Talk:Doctrine 1/@comment-81.175.133.194-20100918105554/@comment-3069206-20100918231048

By saying an 'eternal being', I think Epicurus is talking about a god.

What's he's saying is that if there was a god that was happy, then such a god wouldn't bother to trouble people. It'd be a strong god, and, as such, it wouldn't need to be angry or be partial to one or another person. Such a god would be happy playing golf, or whatever such imagined gods do, and not trouble itself with messing about in human affairs.

Essentially he's saying that, if there are any gods, then they can't, rationally, be involved in human affairs.

Greek myths talk about gods helping, or hindering, humans in their day to day affairs. So the legend of Troy includes gods on both sides. Epicurus is saying that that is nonsense. How could a strong god possibly be so bored as to bother with a small tribal war on earth?