Centennial projects unwarranted

I would like to express my disapproval of the proposed construction on Centennial Campus. I don’t think the N.C. State community is aware of the asset we have in the land surrounding Lake Raleigh. How many other places in the city, much less in walking distance for students, can you get fresh air and exercise in a large forest, discover interesting objects and walk among deer? Especially being a school that is not regarded for its beauty, I don’t see how we can afford to pave paradise and put up a golf course.

Brian Hare2006 Alumnus

Don’t write to get reactions

I am not going to argue one way or another about my personal feelings on the article Mike [Freenor] wrote: “God is as evil as the world” [Wednesday]. I thought it was a well-thought-out, well-written article, despite my disagreement with his views. My concern is that, as an alumnus who enjoys reading Technician Online, I would like to see some different articles instead of four per week where one of your journalists writes an article hoping to insight anger in the Christian portion of the student body by disagreeing with one aspect or another of Christian dogma. These authors’ motives are clearly aimed at the hope that people will fire back with angry responses so the said writers will have the comfort of knowing someone is reading their articles. I hope Technician editors will do a better job in the future encouraging staff writers to expand their topics thus providing readers with something worth reading more often than once a month.

Josh Quealy2004 Alumnus

You get respect for looking for truth

[Mike Freenor], I want to first salute you for your article. I also want to say that I respect you if you are truly looking for the truth. I hope and trust that if you really are, you will find it. “How can God be both omni-benevolent and all-knowing?” you ask. God lets evil happen because he lets us have our own free will. With our free will comes consequences for our actions. For an analogy that might scratch the surface, imagine a loving, caring mom talking to her young boy. She says to him, “Son, I love you and would die for you, and because of this, I want to see you free of pain. However, I am making cookies in the oven for you and I don’t want you to put your hand in there to get burned.” She then leaves the boy to make his own decision. The boy decides to touch the oven. Is this because the mom is evil? If the boy was so young that he could not adequately understand that the oven was hot, then yes. But if the boy was old enough to realize that his mom loved him, and that the oven was hot, but still was curious to see what would happen, then no. That is the way God is with us. He gave us strong minds and then said you are old enough now to make your own decisions. Now that we blew it, and there’s pain in the world, He offers Jesus Christ to bandage our wounded hands and hearts.

Josh SchroderSophomore, business management

Will Freenor practice what he preaches?

Mike [Freenor], if I were to explain every contradiction you’ve shown, if I were to in a sense, “win” the argument, would you honestly worship God?

Stephen McLaughlinJunior, chemical engineering

‘Evil’ argument will never be settled

[Mike Freenor’s] analysis of the problem of evil contains one crippling flaw: in order to determine with certainty that any event is evil, you must be able to say that the overall evil of that event outweighs the overall good that will result from that event. Making this claim requires a great deal more insight and precognition than is possessed by any human being that I am aware of; please introduce me to anyone who meets those standards, as I have a few questions to ask him. On the surface, yes, an event such as a fatal car accident seems to be outright evil. But to use your own example, what if the person in that car crash would have turned out to be a mass murderer? As human beings, we simply do not know. We cannot possibly foresee all the myriad of effects that will ripple out in history as the result of any given occurrence. Thus, it is impossible to determine with certainty the overall good or evil of any event, and so the argument from evil will never be won by either side.

Trevor HootenSophomore, philosophy

Is it illogical to believe in God and evil?

The fact that Mike Freenor is still around to write God-bashing columns is evidence that he is at least somewhat satisfied with God’s decision to go ahead with creating a world. Even as horrible a place as the world is, there is still a lot more good and beauty than evil, and people tend to agree that life is worth living. Atheist philosophers have tried for centuries to show that the existence of God and evil are logically incompatible and have failed. God could have morally sufficient reasons for allowing evil to exist for a time. Just because He is perfectly good or “omni-benevolent” does not necessarily mean that He is a giant Santa Claus in the sky who always distributes candy canes without restraint or desires a completely pleasure-filled and cream-puff existence for His creatures. We all know that we have been strengthened through sufferings or trials. I am persuaded that Christian theism offers the only viable solution to the problem of evil. According to Christianity, the chief purpose of life is not happiness, but knowledge of God. Also, humanity is in moral rebellion against God. Third, God will one day redeem creation and there will be no more evil and suffering. Spending an eternity of joy and fulfillment with God will make this current time on earth appear infinitesimally dim. Finally, the Christian God emptied Himself and took on the form of man to suffer and face rejection and evil like us, to accomplish the greatest good.

Stephen Federowicz Senior, psychology