In the early days of Christianity, religious leaders were questioned repeatedly by devotees to explain why God allowed natural disasters and the attendant human suffering to occur. Fire, famine, floods, and the destruction they caused were a mystery to followers who perceived the deity as all-powerful and all-good.
The playwright Archibald MacLeish wrote J.B. a modern-day rework of the Book of Job that contains these famous lines, the play’s central paradox:
“If God is God, He is not good.”
“If God is good, He is not God.”
To best understand this paradox, which of the following must be assumed?
A. A deity cannot be both all-powerful and all-good at the same time.
B. A deity must obey the laws of nature that the deity created.
C. A deity is a supreme being who has the gifts of total power.
D. Early religious leaders had a variety of explanations for the calamities that befall humankind.
E. Religious zealots throughout history have struggled with this paradox.
HELP ON THIS ONE PLEASE,
AND KUDOS IF YOU FIND USEFUL
A. A deity cannot be both all-powerful and all-good at the same time.
B. A deity must obey the laws of nature that the deity created.
C. A deity is a supreme being who has the gifts of total power.
D. Early religious leaders had a variety of explanations for the calamities that befall humankind.
E. Religious zealots throughout history have struggled with this paradox.