problem of evil, theodicy, Plantinga free will, omnipotence vs omnibenevolence, logical problem of evil, evidential problem of evil, existential problem of evil,
problem of evil, theodicy, Plantinga free will, omnipotence vs omnibenevolence, logical problem of evil, evidential problem of evil, existential problem of evil,
problem of evil, theodicy, Plantinga free will, omnipotence vs omnibenevolence, logical problem of evil, evidential problem of evil, existential problem of evil,
Let me not presume to speak for the
Catholic church :)
but ... one wonders if they draw a
distinction between imagining THAT a
divine logic may be at work, which is partly
intelligible, as one can imagine possible
analogical situations demonstrating
efficacies for SOME suffering, GENERALLY,
versus
pretending that this logic is wholly
comprehensible, such that anyone could
ever possibly imagine WHAT that divine
logic means for any given suffering,
PARTICULARLY, or HOW that logic might
be efficacious for ALL sufferings, many
which suggest NO morally intelligible
efficacies from a human vantage.
One then only imagines -
not that God's goodness and power arenecessarily incompatible, qualifying his
omnipotence as somehow morally whimsical
(God would've been there but decided to
clear up a quantum traffic jam elsewhere,
instead.) -
but, instead imagining that God's
interactivity has been logically constrained
by what would amount to inconsistencies in
an inscrutable divine logic (God couldn't
make a rock so big he couldn't pick it up).
In other words, divine interventions or not
proceed from a logic we can apprehend, in
part, not comprehend, as a whole. While we
swim in this ocean of mystery, which is
intelligible, it doesn't mean we could
possibly swallow it.
The common lament is that this view of God
—- whether the logical problem of evil is
solved by St Augustine's privation account
or by Plantinga's free will account or by
Process thought's predications ofomnipotence — no longer matches that of
popular piety or is worthy of that God as
has been classically conceived.
Let me introduce another distinction, that
between normative consistency and
evaluative dispositions, which correspond
to your characterizations, contradictory and
unsatisfactory. The strict formulations,
some of them employing modal logic, have
been deductively clarified as logically
consistent, hence are not contradictory.
That the accounts of these God-concepts
might be unsatisfactory, a God not worthy
of worship, to anyone reflects - not a
normative proposition, but — an evaluative
disposition.
The masses of believers from all the great
traditions just do not happen to share your
disposition, even as they've grappled with
the problem of evil, logically, evidentially
and existentially for millennia. It doesn'tmean that either they or you are
necessarily being unreasonable, When
confronted with reality's complexities and
ambiguities, reasonable people can disagree.
One's evaluation of reality, one's affective
disposition, is very personal and deserving
of empathy and compassion.
The OT Psalms are roughly divided
50:50:50 between glad, sad and mad psalms,
two-thirds of them expressing existential
disappointments. The NT gospel mysteries
are divided 5:5:5:5 between joyous, luminous,
sorrowful and glorious, the ratio improving
upon the reception of Good News. Most
believers who subscribe to same are
responding to personal invitations that are
robustly relational, not philosophical
demonstrations that are metaphysically
decisive. Should they investigate their faith
philosophically, it's presuppositions are not
contradictory, just not universally
compelling (almost though).problem of evil, theodicy, Plantinga free
will, omnipotence vs omnibenevolence,
logical problem of evil, evidential problem
of evil, existential problem of evil,