Epicurus Questions About God

“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 whence cometh evil? 


Is he neither able nor willing? 
Then why call him God?” 
― Epicurus 341–270 B.C.


Epicurus believed that he could disprove the possibility of the soul's survival after death, and hence the prospect of punishment in the afterlife. He regarded the unacknowledged fear of death and punishment as the primary cause of anxiety among human beings, and anxiety in turn as the source of extreme and irrational desires. The elimination of the fears and corresponding desires would leave people free to pursue the pleasures, both physical and mental, to which they are naturally drawn, and to enjoy the peace of mind that is consequent upon their regularly expected and achieved satisfaction. It remained to explain how irrational fears arose in the first place: hence the importance of an account of social evolution. Epicurus was aware that deeply ingrained habits of thought are not easily corrected, and thus he proposed various exercises to assist the novice. His system included advice on the proper attitude toward politics (avoid it where possible) and the gods (do not imagine that they concern themselves about human beings and their behavior)...