Post by Admin on Mar 2, 2022 3:57:41 GMT
Chapter 3 - Regrets being born
After seven days of intense suffering, refusing to curse God and die, he finally curses his birth. The suffering has finally surpassed all the good things in his life and made him wish the whole thing never happened. Job is faced with the awkward juxtaposition of believing in a good God, and living an existence of suffering that is so evil he judges it to be better off to have never existed. He can't bring himself to curse God for allowing such suffering. But he can muster up the courage to curse the day of his birth. I have experienced the same anguish. Never being born is a simple yet impossible solution to the problem of suffering.
*Blinded by Suffering*
Intense suffering inevitably inspires one to question the very purpose of life. What good is existence if it involves suffering that is greater than any possible good to be had? This pattern of thought, when taken to its logical conclusion arrives in anti-natalism - the idea that it is immoral to bear children into a world that will inevitably inflict them with suffering; the idea that no one should be born. During periods of intense suffering, it is easy to become overwhelmed by a single-minded focus on suffering. If all you can see is suffering, then it is easy to conclude that existence is evil.
*Anti-Natalism Stigma*
There is a temptation among theists to view anti-natalists as evil. Theist logic is often along the lines of - God is good, therefore God's creation is good; God even says that his creation is good at the beginning of the Bible. Therefore, anyone that curses creation necessarily curses the creator. The theist is often obsequiously praising God for all the good things he has done with existence. The theist's gratitude blinds him from the problem of evil by obsessing over the goodness of God. This blindness can cause theists to fail to empathize with anti-natalists and instead view them as being possessed by a Satanic ideology of destruction. Rather than being ostracized, the people with anti-natalist ideologies deserve the utmost sympathy and love - because they are obviously suffering at much higher levels than the average person.
*Anti-Natalism has a Point*
I think that anti-natalism is only correct when the suffering over a whole lifetime surpasses the good. The problem with anti-natalists is that they are blinded by their suffering and cannot see the fact that many good things exist within the universe besides suffering. While anti-natalism might have been the right choice for Job's life, Job has no right to assume that anti-natalism should apply to others as well. As long has the probability of a net-good life is probable, utilitarian ethics would be in favor of bringing more children into the world. If someone has a serious disease that would increase the probability of a life of net-suffering for their child, then they might need to take the anti-natalist argument more seriously before deciding to have children.
NEXT: Chapter 4 - Karma
After seven days of intense suffering, refusing to curse God and die, he finally curses his birth. The suffering has finally surpassed all the good things in his life and made him wish the whole thing never happened. Job is faced with the awkward juxtaposition of believing in a good God, and living an existence of suffering that is so evil he judges it to be better off to have never existed. He can't bring himself to curse God for allowing such suffering. But he can muster up the courage to curse the day of his birth. I have experienced the same anguish. Never being born is a simple yet impossible solution to the problem of suffering.
*Blinded by Suffering*
Intense suffering inevitably inspires one to question the very purpose of life. What good is existence if it involves suffering that is greater than any possible good to be had? This pattern of thought, when taken to its logical conclusion arrives in anti-natalism - the idea that it is immoral to bear children into a world that will inevitably inflict them with suffering; the idea that no one should be born. During periods of intense suffering, it is easy to become overwhelmed by a single-minded focus on suffering. If all you can see is suffering, then it is easy to conclude that existence is evil.
*Anti-Natalism Stigma*
There is a temptation among theists to view anti-natalists as evil. Theist logic is often along the lines of - God is good, therefore God's creation is good; God even says that his creation is good at the beginning of the Bible. Therefore, anyone that curses creation necessarily curses the creator. The theist is often obsequiously praising God for all the good things he has done with existence. The theist's gratitude blinds him from the problem of evil by obsessing over the goodness of God. This blindness can cause theists to fail to empathize with anti-natalists and instead view them as being possessed by a Satanic ideology of destruction. Rather than being ostracized, the people with anti-natalist ideologies deserve the utmost sympathy and love - because they are obviously suffering at much higher levels than the average person.
*Anti-Natalism has a Point*
I think that anti-natalism is only correct when the suffering over a whole lifetime surpasses the good. The problem with anti-natalists is that they are blinded by their suffering and cannot see the fact that many good things exist within the universe besides suffering. While anti-natalism might have been the right choice for Job's life, Job has no right to assume that anti-natalism should apply to others as well. As long has the probability of a net-good life is probable, utilitarian ethics would be in favor of bringing more children into the world. If someone has a serious disease that would increase the probability of a life of net-suffering for their child, then they might need to take the anti-natalist argument more seriously before deciding to have children.
NEXT: Chapter 4 - Karma
