PHILOSOPHY - Religion: The Problem of Evil [HD]

Sally Haslanger (M.I.T.) discusses a classic argument that God does not exist, called 'The Problem of Evil'. Along the way, she distinguishes different ways in which people believe that God exists, and discusses what's bad about having contradictory beliefs.

Help us caption & translate this video!

[MichaBerger]

Theists consistently reject #2 "If an OOO Being exists, there would be no evil." That is given short shrift, and therefore the real argument is really swept under the rug.

A world in which the OOO Being provides all the good might be worse than a world in which the OOO Being wants to provide others the opportunity to be provides of good themselves. The assumption is that a world of passive recipients is better (more good) than a world of contributors.

This argument is kind of like saying that:
1- A parent has the ability to see more obvious sources of pain in advance and help a child avoid them.
2- A good parent would try to do so.
Yet
3- Good parents allow their toddlers to fall on their bums when learning to walk -- despite seeing it coming.
Therefore, there are no good parents.

The answer is -- #2 is false. There are better goods than preventing all pain.

[robinofficial]

4:00 "It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong." - Voltaire

SCNR

[goofball]

God said, "I love you more than your own mother".

I'm pretty sure no matter how much my mother hates me (she doesn't BTW), she would never ever let me be imprisoned in a place of extreme torture and fire, for the rest of eternity, so God can keep that bullshit in his pocket.

I believe there is God, but He is no different than Lucifer. We are just their pawns, and those who kisses God's ass enough like king David, then that person gets promoted to a rook or a knight etc.

[roundhouse]

The logic behind this video is flawed, its like saying "because doctors exists, there should be no sickness"

[darkostalevski]

There is another view a on this: God may exist, but maybe our definition of God is not accurate. After all, don't forget that there are many interpretation of God and Gods. For example in ancient Greece, Gods were very much like man; capricious, vain, insecure... We are not using the word "God" correctly.. instead we should say "Christian God", "Hindu Gods", "Roman Gods", etc.

[peterspencer]

The assumption is that a good God must interfere with the actions and consequences of evil humans immediately. As a father I teach my children to be good and wise. If they choose to ignore me and I continuously correct them they will resent me. Alternatively, I give them time to realise their mistakes and turn back to me. That way they realise I love them and I know what is best for them. Jesus said we can call God our father. If anyone knows the nature of God it's Him. If we reevaluate atheistic philosophy through the "family" principle we can see that He is benevolent and not dominating. If we choose to not turn back to Him then He has no choice but to overthrow us because He has the right to do as He pleases with His workmanship.

[tokenblues]

Atheism is not the belief that god does not exist, it is the lack of belief in god. There is a big difference.

[bradotherrson]

The whole point of this video heavily relies on the notion of Good and Evil. If there is evil, there is Good, if there is Good and Evil, we assume there is some sort of moral law, therefore a moral law giver must be present. The whole question self-destructs. Next problem with this video - It heavily relies that GOD (OOO) MUST irradiate evil as it occurs because he knows when it happened (first O), be powerful enough to stop it (Second O) and would stop it (The assumption, Third O). This video makes the assumption that God MUST stop 'evil' if it happened, therefore putting a limitation on God, contradicting the OOO. Follow along, When God made us, he made us in his image (Intrinsic Moral Law, free mind). He did this because he loved us. God created a perfect Earth for us to live on. God did not want us to be robots, to be forced to live where he says and do as he says, so he gave us FREE WILL. He gave the perfect Earth to Adam and Eve and told them that all they had to do to keep it, was to not eat from the Tree of Knowledge. They did eat from the tree and sin entered the world, along with death, hate, EVIL. This separated humankind from God. God could have stepped back, put his hands up, and said "You made your bed, now sleep in it." But he didn't. Instead he came to Earth in the form of JESUS CHRIST, he lived the perfect life. He came to the Earth to be crucified, in a way, taking the punishment for the sins of the world, so that if we believe in him and follow him, we can be forgiven of our sins, have a living relationship with GOD, and be accepted into Heaven. THAT IS HOW MUCH GOD LOVES US. THAT IS THE LOVING GOD. Evil in the world is a product of MANKIND not God. I encourage anyone who reads this, to take a deeper look into Christianity, its historical claims and the proof for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Seek the truth. Start with the Book Of John. Additionally, I encourage you to search "Ravi Zacharias" on youtube and click on videos that interest you. God Bless. Rev. 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

[hommhommhomm]

3:30 "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function." F. Scott Fitzgerald

[irishnich]

"The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch and do nothing."

-- Albert Einstein

[saimunchi]

Problem №1:

as it is expressed quite well in the Micha Berger's comment - being all good doesn't necessarily imply that the creature should prevent you from acting from yourself thus contribute to your own state, rather then just be a passive recipient of the gift (as one could water a plant)

Problem №2

Even though that almost everything is given a definition here, something like "evil" is let to be "self-evident". the problem with this is that you base this "self-evidency" of evil on the assumption that there is something good, right or just. However - if you deny theism, i.e. the existence of an omnibenevolent creature, then you would be really challenged to give an ABSOLUTE institution that preserves good to be good all the time. If you lack such an ABSOLUTE institution then you are falling in what is called "moral relativism". And if you have moral relativism, then you don't have a non-changeable definition of "good", "right" or "just" and consequently lack any criteria according to which to say what is "evil".

[BeezerWashingbeard]

"All non-blacks things are non-ravens."

[jonathandehaan]

You said that there is evil in this world. That is just your opinion. You do not have a standard to call something evil or good, or you are stealing from the Christian Worldview that tells us what good and evil is in the Bible.

[MaoRuiqi]

This video creates at best a description of a conservative Christian's belief in God and at worst a straw man argument. There is no rationale argument to assume that a God, if one exists, needs to be OOO by nature. Indeed, from your perspective, which apparently is much different than mine, God must have favorable--at least to humans--characteristics. That is to say, from your perspective, you deem our planet to be round, but what if you were traveling at the speed of light, would it be so?

[JeshuaJay]

You really shoehorn in your conclusion. I submit that your incorrect statement might be #2, that if an ooo being exists, then there would be no evil. You added this statement as a given with no rationale behind it. How can you tell what an omniscient and omnibeneficent being will consider to be the greatest good?

[heraldgod]

I had a similar case when my father passed away, I blamed God and became an atheist. Later when I became a Christian looking back on my life, realizing the type of relationship I had with my father, I know now would have hindered me from so many experiences. It's hard to say this because in no way do I want my father dead, but I know his death was in some ways best for my situation. It's hard to understand I know, but well thanks anyway, this is my final comment, have a good day.

[ThePiscesmMended]

"the belief that god doesnt exist"

welp. lets see where this vid goes from here.

[robertlight]

Atheism is NOT a belief there is no god. It is merely the LACK of belief of deity. Wake up!

[azapps]

The second premise is incorrect.  The assumption that an OOO god would not allow evil to exist is completely absurd and is typical of the atheist argument.  As an example lets consider a loving parent with their young toddler.  When the toddler is learning to walk, does the parent hold them up so that they never fall and experience the pain of falling?  Does the parent prevent the toddler from experiencing  everything unpleasant?  On the contrary, a loving parent would protect their child from serious harm, but the parent knows the child must fall a few times to learn, otherwise the child will never learn the lessons of failure and success.

Creating the human race, knowing all the death and suffering the humans will endure may very well be the most loving thin an OOO god could do for us.

[bunyaminmazrek]

and there is one more way for a theist, you can believe the OOO God created world but he/she/it don't wanted to make the world perfect. He wanted to create this world bcz of the introducing himself to his people's 😅