Abstract from Amazon:
The God of classical theism, that which Jonathan MS Pearce calls “OmniGod”, is in the crosshairs in the collection of arguments against such a god’s existence. Omnipotence, omniscience (including full divine foreknowledge of every event that will come to pass), and omnibenevolence make for difficult bedfellows. In fact, OmniGod’s characteristics are so flawed when employed together, and when seen in light of design, heaven, hell, and Satan, that belief in such a being is almost certainly irrational.
This is what Pearce takes aim at – all of these ideas supposedly working in coherent unison – in this book aimed at a popular audience. The book packs a punch as he handily deconstructs these ideas to show that either God does not exist, or that God is not all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-loving.
“…since believers aren’t usually reasoned out of a faith that they were never reasoned into, the prolific Pearce expertly throws the book at them. I’m a fan of his. Highly recommended reading!”- John W. Loftus, philosopher and counter-apologist with 12 books, including The Case against Miracles and God and Horrendous Suffering.
“A concise but very philosophically sophisticated presentation of thirty evergreen problems for both theism in general and Abrahamic religions specifically. A must for the bookshelves of both atheists (to quickly reference powerful arguments) and theists (to understand the strongest and most commonly-used points of their opposition).”- Gunther Laird, author of The Unnecessary Science: A Critical Analysis of Natural Law Theory
“Jonathan MS Pearce is a talented writer with a thoroughly enjoyable conversational style. While I tend to abhor philosophy, this little book provides a very nice, easy-to-read and comprehensive overview of a number of key philosophical issues pertaining to topics of God, religion and theology. This is an essential read for anyone with an interest in the viability of faith, whether it be theirs or another.”- Dr. Kipp Davis, author of Dead Sea Scrolls Fragments in the Museum Collection
Here’s a taste from Chapter 1
1 – Why Would God Create at All? This is one of those arguments that I have often used in one form or another in my previous work. It is important, though, because it cuts right to the heart of everything – or anything – in existence.
The question we perhaps need to ask of God is why did it create anything at all? I mean, really, why? What is the point? What is the point of us? Of the universe, including black holes and tsunamis, malaria and debilitating mental health? Humans are left – at least, those still clinging onto belief in a supposedly supreme being – trying to desperately work out what the answers to these questions might be without even the slightest peep out of the creator itself.
Indeed, God appears to have been on holiday for 2,000 years and has disconnected the phone. Why indeed. We can but guess. The problem – and, for this, return to previous ideas of a necessary, immutable, perfect God – is the idea that God is, indeed, perfect. Okay, that might make no sense, but let’s grant the theist at least this much for the sake of the argument. I like the idea that they might be “hoist by their own petard”.[7]
Something that is sheer perfection will not be lacking anything. And some entity not lacking anything will not have a need for anything. No lacking, no needs, no desires. If God exists, causally prior to creation, in some scenario of perfection, then there is no rationale for God “deciding” to create anything. Simply put, OmniGod wouldn’t create because creation would invalidate its omni-characteristics and ideas of perfection.
This can be formulated into a syllogism:
(1) If the Christian God exists, then GodWorld is the unique best possible world.
(2) If GodWorld is the unique best possible world, then the Christian God would maintain GodWorld.
(3) GodWorld is false because the Universe (or any non-God object) exists.
(4) Conclusion: Therefore, the Christian God, as so defined, does not exist.
Pearce, Jonathan MS (2022-03-05T22:58:59.000). 30 Arguments against the Existence of “God”, Heaven, Hell, Satan, and Divine Design . Onus Books. Kindle Edition.
Read to Death 