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Full Idea
If a Creator is assumed to be omnipotent, if he bends to a supposed necessity, he himself makes the necessity which he bends to. If the maker of the world can all that he will, he wills misery, and there is no escape from the conclusion.
Gist of Idea
No necessity ties an omnipotent Creator, so he evidently wills human misery
Source
John Stuart Mill (Nature and Utility of Religion [1874], p.119)
Book Ref
'The Existence of God', ed/tr. Hick,John [Macmillan 1964], p.119
A Reaction
If you add that the Creator is supposed to be perfectly benevolent, you arrive at the paradox which Mackie spells out. Is the correct conclusion that God exists, and is malevolent? Mill doesn't take that option seriously.
| 21335 | Belief that an afterlife is required for justice is an admission that this life is very unjust [Mill] |
| 21329 | Nature dispenses cruelty with no concern for either mercy or justice [Mill] |
| 21328 | Killing is a human crime, but nature kills everyone, and often with great tortures [Mill] |
| 21330 | Nature makes childbirth a miserable experience, often leading to the death of the mother [Mill] |
| 21331 | Hurricanes, locusts, floods and blight can starve a million people to death [Mill] |
| 21332 | We don't get a love of 'order' from nature - which is thoroughly chaotic [Mill] |
| 21333 | Evil comes from good just as often as good comes from evil [Mill] |
| 21334 | No necessity ties an omnipotent Creator, so he evidently wills human misery [Mill] |