"[62]:27 In the Holman Bible dictionary, evil is all that is "opposed to God and His purposes or that which, from the human perspective, is harmful and nonproductive. Moreover, free will, if it even exists, only accounts for moral evil (evils attributed to free will like murder, rape, etc.) [63], The Irenaean theodicy has been challenged with the assertion that many evils do not seem to promote spiritual growth, and can be positively destructive of the human spirit. The rabbit hole doesn’t seem to have a bottom and as PKD said in his book that deals with all this (VALIS), “The Empire never ended”. Do you think this provides good reason for believing in God? The inference from this claim to the general statement that there exists unnecessary evil is inductivein nature and it is this inductive step that sets the evidential argument apart from the logical argument. In this framework, stories that seemed to impute dishonorable conduct to the gods were often simply dismissed as false, and as being nothing more than the "imagination of poets." [144] However, this theodicy attempt by Ibn Sina is considered, by Shams C. Inati, as unsuccessful because it implicitly denies the omnipotence of God. Leibniz, Gottfried. [76] The other is a more modern version of "deny evil", suggested by Christian Science, wherein the perception of evil is described as a form of illusion. C. S. Lewis writes: "We can, perhaps, conceive of a world in which God corrected the results of this abuse of free will by His creatures at every moment: so that a wooden beam became soft as grass when it was used as a weapon, and the air refused to obey me if I attempted to set up in it the sound waves that carry lies or insults. Further, the Pharaoh was seen as an agent of the gods and his actions as a king were aimed to prevent evil and curb evilness in human nature. Si potest et non vult, invidus; quod aeque alienum a Deo. In addition, we might also wonder why an omnipotent God couldn’t create humans with the freedom to do bad things, but who never do them. [65] Thirdly, states Kane, human character can be developed directly or in constructive and nurturing loving ways, and it is unclear why God would consider or allow evil and suffering to be necessary or the preferred way to spiritual growth. Job 40 says God is not like humans but wants a relationship with all of them, which requires some surrender to God and acceptance of suffering. The Bible has a number of things to say about the problem of evil. The free will defense is implausible here. [1][2][4] These versions have included philosophical and theological formulations. 1: A–M, Rosen Publishing. [citation needed], On the other hand, the philosopher Lucretius in De rerum natura, rejected the divinity in nature as a cause of many evils for humanity. An essay on the principle of population. The above argument is set against numerous versions of the problem of evil that have been formulated. It presumes that our present Earth, bodies, culture, relationships and lives are all there is... [but] Heaven will bring far more than compensation for our present sufferings. [142] Evil was neither bad nor needed moral justification from God, but rewards awaited believers in the afterlife. [80] God does not participate in evil, God is perfection, His creation is perfection, stated Augustine. Shankara attributes evil and cruelty in the world to Karma of oneself, of others, and to ignorance, delusion and wrong knowledge,[174] but not to the abstract Brahman. While the post-Enlightenment world does not, the "dark spiritual forces" can be seen as "symbols of the darkest recesses of human nature. [114]:137, In the Bible, all characterizations of evil and suffering reveal "a God who is greater than suffering [who] is powerful, creative and committed to His creation [who] always has the last word." A variant of above defenses is that the problem of evil is derived from probability judgments since they rest on the claim that, even after careful reflection, one can see no good reason for co-existence of God and of evil. [85], A variant of above defenses is that the problem of evil is derived from probability judgments since they rest on the claim that, even after careful reflection, one can see no good reason for co-existence of God and of evil. The Standard Narrative Before turning to the text of Metaphysics Theta 9, let’s consider a few features of what I identify as the standard narrative. [40][41] Free will is both a source of good and of evil, and with free will also comes the potential for abuse, as when individuals act immorally. Hick acknowledges that this process often fails in our world. 481–99. PROBLEMS – We can answer that free will is not worth all the misery that ensues from free choice. If #1 is true then either #2 or #5 is true, but not both. "[105], Philosopher Richard Swinburne says that, as it stands in its classic form, the argument from evil is unanswerable, yet there may be contrary reasons for not reaching its conclusion that there is no God. This might include things that we instinctively know to be evil, like rape or murder. in "The Virtue of Faith and Other Essays in Philosophical Theology". To defeat such an attack, it is only necessary to show that it is logically possible for evil to exist, even if God exists. This page was last edited on 9 December 2020, at 01:05. Psychologically this implies that we wouldn’t appreciate good things with bad things, pleasure without pain, and happiness without unhappiness. In this explanation, God's condemnation of evil is declared to be a good judgement. Critics have noted that theodicies and defenses are often addressed to the logical problem of evil. God's subsequent tolerance of evil is explained in part by the value of free will. Believers tell us that God is good. If we are made by god(s) and in their control there is no limit to the torture they can inflict in this world and the next. Both absolute versions and relative versions of the evidential problems of evil are presented below. "Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God." Both of these arguments are understood to be presenting two forms of the 'logical' problem of evil. Paul Schrecker and Anne Martin Schrecker. Digging a Hole in Goodness. (Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2016). It can begin with a simple statement that evil exists since the fall of Mankind and has corrupted the hearts of men. That is, all this pain will be insignificant when we all enjoy eternal bliss. The Augustinian theodicy, named for the 4th- and 5th-century theologian and philosopher Augustine of Hippo, is a type of Christian theodicy designed in response to the evidential problem of evil.As such, it attempts to explain the probability of an omnipotent (all-powerful) and omnibenevolent (all-good) God amid evidence of evil in the world. [127] Other angels who sided with Satan became demons. Evil as well as good, along with suffering is considered real and caused by human free will,[167] its source and consequences explained through the karma doctrine of Hinduism, as in other Indian religions. [77] The theologians of Christian Science, states Stephen Gottschalk, posit that the Spirit is of infinite might, mortal human beings fail to grasp this and focus instead on evil and suffering that have no real existence as "a power, person or principle opposed to God". [110]:Chapter 4 The book of Job "seeks to expand the understanding of divine justice ...beyond mere retribution, to include a system of divine sovereignty [showing] the King has the right to test His subject's loyalty... [Job] corrects the rigid and overly simplistic doctrine of retribution in attributing suffering to sin and punishment. According to Saint Augustine's free will theodicy (AFWT), moral evil attends free will. This argument is of the form modus tollens, and is logically valid: If its premises are true, the conclusion follows of necessity. Two Aspects of the Problem. That is, for whatever evil or evils identified by the argument, a successful defense must simply provide some explanation for why God would allow that evil to occur. C.S. The gods are neither our friends nor enemies. [43], Another criticism is that the potential for evil inherent in free will may be limited by means which do not impinge on that free will. [62]:21 The writers of the Bible take the reality of a spiritual world beyond this world and its containment of hostile spiritual forces for granted. Stated in its most powerful way, the logical problem of evil is this: a God that would create a world that would contain evil cannot be the omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent God of the Bible; but the God (if any) that created this world is a God that created a world that contains evil; therefore the God that created this world cannot be the omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent God of the Bible. If God were all-knowing, it seems that God would know about all of the horrible things that happen in our world. From this line of thought one may conclude that, as these conclusions violate our basic moral intuitions, no greater good theodicy is true, and God does not exist. Lewis wrote The Problem of Pain in 1940. God's goodness and benevolence, according to the Augustinian theodicy, remain perfect and without responsibility for evil or suffering. The inference from this claim to the general statement that there exists unnecessary evil is inductive in nature and it is this inductive step that sets the evidential argument apart from the logical argument. One resolution to the problem of evil is that God is not good. Explain the Problem of Evil. [2] Richard Swinburne maintains that it does not make sense to assume there are greater goods that justify the evil's presence in the world unless we know what they are—without knowledge of what the greater goods could be, one cannot have a successful theodicy. [69] Christian author Randy Alcorn argues that the joys of heaven will compensate for the sufferings on earth. Best of luck to any others of you who have your eyes opened to the seeming horror and cannot just turn away ever again as much as you might wish you could. Another general criticism is that though a theodicy may harmonize God with the existence of evil, it does so at the cost of nullifying morality. [117] There is, therefore, no positive source of evil, corresponding to the greater good, which is God;[118] evil being not real but rational—i.e. [81] Scholars who criticize the privation theory state that murder, rape, terror, pain and suffering are real life events for the victim, and cannot be denied as mere "lack of good".
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