Understanding Epicurus's Argument

Understanding Epicurus’s argument is not the difficult part of the ideological equation, the real problem lies in the idea that we will never be able to understand God’s intentions or motivations. This scapegoat allows Epicurus’s ideas to be ignored rather than refuted. The only way to combat these ideas for a person of faith, is to not truly address them at all. In fact, this argument is often the reason why people of faith start to falter in their beliefs. If one thinks hard enough about these questions instead of just brushing them off, the idea of an omnipotent being becomes hard to reconcile with reason.

The only way to truly combat religion is enhancing our knowledge of the world and universe that surrounds us. I believe that the reason

humans turn to religion is because of a sense of powerlessness. At some level, humans have always understood that it is us against the world, an upsetting thought. So instead of facing this and working to understand how we can best maintain our survival, we created stories that give our lives meaning and explain why the world is the way it is. We created a problem so that there would always be a solution. Was your home flooded? You probably didn’t pray enough. A plague is ravaging the continent? You’ve been to sinful. These are examples of occurrences that seem unfair when not given a religious context. But if a book tells us that we are to blame for our problems, that is easier to bear in our minds. Therefore, the only way to dispel religion is to continue to work toward a broader and deeper understanding of our world. It is only through knowledge and understanding that we can finally face our world without needing a God to hold our hand.