METAPHYSICS 3: Part Four: A Very Short, Personal Dissertation on God's Goodness....
On God's Goodness
1. Is God supremely evil? From my "relative perspective", I do not believe so. Although, I have experienced pain in my life,
I have also experienced a lot of peace and health in my life too. From my "relative perspective" I believe God is not supremely evil.
For a supremely evil God would definitely give me (and including all other creatures) no rest from torture and pain.
Therefore, God is not supremely evil.
2. However, if God is not supremely evil, is God evil?
Although the first question was solved by my personal judgment, this second question I leave to the judgment
and opinion of others who have had more experience with evil and pain. There are young children and young ladies and
gentlemen who have had horrible things happen to them, and yet they still believe God to be good.
It is
up to their professional experience with pain that I have come to the conclusion that God is not evil. My own experience
of pain pales in comparison with such people. Not to mention all of those amputees that haven't given up on God. Those people are true heroes. As long as they exist in the world, they are the light of the world.
3. However, if God is not supremely evil (and is also not evil), is God supremely good or not?
I mean God could just be good instead of supremely good. So is God just good or supremely good?
But what would be the criteria for God to be supremely good to each one of us? The answer is simple.
For God to be supremely good for me (or anyone else) at all times, he would have to give me everything I wished for whenever I wished it.
Now this would not be a problem if I were the only creature God created. But God said it was wrong for man to be alone.
From the very beginning of man we were meant to live in a community.
But as a community we each could not get everything we wished for without trespassing on our fellow neighbors wants and desires.
However, God thought it more good for each of us to live in a community than not to. As a community our wants and desires would come into conflict. This is why God inspired great men to give us laws. And an entirely new area of knowledge sprung from the Art of Lawgiving which we know as politics. Politics has been made the experiment of mankind up to the the present day: what is the best constitution and the best type of leader?
[So no matter how good it is for a man to get whatever he wants (whenever he wants), it is more good for him to live in a society.]
4. So what can we conclude from all of the above? It is that God is supremely good, but it doesn't seem
so because we cannot get everything we want whenever we want. Our omniscient Creator decided that we would have
to sacrifice our wants and desires for the sake of living in vast numbers of communities. God is also part of that community
so we must respect and love him as an individual and as the Creator. Plus, we must show great kindness to our suffering neighbors.
And that the final effects of both these actions (or inactions) are karma and the Day of Judgment.
5. But why didn't God allow us to live in communities, and
also grant each of
us anything we wanted at anytime? Surely, nothing is impossible for God
to create?
Answer: I believe God always knew the eternal value of creating 4th
dimensional inhabitants that could only communicate with
him through prayer--and our initial journey
to discover God should not be undervalued in our
relationship with God.
[Plus, God always knew that self-sacrifice
for one's neighbor and oneself was always
a good thing for communities and individuals
to experience.]
How real is the universe?
1. Empiricist's viewpoint. Many trees on earth have been living for a long time. I know how old I am
and that many trees are older than myself. Therefore, the universe must be older than me. And therefore the universe
I live in must be real and not a figment of my imagination since the universe is older than me.
2. Sceptic's viewpoint. Everything I know is dependent on my mind. Trees and other things could be figments of my imagination.
I could be an insect thinking I am a human being typing away on this computer.
3. Monotheist's viewpoint. My thinking is finite, so I did not make myself to exist and to think. So God must exist,
and we have already proven that God is supremely good above. Therefore,
#2 is proven to be a false argument.
"For if there only exists one other person besides my mind,
He cannot be finite!
Since I am finite,
That other person must be God the kind."
4. Time's viewpoint. Everything in my reality exists in time's present. In fact, in both true-reality and false-reality, time exists.
Something must have created time since time has no infinite past. Time must have come from no-time. And the only
thing that can exist without time is the infinite mind of God. So falsehood has no total reality to it since time's present is not
false at all. Therefore, no matter how false our reality seems we will never experience a reality of total falsehood because time exists.
And where there is time there is hope and God's light and therefore God's goodness.
The Importance of the Eucharist
It says in Genesis 3:22-24. (KJV)
"And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is
become as one of us, to know good and evil: and
now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of
the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore
the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of
E'-den, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of
the garden of E'-den Cher'-u-bims, and a flaming sword
which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree
of life."
Mankind was expelled from the Garden of Eden. And he was
forbidden eternal life. When Christ's body was nailed
to the Cross, he became joined to the wood of that same
Cross. His blood also ran down the Cross and soaked
into the wood of the Cross. So the Cross which was a cut
down, dead tree became a part of Christ and both died
together at Calvary. After the Sabbath, Christ was brought back
to life, not just a new man but also now a New Tree of Life.
For the Cross was resurrected with Christ.
"Jesus saith unto
him, I am the way, the truth, and the life."--John 14:6. (KJV)
and:
"Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath
eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day."--John 6:54. (KJV)
So whatever church celebrates the Eucharist (or Communion) that same church
gives the New
Tree of Life to it's followers to consume. So there is no need
to search in Heaven, or under the Earth, for The Garden of
Eden and it's sought after Tree of Life, when you can eat from the New
Tree of Life every Saturday & Sunday at any church
that observes Communion and
even all week long in the mornings at all Roman Catholic
Churches (for R.C. members) as well...
The Importance of Epicurus' Teachings
In Book 6, Chapter 16 of The Confessions, St. Augustine writes that the philosopher
Epicurus would have had the greatest philosophy of all time if he only would have
believed in an afterlife for the soul. I personally believe St. Augustine was correct in this.
For Epicurus was not an atheist but rather someone who believed that the Divine cared nothing
for human interaction--which is something I believe is false. Other Epicureans stretched this belief system though. E.g. the great Roman
poet Lucretius wrote an opening of praise to the goddess of Love and her constant benefits to the universe
in his Epicurean work: On the Nature of Things.
Now Epicurus says the greatest evil is pain. And he has a great philosophy on how to deal
with pain on Earth and in this life. But if the greatest evil is pain, shouldn't we worry about
pain in the next life if our souls are not destroyed when we die? It's a possibility. Now for probability.
The Prophet Jesus, the Prophet Buddha, and the Prophet Mohammed all believed in a hell after death.
These three prophets are probably the greatest metaphysical-spiritualists of all time. And they each
believed in a hell. And since these three wise men believed in a hell, it is quite probable that one
truly exists. Plus, if there are things on this Earth that are imitations of hell, why wouldn't there
exist a hell on another dimensional level of this universe that we inhabit? But how do I
avoid hell? It's simple. Jesus talks about feeding the homeless. The Buddha talks about being good and
doing good deeds to avoid bad karma in this life and the next. And the Prophet Muhammed's words of
avoiding hell on the Day of Judgment speak similar to Jesus' and the Buddha's teachings.
So I believe a true Epicurean would obey not only Epicurus' advice for this life, but also those Prophets' advice,
for the next life, that I spoke about just now.
Note: This new type (or shift) of Epicureanist doctrine shouldn't be called
new (or) neo-Epicureanism but rather: Religious-Epicureanism. It's foundation
should be based on St. Augustine's Confessions, Seneca the Younger's Epistles to Lucilius, the Gospels,
the Book of Acts, the Koran, the writings of Epicurus, and Buddhist scriptures on Hell.
However, since Epicurus was so misguided, his instructions were not as great as the instructions of the Stoic Epictetus,
and finally that of the teachings of Jesus Christ—which would eventually overcome both schools of thought in the Roman Empire & throughout the rest of the world.
The Conversational Rules
Intro. In everyday conversation, there are some basic rules that everyone should know from the age of twelve and up.
1. Avoid making absolute statements. E.g. statements like "all men are pigs", "all girls dream of being princesses one day", & "every woman loves to shop", are absolute statements. An absolute statement becomes a stereotypical statement (like the one's above) when it is pointed at a category of society with the same-time-release of negative feelings or overtones. All absolute statements can easily be countered with particular examples of cases that are contrary to the stated absolute case.
It just takes one particular counter example to refute an absolute statement.
2. Avoid making false connections. In cause & effect, a property (or characteristic) can be mistaken as the true connective cause to the considered effect. This is to be avoided. E.g. a classmate in highschool may brag that they just got their driver's license. Another person may say "you must be rich" as the reason or cause of this effect. There is no connection between being rich and getting one's driver's license, however, since even poor students can get their driver's licences as well.
3. Avoid contradictions in thinking and speaking. (Also try to see the truth through logic.) Therefore, learn to subtract inferior logical statements from superior one's. When I say: (1) My brother says he left his wallet at the city diner today.(2) And my brother checked his pockets and couldn't find his wallet. (3) But we know my brother never ate out today since he was home the entire time. [Obviously #(3) cancels out #(1), even if #(2) helps the probability of #(1).] The best way to become learned in this method is to practice adding and subtracting statements like the examples found in #'s (1) through (3) above.
4. Obey the ethical rule of Socrates. Obey the law as much as you can. There is no greater rhetorical defense before any judge than to have always been innocent of breaking the law.
5. Humility is a key to success in conversation. Anyone who brags that they did something great, or are in a state of great achievement, or will be doing something great in the future is hated by most peoples. So never brag.
6. Try to show proper respect towards others. Being looked down upon & being ignored are both hated by the majority of peoples. Give people proper attention but never stare at them for long periods of time. Staring more than an instant at a punk of the same gender is inviting conflict. Staring more than an instant at the opposite sex is rude in manners and can be considered boorish, sleezy, lewd, or even pathetic.
7. Don't be a hypocrite in anything. If you have a bad habit, and have been doing that bad habit on and off throughout your life, don't scold or look down on anyone that is doing it. (And one can go further in degree with this. Jesus never did anything wrong towards the law, and yet he judged no one.) So if you say not to eat cheddar cheese, but you eat it anyway, then that is being hypocritical. Note: young people love noble actions more than adults do in their prime. For adults love advantage more, while young people love nobility more.
Nobility and advantage are forever at odds with one another.
And advantage requires less energy to pursue than nobility.
This is why most adults are not as noble as they were in their youth--because most adults are more physically and mentally tired in their prime years.
Meaning, adults (because of their lack of nobility) are more likely to be hypocrites than youths are.
8. Realize that everything has it's proper season. Just because something worked towards your advantage in the past doesn't mean it will work again for you later on in life. (This includes witty statements made in conversation.) One should also avoid repeating mistakes as if repeating them will always turn out to be bad for oneself and others.
Why it is Stupid to blame God for any Evil that happens?
If God is the First Cause & the Creator of the Universe, why is it foolish to blame God for any Evil since he allows all events to occur including all Evil? The answer is threefold.
#1 ANSWER. Hypocrisy with man's reasoning will result. E.g. if your lovable pet runs away, you may think it well to call God evil for allowing this to happen--since God is thought to do all evil. However, this kind of thinking will not hold up for you in court. What do I mean? Say you walk down the street and you see a bad man and you kill him illegally. If you use as your defense before judge & jury that because God is responsible for all evil that you didn't do that act but God made you do it, you will be considered either nefarious, crazy, or both by those hearing your case.
#2 ANSWER. Cherry picking! You may say some things God does are good & the rest are evil. But who determines what is good & what is evil? You? Some things evil to you are really good for someone else & some things evil for others are good for you. And since you cannot determine what is absolutely good or absolutely evil, you're left to Cherry pick. And Cherry picking is another form of hypocrisy.
#3 ANSWER. Because of God's all powerful and all seeing nature, God can turn every evil he does into a good thing later on. So therefore all evil he does will eventually result in good. Making all evil he does good. Therefore, in calling God evil, we would be mistaken in not understanding the full potential of God's ultimate goodness. And if someone says nothing can make a person who suffered horribly happy again in the next life, I will respond that any catharsis can do it if it's strong enough. A woman who has just given birth rejoices over a healthy child. And a man who receives his bachelor's degree rejoices over the fact that the road to getting that degree was laborious and unsure at times.
In Conclusion
Nothing good is totally within our power. You didn't choose your parents. You didn't choose the place you were born. And you had no choice over what God is like or what laws he wants you to obey. E.g. the Ten Commandments. So the meaning of life is really to be content with your life & station. And to give thanks for such contentness & blessings. Plus, to aid those who are in pain, or dying, & also those who have the least blessings amongst us. For that is Man's all & all.
[All Texts Copyrighted Michael Llenos 2000-2023]