The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully. - Richard Dawkins

Saturday, May 5, 2012

God's Responsibility

What a concept. That an all-powerful being, who's will is impossible to thwart, for whom nothing is beyond his ability or his grasp, can create a being which is flawed (by his own definition), and yet bear no responsibility for that flaw whatsoever, but instead place the blame for the flaw solely upon the thing he created. Does not infinite power imply infinite responsibility?

If (hypothetically) someone has infinite power over all things, and nothing is beyond their control, and if there is no other being in the Universe possessing such power, can it be said that there is anything which is not their responsibility? Is there anything for which they can transfer blame, or anyone to whom they can transfer it? Is there any event about which they can say, "That is not my fault. There was nothing I could do to stop it." Is there any evil for which they can defer responsibility to someone else, or for which they can punish someone else?

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