The Problem of Evil

The Problem of Evil

Overview
1. The problem of evil is the question of how to reconcile the existence of evil with a God that is omniscient, omnipotent and omnibenevolent
  1. Evil is whatever is painful, malicious of disastrous
    1. Moral Evil
      1. The existence of suffering due to human activity alone
        murder
        holocaust
        rape
    2. Natural Evil
      1. Events in the world which bring about suffering due to natural disasters
        earthquakes
        Floods
        landslide
What is the classic theistic God like?
1. The Inconsistent Triad
  1. God needs to be all 3 omnis or else it creates an inconsistent triad
    1. How can pain and suffering exist if God is all 3 omnis?
      1. If God is omnipotent
        He would've been able to create a world without suffering
      2. If God is omniscient
        He would've know that the suffering and evil would occur and put a stop to it
      3. If God is omnibenevolent
        He would not tolerate evil and suffering in the world
Philosophical Explanations
1. The Free will Defence
  1. Summarised
    1. Evils are entirely due to the bad, free choices made by human beings
      1. It was good of God to create free beings, but bad of them to abuse this freedom
        God is not responsible for the evils of the world, humans are
  2. Key Features
    1. God Created a perfect world
      1. Humans were created perfect and in the image of God
        Humans given free will
        God told them not to eat from tree of knowledge
        Humans were tempted by serpent to disobey God
        They eat the forbidden fruit
        God punishes serpent, the women and the ground
        Adam and eve cast out, changes God's relationships with humans forever
  3. Strengths
    1. Allows the existence of classic theistic God
    2. Faithful to Bible narrative
    3. Evil not part of God's original plan
    4. God is not responsible for mans evil choices
  4. Weaknesses
    1. Requires taking Genesis literally - unscientific and disproven by Evolution
    2. How could evil come about in the perfect world?
      1. If there was a possibility for evil then surely the world was not created perfect
    3. Why did God not create humans who always choose morally right actions
    4. Why did God not prevent fall of man if he foresaw it
2. Philosophical attempts to solve the problem of evil are known as theodicy
  1. Augustine's Theodicy
    1. Soul deciding
      1. Concerned with judgement of human souls
    2. The classic biblical answer to Evil
      1. Starts from the idea that the world was created wholly good
        "God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good" Genesis
        World is a perfect place
        Humans created physically and morally good, but not perfect
        No natural evil, everything vegetarian and lives in harmony
    3. Evil
      1. Is the result of man's misuse of freewill resulting from eating the forbidden fruit
        Misuse of freewill caused the downfall from perfection
        Moral Evil - comes as a result of misuse of freewill
        Natural Evil- comes as a result of this misuse,it is the corruption of the order and harmony within nature
      2. Is Privatio Boni (Privation of Good)
        Believed that Evil is an absence of good, not a force in itself
        Rejects cosmic dualism, not two opposite forces in the world
        Natural Evil is a loss of order following the expulsion from Eden (Evil is nature corrupted)
        Natural and Moral Evil can be seen as a punishment from God
        For Augustine, this is justification for the fact that God does not put an end to suffering
    4. Strengths
      1. Privation of Good
        Supported by many modern philosophers
        Allows God to stay omnibenevolent
      2. Evil as a result of human abuse of free will
        Supported by many modern thinkers
        Seems clear that much of evil and suffering in world is caused by humans choosing to act in wrong ways
      3. Backed up by biblical evidence
        Considered strength by Christians
    5. Weaknesses
      1. Logical errors
        'perfect world gone wrong'
      2. Moral errors
        Would omnibenevolent God punish people for Eve's sin?
      3. Scientific errors
        Challenged by evolutionary theory
  2. Irenaeus' Theodicy
    1. Soul Making
      1. concerned with development of human souls
        Modern comparison "No pain, no gain"
    2. traced evil back to free will
      1. Said that people need to suffer
        and that people need to be made to choose between Good and Evil otherwise they'd be like obedient robots
        God Wants people to choose to worship him
    3. Taught key 3 ideas
      1. God did not make a perfect world
      2. God is partly responsible for evil
        God created humans imperfectly and made it their task to develop perfection
        His aim when he created the world was to make humans flawless, in his likeness.
      3. Evil has a valuable role to play in God's plans for humans
        Achieving likeness of God requires willing cooperation of humans
        Genuine perfection can't just be given by God - must be developed by humans themselves
        This requires free will - humans must choose to be willing
        God's plans required the genuine possibility that human actions might have produced evil
        The potential for evil was essential to God's plan for transforming humans into God's likeness
    4. Hick's version
      1. Humans
        Being created in God's image is about evolution of humans into rational, intelligent and religious animals
        Humans gain God's likeness when they grow into a relationship with him
      2. The Fall
        Used to describe the distance between God and humans
        Epistemic Distance
        God's presence is not obvious in our world
        Therefore humans have a choice whether to believe in God or not
      3. Soul Making
        We live in a world where we make free decisions
        Right choices enable us to develop good habits and virtuous qualities
      4. Natural Disasters
        The world has to have danger in order for us to develop into the Image of God
      5. The Afterlife
        Believes you can develop God's likeness in our world - helps you to get into heaven
        Different to Iranaeus Ideas
    5. Strengths
      1. can be reconciled with evolution
      2. No logical errors
      3. Helps to explain existence of moral/natural evil
    6. Weaknesses
      1. Quantity of suffering
        Soul-making requires some suffering
        But why is there so much suffering?
        Many would argue that the quantity of suffering in our world is unacceptable
      2. Suffering cannot be seen as an act of love
        God who is omnibenelovent would not allow suffering

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