Theodicy: solution lies in definition of God (Introduction)

by David Turell , Saturday, September 04, 2021, 18:06 (1174 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: But do the human words have the same meaning when applied to non-human God?

dhw: It is you and I who are using the words. When you say you are sure your God enjoys creating and watches us with interest, is all-powerful and full of good intentions, you know perfectly well what you mean. The question is not what the words mean - we both know what they mean - but whether the statement is true or not!

But they mean descriptions in human terms. God is not human, so how do they apply?

DAVID: I've told you your theodicy solution implies a weak God. My strong purposeful God recognized errors can happen and has editing corrections in place, working as best they can.

dhw: I haven’t the slightest idea why you should regard a God who creates a free-for-all as “weak” or as lacking in purpose. On the other hand, a God whose design contains errors, and who puts in corrections, which sometimes work and sometimes don’t, seems to me anything but all-powerful. Weak and strong have nothing to do with the subject anyway. The question is why does evil exist if God is all-good? Your answer: because he’s strong and tries to correct errors, and one day we shall find out his good intentions for deliberately creating “bad” things. My suggestion: he gave all life forms the freedom to pursue their own means of survival, and so what we call “bad” is the consequence of that freedom, epitomized by the manner in which some humans use their freedom to further their self-interest at the expense of others.

I can certainly accept this view, since I have previously proposed that when good bacteria venture into bad places they act badly. Your statement conflates two different issues. We are agreeing ( I think) on freedom of action causing trouble, but biochemical mistakes are a very different issue, and you do not seem to understand the speed requires means some molecule will not act properly, miss-fold or whatever other mistake can happen. I think God could only make life this way. Errorless biochemical life cannot exist.