Dialogues

About the Book

The texts of Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1-18 are prologues to their succeeding narrations. It is here that the opening of John echoes the opening of Genesis. Both texts succinctly state that God exists and that God is creator of all things that exist. An assessment of the truth of the propositions "God exists" and "God created all things that exist," is accomplished, where both propositions, being equally sound, are set in juxtaposition to various arguments against the existence of God. The infinite regress, the concept of self-causation, empiricism, and eternal matter are arguments of academia that are shown to have no valid intellectual basis that justifies each concept. Does the argument from evil prove that God does not exist? The Greek philosopher Epicurus first stated the problem of evil. Through the course of time it has been restated. "If God is omnipotent, then He should be able to eliminate evil. If God is omnibenevolent, then He should want to eliminate evil. But evil exists. Therefore, either God is not able to eliminate evil, in which He is impotent, or God does not want to eliminate evil, in which He is malevolent, or God does not exist at all." Is there a contradiction among the premises God exists, God is omnipotent and wholly good, and Evil exits? But what is evil and does it really exist? The philosophical argument from evil is divided into two categories, moral evil and natural evil. Moral evil refers to man, while natural evil refers to natural disasters outside the control of man. It does not matter whether the evil is gratuitous or not, because the mere fact that there is evil is enough to justify the conclusion that God does not exist. Or is it? The existence of God remains intact while the argument from evil suffers major flaws. It is an argument that, when strictly examined, disintegrates to its own demise.

About the Author

The author (Michael L. Finney with current studies in philosophy and religion, with an emphasis in biblical studies, e.g. form criticism, textual criticism, historical criticism, redaction criticism, at Florida A&M University) has identified two areas where Christianity?s concept of God needs enhancing, philosophical/theological, and textual, i.e. the biblical manuscript, which are primary reasons for the project. Secondly, is the growing need for legitimate answers that are not evasive and technically useless for the layperson; answers to difficult philosophical questions that are somewhat disturbing to everyone that at least contemplates the existence of God. Thirdly, scholarly exposition of the biblical manuscript, Old and New Testament, at times, relies heavily upon constructions of unwarranted hypotheses that culminate into scholarly truths. Fourth, although philosophy is an excellent discipline, it is, to an extent, iniquitous in its treatment of the existence of God. Michael L. Finney resides in New Jersey as a Project Implementation Manager for AT&T.