Theology Corner: The Irrefutable Argument meets the Incomprehensible Answer
I have often said there are only three strong and sound arguments in favor of atheism: one is the argument that nature is a sufficient cause to explain all physics and metaphysics, ergo no divine being need be hypothesized; the second is that an omnipotent, omniscient being could not have desires or perform actions to sate them; the third is this:
http://babylonbee.com/news/god-good-powerful-allow-star-wars-prequels/
If God is all-good and all-loving, and he has the power to accomplish anything he wills, then why did he allow George Lucas to create the Star Wars prequels?
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When George Lucas sat down some autumn afternoon out on one of the verandas at Skywalker Ranch and began penning The Phantom Menace, with its two-dimensional characters and pointless plot, no all-powerful god living somewhere in the clouds stopped him.
When the first test footage of Jar Jar Binks surfaced and Lucas said something to the effect of, “Great job, guys. This really fulfills the vision of what I had in mind for this character,” no omnipotent deity struck him dead. There was no lightning from the sky, no sudden cardiac arrest. When we needed God most, he was silent.
He didn’t come to judge Lucas at any point during the travesty that was Episodes I-III. Any good and powerful god would have turned Skywalker Ranch into a smoldering crater where nothing else could ever grow, and yet your god remained silent.
I posit, then, that your “god” is no god at all. Either he was powerful enough to stop the Star Wars prequels from happening and didn’t, meaning he can’t possibly be all-good—or else he wanted the prequels stopped and couldn’t do it, meaning he can’t possibly be all-powerful.
The logic seems airtight, and I am at a loss to answer it. Let us see if the Supreme Being Himself can form a satisfying answer (the theological gravitas starts at about 1:30):
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
