David Hume: Epicurus's Dilemma:
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then from whence comes evil?"
"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then from whence comes evil?"
Richard Rubenstein: After Auschwitz p46
If I believed in God as the omnipotent author of the historical drama and Israel as is chosen people, I had to accept Dean Gruber’s conclusion that it was God’s will that Hitler committed six million Jews to slaughter. I could not possibly believe in such a God nor could I believe in Israel as the chosen people of God after Auschwitz.
If I believed in God as the omnipotent author of the historical drama and Israel as is chosen people, I had to accept Dean Gruber’s conclusion that it was God’s will that Hitler committed six million Jews to slaughter. I could not possibly believe in such a God nor could I believe in Israel as the chosen people of God after Auschwitz.
Eliezer Berkovits: Faith After the Holocaust, p.106
We have great understanding for the fact that God is merciful and forgiving, that he does not judge man harshly and is wiling to have patience with him. God is waiting for the sinner to find his way to him. This is how we like to see God. This is how we are only too glad to acknowledge him. But we never seem to realize that while God waits for the sinner to turn to him, there is oppression and persecution and violence among men. Yet, there seems to be no alternative. If man is to be, God must be long-suffering with him; he must suffer man.
This is the inescapable paradox of divine providence. While God tolerates the sinner, he must abandon the victim; while he shows forbearance with the wicked, he must turn a deaf ear to the anguished cries of the violated. This is the ultimate tragedy of existence: God's very mercy and forbearance, his very love for man, necessitates the abandonment of some men to a fate that they may well experience as divine indifference to justice and human suffering. It is the tragic paradox of faith that God's direct concern for the wrongdoer should be directly responsible for so much pain and sorrow on earth.
We conclude then: he who demands justice of God must give up man; he who asks for God's love and mercy beyond justice must accept suffering.
We have great understanding for the fact that God is merciful and forgiving, that he does not judge man harshly and is wiling to have patience with him. God is waiting for the sinner to find his way to him. This is how we like to see God. This is how we are only too glad to acknowledge him. But we never seem to realize that while God waits for the sinner to turn to him, there is oppression and persecution and violence among men. Yet, there seems to be no alternative. If man is to be, God must be long-suffering with him; he must suffer man.
This is the inescapable paradox of divine providence. While God tolerates the sinner, he must abandon the victim; while he shows forbearance with the wicked, he must turn a deaf ear to the anguished cries of the violated. This is the ultimate tragedy of existence: God's very mercy and forbearance, his very love for man, necessitates the abandonment of some men to a fate that they may well experience as divine indifference to justice and human suffering. It is the tragic paradox of faith that God's direct concern for the wrongdoer should be directly responsible for so much pain and sorrow on earth.
We conclude then: he who demands justice of God must give up man; he who asks for God's love and mercy beyond justice must accept suffering.
Emil Fackenheim: God’s presence in History chap 3
Auschwitz is the rock on which throughout eternity all rational explanations will crash and break apart…..seeking a purpose is one, but seeking a response is another….while religious thinkers were vainly struggling for a response to Auschwitz, Jews throughout the world….had to some degree been responding all along.
Auschwitz is the rock on which throughout eternity all rational explanations will crash and break apart…..seeking a purpose is one, but seeking a response is another….while religious thinkers were vainly struggling for a response to Auschwitz, Jews throughout the world….had to some degree been responding all along.
Kol Dodi Dofek (Fate and Destiny), 1956
We do not inquire about the hidden ways of the Almighty, but, rather about the path wherein man shall walk when suffering strikes. We ask neither about the cause of evil nor about its purpose, but, rather about how it might be mended and elevated. How shall a person act in a time of trouble? What ought a man to do so that he not perish in his afflictions?
…The function of suffering is to mend that which is flawed in an individual personality…Suffering occurs in the world in order to contribute something to man…Afflictions are designed to bestir us to repent…self renewal…
We do not inquire about the hidden ways of the Almighty, but, rather about the path wherein man shall walk when suffering strikes. We ask neither about the cause of evil nor about its purpose, but, rather about how it might be mended and elevated. How shall a person act in a time of trouble? What ought a man to do so that he not perish in his afflictions?
…The function of suffering is to mend that which is flawed in an individual personality…Suffering occurs in the world in order to contribute something to man…Afflictions are designed to bestir us to repent…self renewal…