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What Leibniz taught me....

There is a way to talk and think about God that should not make anyone feel uncomfortable....a philosophical method that encourages open discussion... There is a way to ask questions (hypothetical inquiries) about the divine attributes and the divine nature, to investigate our "ideas" of God and what we are in fact saying when we posit "God's existence" ... One can delve into such matters without feeling obliged to arrive at hastily-conceived answers to specific questions...There is affirm possibilities and probabilities without landing upon anything definite....There is a way to recognize, problems, puzzles, contradictions involving God...There is a way to admit ignorance and uncertainty about the ultimate reality without anyone turning into a dogmatic atheist....There is a way to avoid false claims and misconceptions about God...Attacking such misconceptions does not make one an atheist - but rather helps to defeat superstition and idolatry (two of the misshapen poster-childs of false religion)...There is a way to humbly and painstakingly search for and seek out an elusive Truth - that is beyond the reach of language...The appreciation of the difficulty is in itself far more satisfying than having to accept tired formulas... It is better at times to suspend our judgment, to gather evidence, to keep the discussion open, to maximize the possible scenarios....Rationality is the enemy of "religiosity" but perhaps in the end the friend of true religion...  Leibniz's great insight: Leibniz sought a way of speaking about God that had a basis in logic and experience....By grounding his discussion of God in logic, he allowed for a calm, open-ended inquiry to take place - without bickering over Scriptural controversies... Leibniz sought to make "God's justice" (theo-dicy) palatable for a modern audience; by doing so, he sought to show that God's justice was akin to earthly modes of justice - that the obligations (toward goodness and charity) impinging upon the Almighty were the same moral imperatives impinging upon us...as such he saw the need to combat the understanding of God as being "unrestrained" by any external principles of right. For Leibniz, the only possible God is one who "acts like God" - an intelligence  amenable to the limitations imposed by logical necessity, a Being who exhibits perfect justice, goodness, mercy, knowledge - while respecting the checks that these may place on his power...God cannot act against the Good, the True or the Just because to do so would undermine His divine standing as God. Or to say it another way: God is good first and powerful second. An all-powerful deity who acts "indifferently" - "arbitrarily" or "maliciously" without respect for eternal norms is a contradiction in terms. Imagine a universe where God chose randomly and erratically throughout the course of time....What sort of coherence would attach to the worship of pure will? One can imagine an evil, erratic genius,  perhaps, but not as a being to be worshipped...The idea of God is therefore incompatible with any whimsical, arbitrary, malicious, vindictive or tyrannical tendencies ...Leibniz' rationalist conclusion is akin to Plato's Euthyphro: Things do not become good and right because of God choosing them to be so...rather, God chooses them because they are good and just ....




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