Epicurus' Riddle. Can you solve it?

Maybe he is both willing and able but simply waiting for the time where WE show him that we are capable and deserving

The solution is obvious - there is no god

When you realize that god doesn't exist, the apparent paradox disappears.

St Augustine pinned him to the mat on that -- and he did it 1700 years ago. He had been a Manichean for 10 years !!! and he knew that riddle. After finding Plato and then Jesus he knew : God only allows an evil that He can bring a greater good from.


You assume your conclusion and you define omnipotence as powerlessness to do just what St Augustine said. The joke is on you.

The solution is there is an underlying principle, which for a lack of a better term "trumps God" and that is the concept of free will. Evil exists as a result of free will, neither created nor granted by God, but as a natural consequence of being.

The third question is the key. "If He is both willing and able, then whence cometh evil?" Good question, but it lacks some understanding. God ordained that man should have free will to choose. In the presence of an omnipotent being, free will can only exist by His voluntary withdrawal of power. In other words, we only have free will because God decides to let it be that way. In order to maintain this state, He must not interfere with things that are evil, though He could. We could not have choice without options, and since all that is not God is evil, that is the other option. He wants us to have a choice, so the option must be there.

Basically, it is a parent trying to help their children learn by letting them learn from the mistakes they make themselves.

According to the Christian (or Western) religious thoughts, God gave man FREE WILL. That would preclude his getting involved at all, in any decisions man makes--or it wouldn't BE free will. So Epicurius' "conclusions" about the nature of a God who doesn't interfere, whether or not he CAN, are invalid.

If God gives man the ability to make decisions, he will not interfere with those decisions, whether or not they lead to evil outcomes or good ones. And if God IS God, then he embodies both good AND evil within his own "self". Then, if God makes man "in his own image", he must also embody good and evil within MAN. So whence comes evil? From the evil already in man. It's a choice.

That's the premise, anyway. It's also a choice to believe it--or not.

He allows it so you can reap what you sow.

Yes I can. God does not exist.

the HONEST answer is: it does not matter what I nor anyone else says.. What does it matter ? What would it mean ? Does it change anything ?

If the fact of it is that who ever made up the so called riddle does not believe in God, then rather He is or is not willing, is or is not able, does not come into play in your daily life does it ??

If the fact of it is that you and others , as often seen , heard etc.. , in here and other places make the choice to use it as some sort of *point* of reference, I would like to hear the reason why ?? No belief, no faith, no optimism that God even exist, then why bother even trying to find an answer from people that do, and that , as I said, you won't consider as anything other than *cheesy * ??

And just so you will know.. I don't happen to believe there is a *solution* to the riddle..

Child of God - X atheist

*edit* ROFL, just as I thought, HONEST is not part of your vocabulary... oh well...