Religious faith has a tendency to encourage that.
     
    #26     Apr 11, 2017
  7. stu

    stu

    Yet there's nothing but ego to say you go somewhere other than the oblivion you came from.
     
    Last edited: Apr 11, 2017
    #27     Apr 11, 2017
    Frederick Foresight likes this.
  8. I'm nothing if not casual.
     
    #28     Apr 11, 2017
  9. I'm okay with that belief even if I don't share it, because it also precludes the need for religion and blind faith in the invariable misinterpretation, intentional or otherwise, of the musings of goat herders from the Bronze Age scrapped together into a book.
     
    #29     Apr 11, 2017
  10. Captain, put that "incense" away and turn off the black light. :p
     
    #30     Apr 11, 2017
    CaptainObvious likes this.