Catastrophic Stairway to Freedom

(Monday, April 5, 2010, 6:45 AM)

Why would catastrophes be a necessary and unavoidable condition for human freewill? Where's the link between the two?

This is not an obvious concept, and it is not easy to explain it exhaustively. So, let me just hint at it. One of the questions with which humans, who try to reconcile the thought of a personal, omnipotent, omniscient and provident God have always had to confront is the problem of theodicy.

The most effective illustration of the problem of theodicy is, IMSO, the s.c. "riddle of Epicurus".

Bear with me for a stepwise ...

Catastrophic Stairway to Freedom

1. The existence of evil has always been a scandal, if we one tries to reconcile it with a Personal God who is, supposedly, Good and Omnipotent.

2. Epicurus argued like this: if Evil exists in spite of the existence of God, He cannot be, at the same time Good and Omnipotent (see The Riddle of Epicurus - YoutTube - 22 sec)

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then is he not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then is he malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God.

3. If we are not discouraged by "The Riddle of Epicurus", it is evident that, to save God's Goodness and Omnipotence we must look deeper.

4. Most of our behavior, as human beings, is reasonably predictable: we are limited by physical, chemical, biological, emotional, economical, legal, rational constraints. Yet, to some extent, we humans consider ourselves free. But what is the real test of Freedom? It is precisely the opposite of being predictable: it is, ultimately, its unpredictability.

5. A genuine act of Human Freedom has something in common with a Natural Catastrophe, which also is not (not entirely, anyway) predictable.

6. If you have agreed with all the previous steps, you can perhaps take the extra step of assuming that this "structural analogy" between Human Freedom and Natural Catastrophes is very deep, so deep, in fact that just as not even God can go against logic and have a "square triangle", likewise (even if the connection is much more complex and obscure) NOT even God can "design" a material world (it will be different with the New Creation ...) were there are NOT, at the same time Human Freedom and Natural Catastrophes.

BTW, even if it is not stated explicitly, I firmly believe that the above is the ultimate sense of the Book of Job.

God making us free, permits moral evil, BUT He is NOT responsible for moral evil .

Most people, in particular Christians who have been fed since their early age with the fairy tale that not only moral evil, but even cosmic evil is the consequence of the "original sin", feel very uncomfortable at the thought that ...

If Natural Catastrophes (cosmic evil) were banned, Human Freedom would be impossible.



ETA (September 6, 2017) : see post Then whence cometh evil?, for a more recent and detailed analysis on cosmic evil.