Final Essay

Philosophy 1000 - Intro to Philosophy

Does God Indeed Exist? - We Are Alone

Abbey Haynes

4/18/22

Spring Semester 2022

There are many arguments in philosophy about the existence of God that have

been ongoing for hundreds if not thousands of years across the globe. There are many

gods that are worshiped in many different cultures. For the sake of simplicity, I will be

referring to these gods in a monotheistic sense, as God. When there are so many

different gods, the question comes to mind: Does God actually exist? Did God create

us, or did we create the concept of God? Humans created the concept of God, and

there is no true God.

According to Ludwig Feuerbach, humans created an idealized version of

ourselves - one free of sin and mistakes, one that is all-knowing and all-good. This

idealized (or perfect) version of ourselves was then projected as God, the ultimate

conception. There could be no one or nothing better, otherwise, God wouldn’t be the

ultimate conception. The other version of humans - the actual version - does sin, is

selfish, and needs salvation and repentance from these sins that we had defined over

the millennia (p. 343-344).

Based on the ideas from Feuerbach, man created God, so we are who defined

him. We are then seen as sinners filled with problems and mistakes. Many people born
into families that practice a religion are often filled with guilt from a young age, being

taught early on that humans are unable to be good. Thus, we are to worship and

appease this Creator that humans created to appease this guilt.

JL Mackie’s argument is that there is no God because evil exists. There is a

paradox with God’s omnipotence. God would not create evil if he was indeed

omnibenevolent and omnipotent. However, evil exists. Because of this, it shows that

God cannot exist with restrictions because then he wouldn’t be the omnibenevolent

being we believe in. He has three main fallacies for this proof: “Good cannot exist

without evil”, “Evil is necessary as a means to good”, and “Evil is due to human free

will”.

To summarize each of these complex points, starting with “Good cannot exist

without evil”: This is illogical thinking because if God must create evil along with good,

then God wouldn’t be omnibenevolent. If God was limited in how he created the

universe, it would imply that he isn’t omnipotent. “Evil is necessary as a means to good”

is summed up with varying degrees of evil (pain and misery are level 1 evil) and good

(pleasure and happiness are level 1 good). These varying degrees of good and evil are

stronger emotions than the previous degree. “It is also being assumed that second

order good is more important than first order good or evil, in particular that it more than

outweighs the first order evil it involves… It follows from this solution that God is not in

our sense benevolent or sympathetic: he is not concerned to minimize evil (1), but only

to promote good (2), and this might be a disturbing conclusion for some theists” (p.

372). Because both sides exist and are at odds to balance each other, why would God

only promote good, but allow evil to exist? “Evil is due to human free will”. Mackie goes
on to say for his third point: “If God has made men such that in their free choices they

sometimes prefer what is good and sometimes what is evil, why could he not have

made men such that they always freely choose the good?” (p. 373). If God doesn’t exist,

that would give humans free will and the ability to make - and be responsible for - their

own choices. We are also able to choose to define our own morals and values. We are

able to choose to follow in religious footsteps or not. Lastly, we are able to choose bad -

to create or add pain. Mackie goes on to say that there could be two types of freedom

(free will). One could be that freedom is a level 3 good - good (3). That would mean it

would topple most other evils - something a benevolent God would encourage. Or,

freedom could be random, which would mean that God created something he no longer

controls (again, no longer omnipotent). However, if freedom was random, where is the

“will” in free will? This leads us to Mackie’s term called the Paradox of Omnipotence. Did

God create something he cannot control? Would God create casal laws and then be

bound to those laws? Ultimately, Mackie decides that God cannot be omnipotent, he

would be bound in one way or another based on these points.

For many people to truly believe there is a god, they usually have had a personal

experience themselves where they could attest to meeting God himself. There may

have been something they see, hear, or feel. Their experience is through a sensational

phenomenon not through rational logic. While the stories of these experiences can be

shared I do not believe they can be truly felt from one person to the next based on the

oral sharing of these phenomena. While anecdotal, I personally have never seen a

“sign” myself. I haven’t ever felt a blessing from a god. Perhaps if I had, I would feel

completely different, as I’d have my own “proof” of interacting with a god. Those who
have had the privilege of experiencing a sign and have an emotional connection surely

feel very different and would believe there is a god, although it logically does not make

sense.
 Citations

Chaffee, John. The Philosopher's Way: A Text with Readings: Thinking Critically

About Profound Ideas. Fifth ed., Pearson Education, 2013.

Mackie, J. L. (n.d.). In Evil Shows That There Is No God. essay.