The False Trilemma

Being bored while bouncing around the blogosphere, I begrudgingly decided to engage a theist that I encountered on the Patheos blog. This theist, a Christian theist, was refuting - or more accurately, they were attempting to refute - the "Problem of Evil".

Based on this individual's responses to other posters, I had a feeling that I'd ultimately be wasting my time trying find common ground. But hey, if nothing else, it's target practice, right? Yes, the more adept that the rational among us become at blowing holes in superstition and the various apologetics that, in particular, the religious-superstitious proffer, the sooner we'll have peace on earth, which ironically, is what religion and its adherents claim to promote now.

Early on in the conversation, this theist, hereinafter referred to has just "EWT", provided a premise from which we can work. His statements will be in red:

He writes.....

God apparently wanted a world with freedom more than he wanted a world without evil.

Notice right away that we're assuming that there's a "God" actually there for sake of discussion. Yes, because in a world with no gods, we'd fully expect that world to look exactly like the world we see right now. And aside from natural calamities(natural "evil"), in that world we'd see human beings exercising their free will for sinister purposes...e.g...rapists freely choosing to rape, murderers freely choosing to murder, muggers freely choosing to mug, etc. In other words, we'd see human beings perpetrating evil, no "devils" required. But I digress...


If we go back to EWT's premise, the suggestion here is that there was only two choices in front of "God".

Only two choices? An "omniscient" being with only two options from which he/she must pick one? Anyone who's been around the block a time or two when it comes to debating knows a false dichotomy when they see one. Welp, this is precisely the case with EWT's argument. In an attempt to square-up why his presumably all-loving, all-powerful biblegod allows "evil", EWT has employed a fallacious argument, also called a false dilemma. 

False Dilemma: A situation in which two alternative points of view are presented as the only options, whereas other are available.

I quickly pointed out that in fact, no, those are not the only two options, and I proposed that he offered a "false dichotomy". In true theist fashion, he came back and accuse me of "ignoring" his point. If I ignored his point, it's strange then that I concluded it was fallacious "point". He seems to be suggesting that unless I accept his "point" that, oh, I'm ignoring his "point". But, hey, this is the kind of thing that I've come to expect from Christian apologists, sadly.

Anyway, here's a brief rundown of just two more options that I, a mere mortal with limited intellect, can conceive. And mind you, if I, a mere mortal, can conceive of these sorts of options, then surely a being who's presumably light years more intelligent than I am can conceive of the same... and more.

1) If we think back to the world that EWT's biblegod originally intended - and note, I'm talking about before Adam and Eve's "Fall from Grace" -  it should bring to mind an "Eden", sometimes referred to as a "Garden Paradise", a place in which "God" was to place man and his "help meet"(sorry ladies!) so they and all their offspring could dwell along side "God" for eternity. Note, it was clearly intended to be a "sinless" environment, a place where man could lovingly and peacefully fellowship with "God", without "evil" throwing a monkey wrench into things.

Now, if we go back to EWT's premise, we are reminded that "God" wanted a world with freedom more than he wanted a world without evil.

So, by extension, we are being reasonable to conclude that "God" wanted a world in which people are free to rape children, more than he wanted a world in which children are safe. Moreover, if "God" wanted the former world over the latter, then I am being reasonable to conclude that "God" preferred one world to the other. From there I am then being reasonable to conclude that "God" somehow sees more value in a rapist's freedom to rape children than he sees in children being safe from rapists.

Except when I connected the dots and offered this in my rebuttal, EWT deflected it

He equivocates....

 It's not about valuing one person's freedom over another.

Exactly when/how/why does a child exercise their "freedom" to be raped? Seems we've now got a strawman on our hands, among the other fallacious arguments.

But in EWT's defense, he later offers a third option, and that is that "God" could have chosen to not create at all.

Welp, I actually agree with that. However, it's now a trilemma, because once more, those are NOT the only three options available. In fact, my second example of how "free will" is compatible with an absence of "evil" deals with "God" choosing to not create.

But first, a definition:

Omniscient adj 1. having complete or unlimited knowledge, awareness, or understanding; perceiving all things

So,  by definition, a "God" who is omniscient has absolute prescience of all future outcomes.

Thus, a "God" who is omniscient can look into the future before he creates, and this "God" can know, in advance, which of his creation will choose "good" over "evil", and vice versa.

Thus, a "God" who is both "omniscient" and "omnibenevolent" can simply elect to not create those whom he knows will choose to be "evil"..e.g...rapists, murderers, etc., and this doesn't preclude the balance of his creation having freedom(free will).

Problem solved. The creation's freedom is fully intact; the option to choose "evil" is present, but obsolete.

BTW, this also applies to "Heaven". Christian doctrine states that there can be no "evil" in "Heaven", and for that matter, no "evil" in presence of "God", period. Are we to believe that the occupants of "Heaven" will be robots? No, of course not. This is just one more in a long line of double standards found in Christianity.

Conclusion: The theist's false trilemma is soundly refuted using two different examples of other conceivable options. God, if such a being exists, could prevent "evil" and it would not subvert his creation's free will one flippin' iota. Thus, "God" either doesn't exist, or he wanted evil in "His Plan", and in which case, "God" is a monumental d**chebag not worthy of my worship.