THE EPICUREAN DILEMMA AND THE PROBLEM OF EVIL.

The ancient Greek thinkers, called the Epicureans, defended atheism on the basis that it creates a logical dilemma. The dilemma was that either God is Good and not almighty or almighty and not good. This means that the presence of evil shows that God could not be both Almighty and Good. If God is Almighty, he would have taken away evil from the world. Since he has not taken away evil, he is unable and not almighty. If Good is good, he will be willing to take away evil from the world. Since he has allowed evil, it means God is unwilling to take it away, which makes him not good. Therefore, the Judeo-Christian notion of an almighty good God is an absurdity face-to-face with the reality of evil in the world. Caught up in this dilemma, the Epicurean declared that an almighty Good God does not exist. WARNING. The Epicureans’ argument for atheism is, though logically sound, justified but not metaphysically grounded according to St Augustine of Hippo. St Augustine provides sound arguments to the effect that the existence of evil in the universe does not in any way jeopardise the existence of a Good and Almighty God. So either God is Almighty and not Good or God is Good and not almighty and not both. To refute this Epicurean dilemma in defence of theism and in opposition to atheism, St Augustine will first classify existence into three orders, namely The Metaphysical, the Physical and the moral orders. This is because evil is a disorder, and to trace the source of a disorder, one must first identify the primal order that is being distorted by evil. The next discussion we shall see the Augustinian analysis of the various orders of being with the bid at identifying the source of evil as a disorder in being, and where God’s responsibility and not divine irresponsibility comes into play. Remember that God does not play dice, according to Albert Einstein. Nothing exists by chance in the presence of God as the sufficient Principle in Being. Dear Love of Wisdom and Critical Free Thinking, put on your thinking cap and for once let the intellectual Eagle in you Soar. Welcome to the agora