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On the Problem of Good Kindle Edition
The world has not gone spectacularly wrong. The machine has not malfunctioned. There has been no mistake, no misstep, no ineptitude or imbecilic blunder in the design. The evil which is amplifying through Creation is there for a purpose, there by design, growing, evolving, and it is evolving because the architect of this world—the Creator—not only draws some manner of critical pleasure from its existence, but more importantly, craves its augmentation over time.
This world inside which sentience has awoken, uninvited, is the stuff of all nightmares, a living daymare, a defiled experiment draped in ethical ugliness, but between those stubbornly long periods of anxiety and calamity, good exists. Between those repeated seasons of uncertainty and ruin, good pushes through. Between those ever-so faithful cycles of total war where even grass and livestock are considered the enemy, good can flourish, and the existence of this good presents what is arguably the only coherent and consistent argument which can be forwarded by sceptics challenging the existence of a being who for a million tiny sensible reasons cherishes His anonymity and may be identified as simply The Owner of All Infernal Names: The Problem of Good.
It is asked: If The Owner of All Infernal Names is omnipotent and omnimalevolent, why does He allow good in the world? Either He cannot prevent it, in which case He is not omnipotent, or He chooses to allow it, in which case He is not omnimalevolent.
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Product details
- ASIN : B06WGVFQRZ
- Publication date : February 19, 2017
- Language : English
- File size : 1.7 MB
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 118 pages
- ISBN-13 : 978-1542477932
- Page Flip : Enabled
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,951,524 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #340,414 in Religion & Spirituality (Kindle Store)
- #660,390 in Religion & Spirituality (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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- Reviewed in the United States on March 29, 2017If you ever pause for a moment and wonder about the meaning of life, better written as The Meaning of LIFE, then this book is for you. More than that. For if you never ponder about the meaning of life then this really, really is the book for you. For in the world of the blind, the one-eyed is king.
- Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2017I love thought provoking works and John Zande did not disappoint. I highly recommend reading it !
- Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2017Philosopher Stephen Law wrote of Zande’s first book, The Owner of All Infernal Names: “Evil God has a theology being developed. This looks intriguing.” It was, and this new work dives deeper into the subject of the existence of the evil God by examining the greatest problem to have ever badgered theological thought. Traditionally, this has been called The Problem of Evil. In this mirror world where a malevolent Creator is responsible for the All this is of course turned on its head and it becomes the Problem of Good. It is asked: If The Owner of All Infernal Names is omnipotent and omnimalevolent, why does He allow good in the world? Either He cannot prevent it, in which case He is not omnipotent, or He chooses to allow it, in which case He is not omnimalevolent.
It’s absurd to write these next words, but I haven’t read anything this fun for a long, long time. The subject matter is deliberately awful, and that is why this is perhaps the best, and possibly longest, example of Poe’s Law (a deadly serious parody of fundamentalist religious reasoning) presently available. And it is deadly serious. The presentation of this thesis-sized work is superb. The research and supporting argumentation is frighteningly persuasive and would pass any Doctorate board of review. Literally, it would. And that’s the frightening part. This is not just believable, but almost impossible to argue against, which is why I suspect Zande concludes the work with a Formal Challenge.
In a nutshell, the central thesis states that good does not exist. The Problem of Good is not a problem because good has never existed, rather what appears to be good is just ways to greater evil. This fact, and I say “fact” because I could not actually fault the information, is demonstrated through case studies spanning 13.82 billion years of cosmic history. The universe is a complexity machine, a “petri dish” as Zande puts it, where evolving surrogates (everything from atoms of hydrogen to microbes and humans) are grown to explore those things the Creator cannot explore. “An uncreated aseitic being cannot not be” writes Zande, and the urge to explore this oddity (not being able to die, not being able to suffer) through surrogates is the disturbingly plausible reason for why there is something rather than nothing. This is all to say, this world is “a defiled experiment draped in ethical ugliness” and the history of this universe is “a living museum to the evolution of evil”. The Creator however does not simply observe this evolving experiment like some “phlegmatic voyeur” but instead he enters into and shares our experiences, living and suffering and dying vicariously through all things.
My one criticism is that the Conclusion and Summary is perhaps unnecessary as it felt like I was reading the book again. My one parting thought after this enjoyable rollercoaster ride is this: It all better be Poe’s Law.
- Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2017Get ready for a somewhat disturbing, yet altogether enlightening philosophical journey into the unknown. On second thought, I shouldn't have used the word "unknown." Author John Zande, in his new nonfiction treatise On the Problem of Good, isn't telling us that which we do not know. Rather, he is challenging our notions of that which we think we know. This masterpiece of metaphysical and existential exploration focuses entirely on the abstract concepts of good and evil; which, in my view, do not exist outside the human mind.
The book's religious implications are unavoidable, although Zande doesn't directly confront it. Instead, he expertly concentrates on the subject at hand; that is, "the problem of good." Specifically, the author cites an impressive array of scientific facts (worth reading on its own merits) he utilizes to refute the idea that our world was once inherently good, and that it has subsequently gone astray (i.e. become evil). "There has been no mistake," Zande asserts.
The problem of good is broken down into three components having a complete chapter devoted to each. The use of imaginative metaphors (e.g. singing stars, and death-fearing hydrogen atoms) and illuminating scientific analogues (e.g. the electrochemical processes of plants to sense physical damage or pain) is quite sophisticated and stunningly effective. Zande's contention that greater good only results in greater evil reaffirms, intentionally or not, my belief that good and evil are inseparable artificial concepts.
A formal challenge is offered at the end of the book which is both interesting and provocative. I'd enjoy reading responses from those who would dare accept the challenge for that would be a difficult endeavor, indeed.
This book is an intensely fascinating read, and I highly recommend it.