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The relationship between good and evil
The relationship between good and evil
Discussion on the problem of evil
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In William Somerset Maugham’s philosophical work The Razor’s Edge, the main character Larry uses personal experiences to draw conclusions on several questions about God, life, and evil. By the end of the novel, Larry refutes the existence of the traditional Christian God, explains evil as the product of heredity and a poor environment, and suggests the existence of an afterlife through his views on reincarnation. These conclusions are based on his experiences in World War I, the tragic deaths of his friends Patsy and Sophie, as well as his own experiences traveling and meditating. According to Larry, the traditional Christian God does not exist, as that God would be all good, all powerful, and all knowing. With these premises, the conclusion …show more content…
I don’t believe it.” (255) From Larry’s perspective, a God who was all good would not expect thanks from his people for his good will. God would not do good things …show more content…
In a conversation with Maugham about sin, Larry points out, “Their badness was due to heredity, which they couldn’t help, or to their environment, which they didn’t choose.” (256) Therefore, Larry believes that people lack the free will to commit sin, meaning that the evil in the world is caused by outside influences such as a natural tendency to do malicious things and a harsh environment. These conclusions are also supported by Larry’s experiences in the Great War, and the trauma he faced after witnessing the death of Patsy, a fellow airman. When recounting the experience to Maugham, Larry says, “He was looking deathly white. Suddenly a strange look came over his face. It had just come to him that he was dying, and the possibility of death had never so much as crossed his mind … He fell back dead. He was twenty-two. He was going to marry a girl in Ireland after the war.” (57) In Larry’s description of events, Patsy is portrayed as a victim of the evil in the world. Though he’s innocent, good-hearted, and almost guaranteed a happy future, Patsy dies an extremely gruesome death because of his environment. He died not because he did something wrong, but rather because he happened to be in a dangerous place, a warzone. This is similar to Sophie’s death, where evil occurred once again due to a harsh environment. Larry
...vels, "my principal design was to inform you, and not to amuse you,". The book is designed for the reader to understand that the negative consequences in the search for ultimate power and control which far outweigh the gains. Immortality and divine control may comfort the instinctual and primal fear of death, but it will do far greater harm than good. By trying to defy nature, nature will inevitably regain control; everything is temporary and nothing was meant to outlast time and space itself.
Personal immortality seems to be a paradox that many people address and distinguish in different ways. Through outlets such as religion, science, or personal belief this topic is often argued and habitually facilitates strong arguments. Weirob and Miller explicitly explain their dualist/physicalist outlooks on personal immortality as they have a conversation at the hospital where Weirob slowly succumbs to her injuries received in a motorcycle accident. As Weirob patiently awaits death, Miller explains how due to Weirobs realist view on life he will not try to “comfort [her] with the prospect of life after death” (Perry, pg. 65). Due to Weirobs state of unavoidable demise she asks Miller to entertain her with the argument for life after death,
In light of Craig Stern’s excerpts, from the book, A Higher Law by Jeffrey A. Brauch, he writes concerning four Christian ideas-doctrines “Four Christian ideas-doctrine in fact-are both especially important to that religion and especially important to the rule of law in the common law tradition.” Stern’s begin to explain what formulates the doctrinal belief of the Christian faith. “The first of these is the doctrine of God himself, that is, his being and his work.” By this, Stern’s means that God is the creator of all things he is the beginning and the end. “The Christian faith holds that God is the “I AM,” the uncreated creator of all that is, who is from everlasting to everlasting.” He is also the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, a God of relationship, of covenant. In this way, he is both transcendent and immanent.”
faith doesn't mean the Lord is go'n make lions lay down with lambs jest cause you ast him to, or make fire not burn." Grandpa Blakeslee in his rebuttal of Miss Love's claim that faith equates to an exploitable infinite genie that grants wishes upon command is rebuked by Grandpa Blakeslee's counter that this form of faith depicts a selfish form of misguided spiritual behavior. When someone prays to God for something incompatible with reality, or insoluble with the framework that which God has constructed, they are essentially asking for God to alter or change or suspend reality in their favor and in a fashion that they approve (which is asking for a miracle) - which is an inherently selfish idea. The idea of an altruistic personality is synonymous with a tenacious personality as they both contain anti-selfish
It is simply an example in daily life that has some sort of relation with The Last Rung on the Ladder. One example in the song where Larry was thought of was when the song put forth as follows, "A troubled soul, God only knows what went wrong and why you would leave the stage in the middle of a song." This is an example of symbolism where Flatts uses a song to represent the suicider/ Kitty's life. In this case, the narrator feels close to depression. His outlook on life has completely changed. The question asked was one of pure regret. By the same token, Larry's feelings toward Kitty's death were the same. He feels extreme regret for he believes it was his fault for the death. Both the song and the story have the same view on the
He has new ideas of God. He concludes he did not create the idea of God. A finite being is incapable of creating an idea of an infinite possibility. Therefore, God must have created the idea already in him when he was created. Concluding that God exists. He also touches upon the idea in which he resolves it cannot be a deceiver. For instance, deception only relies on imperfection, while that is not God, which makes God a non deceiver.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, God is “a being or object believed to have more than natural attributes and powers and to require human worship; specifically: one controlling a particular aspect or part of reality.” (“God”). For a philosopher, however, this concept has proven to be more than a little difficult to solve. According to O’Brien in his book An Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge, “The philosophy of religion is (in part) concerned with whether such a belief is justified.” (177). The belief that O’Brien mentions as being problematic is the belief that the God worshiped by the monotheistic religions such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam is the “supernatural” being who is responsible for creating the universe and can control reality in some way (177). This God is intelligent and has the ability to interfere with human affairs if s/he sees fit, and is “omnipotent (able to do anything), omniscient (knows everything), perfectly good, and eternal.” (177). Many philosophers throughout the ages have tried to prove/disprove the existence of God—men such as René Descartes, George Berkeley, David Hume, Thomas Reid, Bertrand Russell, and Immanuel Kant. Each of these philosophers had a different take on the issue of God, some of them believed that they had proved his/her existence, some believed that they had disproved his/her existence, and the others came to the conclusion that we either can’t know that s/he exists or his/her existence essentially doesn’t effect our lives. Overall, the proposition of “God” creates many epistemological problems that are not easily solved, but there is an a priori argument and two empirical arguments that make valiant attempts.
"The Christian god can easily be pictured as virtually the same god as the many ancient gods of past civilizations. The Christian god is a three headed monster; cruel, vengeful and capricious. If one wishes to know more of this raging, three headed beast-like god, one only needs to look at the caliber of people who say they serve him. They are always of two classes: fools and hypocrites”(Jefferson). Atheism is the belief that God does not exist and Judaism believes in only a unitary God and Christianity believes in the Trinity of God. This natural progression might be thought of as the stair steps to truth, but whose truth is the real question we need to answer, and I can assure you that it cannot be answered in a mere 8 pages. Disregard you’re current opinion and give merit to each point of view, and then decide which is right for you.
Death is one of life’s most mysterious occurrences. It is sometimes difficult to comprehend why an innocent young child has to die, and a murderer is released from prison and gets a second chance at life. There is no simple explanation for this. Though, perhaps the best, would be the theological perspective that God has a prewritten destiny for every man and woman. In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye Holden often finds himself questioning his faith and pondering why an innocent adolescent like his brother Allie has to die. By the close of the novel Holden learns to accept not only death but life as well.
In the play, Everyman, A.C. Cawley incorporates his view of belief regarding what happens to a person after death. The prime character, Everyman, runs into an angel from God, who reports to Everyman that he must go before God and account for all of the things that he has done on Earth. On Earth, though, Everyman lived as the world did and participated in secular things which are displeasing to God. Because of the way in which he ran his life, Everyman pled with the angel to let him stay on Earth for a lit...
Dr. William Lane Craig supports the idea of existence of God. He gives six major arguments, in order to defend his position. The first argument is quite fare, Craig says that God is the best reason of existence of everything. He gives the idea, that the debates between all the people, cannot reach the compromise, because the best explanation of the reasons of existence of everything is God, and nothing can be explained without taking Him into consideration. The second argument of Craig is from a cosmological point of view: he says that the existence of the universe is the best proof of the existence of God. Because, the process of the creation of the universe is so ideally harmonious, that it seems impossible to appear accidentally. The third argument is about the fine tuning of the universe. The universe is designed in such a way that people always have aim of life, and the life of people and the nature are interconnected. The fourth argument of Dr. Craig is about the morality: God is the best explanation of the existence of the morality and moral values in people’s lives. The...
In John Perry's book Dialogue on Good, Evil and the Existence of God, he used three characters in the dialogue in order to clarify the positions of the three characters (Weirob, Miller, and Cohen), the arguments they provide in support their positions and the "end state" of their discussion. This allows us to examine our understanding of the good, evil and the existence of God.
...ssage. He even provides an argument for those who do not believe in an all powerful god, and proves these non-believers would be further cast into doubt.
...roofs of God’s existence are basically the same in that they are all, essentially, examples of cause and effect. This cause and effect does not neccesarily prove there is a God but it does lead one to wonder what may be the highest cause, and for this there is no proof.
The search for immortality is not an uncommon one in literature. Many authors and poets find contentment within the ideals of faith and divinity; others, such as Whitman and Stevens, achieve satisfaction with the concept of the immortality of mortality. This understanding of the cycle of death and rebirth dominates both Walt Whitman's "On the Beach at Night" and Wallace Stevens' "Sunday Morning" and demonstrates the poets' philosophies of worldly immortality.