The Problem of the Cruelty Asshole
We are all familiar with Epicurus’s Problem of Evil but for the Christian there is a bigger Problem of Evil too. I’ll call it the Problem of the Cruelty Asshole.
Epicurus has put his problem this way:
“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is impotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil?”
Christians claim that non-believers and unrepentant sinners will go to Hell to be tortured for all eternity. This they claim isn’t God’s fault despite his all-powerfulness, but our fault for not worshipping his ass for creating this situation. Fortunately the situation doesn’t actually exist, but Christians believe that it does. So let’s look at it for a moment through part of a conversation I recently had with a Christian:
Christian: “When you die and you are face to face with GOD the fact that you died not believing and denying gets you eternity in HELL, not by GODS choice but yours.”
My response: “Are you saying that God can’t save me if I don’t repent, or God won’t save me? Is he willing to save me from eternal torture, but not able? Then he is impotent. Is he able to save me from eternal torture, but not willing to save me from eternal torture? Then he is a cruel asshole.”
And there it is, the Problem of the Cruel Asshole. God created a situation in which people will be tortured for all eternity (which is a pretty long time) and then has decided that unless we believe in a bunch of ridiculous claims without sufficient evidence and worship him as a peasant would worship a Lord, we will be tortured for all eternity. He could stop it but doesn’t and then blames us for his choice to torture people for all eternity.
Free-Will doesn’t apply since as I stated before it would be an uninformed choice based on insufficient evidence. If God were to reveal himself to us and give us an informed choice, then Christians could try to pull out the Free-Will crap. But as it is now, the Christian God is just a cruel asshole. Fortunately this is all a fictional situation anyway and the only real cruel assholes are the Christians who propagate this type of cruel nonsense.
Related articles
- What If It Is True? (dangeroustalk.net)
- Soul Murderer (dangeroustalk.net)
- 14 Problems with Christianity (Part I) (new.exchristian.net)
Filed under: conversation, Evils of Christianity, god, God Fearing, hell, Judge God, Religion
