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Response to Hobbes Leviathan

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Jake Allen

Weekly response paper – Hobbes 31 – 43

In chapter 31 Hobbes talks about the fact the god is all-powerful and that man should not defy him because he is their creator and they owe him gratitude for this.

“The right of nature whereby God reigneth over men, and punishes those that break his laws, is to be derived, not from His creating them, as if He required obedience as of gratitude for His benefits, but from His irresistible power.”

In my opinion this fact is hard to believe because there isn’t proof of a divine god that’s all-powerful, and until this is proven I cannot fully accept him as all-powerful.
There isn’t proof of this divine and undisputed power and often, A person does not get punished by god for doing something against the word of god “This question: why evil men often prosper; and good men suffer adversity, has been much disputed by the ancient, and is the same with this of ours: by what right God dispenseth the prosperities and adversities of this life; and is of that difficulty, as it hath shaken the faith, not only of the vulgar, but of philosophers and, which is more, of the saints, concerning the Divine Providence. "How good," saith David, "is the God of Israel to those that are upright in heart; and yet my feet were almost gone, my treadings had well-nigh slipped; for I was grieved at the wicked, when I saw the ungodly in such prosperity.”

Without a belief in god its hard to agree that there is anything to discus concerning god but for the sake of the argument I would have to agree with Hobbes point where he says that we cannot conceive God, because we, as finite beings, can conceive only finite things. We cannot say that God has hands or feet, or that God laughs or cries- these concepts are entirely human and have no relevance to what is, what is divine. “Fifthly, in those things that signify greatness, and power; to say he is finite, is not to honor him: for it is a sign of the will to honor God, to attribute to him less than we can; and finite, is less than we can; because to finite, it is easy to add more”

I would agree that the political view is more of a creditable view that a religious one. There are some instances where I wouldn’t agree with some political views but Hobbes states that all laws require judgment and interpretation, and while the sovereign is the final judge, he may appoint subordinate judges to administer his laws. A judge must be impartial, decide equitably, and reach his conclusions through proper exercise of reason.
A judge may sometimes excuse a law's transgression if the transgressor demonstrates reasonable ignorance of the law. However, breaking the law is never excusable when the law is known or should be known. Breaking the laws of nature, which are apparent to everyone's reason, can never be excused (except for children, madmen, and other creatures without reason). With these implemented I believe that the political view trumps religion until religion can be factually proven.

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