What is essentially existent or good is the cause of what has existence or goodness by participation.
This claim is not clear, but can be spelt out in at least the following three different ways: that there is such a property as felt positivity and that all instances of pleasure have it; that all pleasure consists partly in feeling the existence of goodness or value; or that all pleasure has goodness or value as an intentional object, and this is so whether or not goodness or value exists.
God is whatever he is essentially, and as a result he is existence itself, goodness itself, wisdom itself.
It is arrogance to question God's existence and goodness when we lack understanding of the infinite complexities of his creation.
It is an existence of goodness, mercy, forgiveness, joy, happiness, beauty, and love, but it is also an existence of responsibility -- of doing things God's way.
In earlier centuries, theologians such as John Ray and William Derham, as well as philosophers of classical times such as Cicero, argued for the existence and goodness of God from the general well-being of living things and the physical world.
Some people are meant to go with the world, flowing gracefully through it, picking ripe fruit as they glide through existence, pouring goodness from their pores... this is not to say that they do not face challenges and heartache; indeed, we all do, but they manage to handle even these moments with the utmost peace.
Existence is pure goodness (Mulla Sadra 2001-5, I: 395-7).
But though you can argue from emotivism and the non-existence of objective goodness to the truth of a) and b), can you argue from a) and b) to the non-existence of objective goodness?
