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The incompatibility of God and gratuitous evil: implications for the termination of civilizations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 August 2015

KIRK DURSTON
KIRK DURSTON*
Affiliation:
Creative Communications: Research, 65 Massey Rd., Guelph, ON, N1H 1G3, Canada e-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Setting aside the discussion of whether the biblical destruction of the Canaanites actually occurred or was ordered by God, there still remains the philosophical question of whether any good at all justifies an omnipotent, omniscient, perfectly good being in permitting or orchestrating the destruction of an entire society. If we grant that the existence of God is incompatible with gratuitous evil, then God must terminate a society when it reaches a point in its history where the net moral value of permitting it to continue becomes negative. This raises at least four concerns which are discussed here.

Type
Articles
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 51 , Special Issue 3: Religious Studies at 50 , September 2015 , pp. 411 - 419
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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References

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