In a world that seems to be going crazy and is filled with evil it is easy to often wondered what is going on wars are everywhere, genocide, and famine are rampant. The problem is that evil exist and that evil itself has a problem. Michael Peterson claims that the problem of evil is a moral protest in the following questions how could God let this happen? People often claim, It's not fair that God has let this happen. Sometimes people will question if God know how to prevent evil and is powerful enough but does not is he good unless he has a reason for it? The source of evil was the fall of Adam and the use of his free will disobey God, the problem of evil gets more problematic when one considers there are two types of evil moral and natural a theodicy must be consistent to answer the question of evil.
One of the views of evil is the dualistic theory. In this theory some conceived evil as an eternal substance that God was not able to control or destroy. A thought in this theory portrays evil as an eternal personal being equal to good, neither of which could destroy each other. Therefore they served to keep each other in check. In accordance with the perspective of theism, the
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Natural evil can be defined as a consequence of nature such as hurricanes, tornados, and disease. Eleanor Stump offers this response to the problem of evil. She claims that a world full of evil and suffering is useful to bringing about both the initial human receipt of God's gift of salvation and also the subsequent process of sanctification" She claims that it was the sin of Adam, and not any act of God that brought moral and natural evil into the world. God providentially will use moral and natural evil to bring about the repaired and eternal union with God, which is the greatest good a sinful human being can
It was once suggested that evil was simply the absence of good, and while this statement is not entirely false, it is a vast understatement to the reality that is an all-powerful, omnipotent, God, or good, and ever scheming, ever tormenting enemy of all things good, or evil. This false dichotomy is equivocal to the argument that black is simply the absence of white. It is correct to state that there is no white in black, but the reality is much more complicated than that. Black is an amalgamation of all colors on the color wheel, not just the subtraction of white. Likewise, evil includes the absence of good, but also includes many other elements such as, “people [just being] people; petty, self-absorbed, stupid, unadmirable, but not wicked” (Ryken, 307) in the words of Susan Wise Bauer. Or, as she later states, “this is how the evildoers of Scripture are portrayed, as ordinary men and women who, for whatever psychological reasons, open the door to transcendent evil—and willingly leave it cracked.” (Ryken, 310) There is good, there is evil, and there is a great deal of ambiguity in the middle. These ideas provide evidence that evil is much more then simple the absence of good. This knowledge, as well as addressing the modern world’s perception of good and evil will be further scrutinized through the course of this essay.
In other words, some people refer to evil as sin and suffering; others think of it as a separation from God while still more people personify it in the form of satan. My purpose here is not to discuss what form evil may take in an individual's life even though it may come up periodically. The central fact remains that evil, in one form or another, does exist and anyone not willing to believe in this reality quite frankly lives in a different dimension. Either that, or they simply live in a total state of denial! Keeping all this in mind, what I want to accomplish in this paper is to first explore the idea that evil is a relative term that exists within the context of each situation. Ah, yes! Even as I wrote that last sentence, I could see the wheels turning in your head. But not to worry. I will clarify soon. From this point, I will seek the wisdom of people who have tried to answer these tough questions proposed on the first page, come to some more conclusions through personal interviews and then end on a more personal note, using the help of my life experience as a Christian. This topic hits me hard at times. I often find myself in reflection, trying to formulate an answer to the evil that I see, and yes, the evil that I do. This evil will sometimes leave me feeling totally powerless and at its mercy. Yet I never give up hope for I know that just through the process of writing this paper, some new insights will be
The two solutions to what we call the problem of evil are: the free will defense and the Supralapsarian theodicy. The free will defense argues that evil and God are not incompatible because God didn’t create evil. According to this defense, human beings create evil with the free will that God given them. Since free will must be totally free, God cannot guide us to do what is good only since he wants his creatures to have complete freedom over their lives and what they do. So, by proving that God and evil can coexist logically, the free will defense is a path out of the problem of evil.
There is a lot of evil in the world, and much of it happens unexplainably. In the history of life on Earth bad things have happened and evil has caused problems. In relation to some world
Lance Marrow attempts to work out the complicated opinions and ideas on the concept of evil in his scholarly essay. He begins by giving an overview of the evil that exists in the world right now, along with questions on the existence of evil. Marrow then goes on to addressing the main definitions of evil supported by stories that follow those definitions. Finally the essay concludes with the questioning of the existence of evil in collaboration with God and on what the world would be without the existence of evil.
This is the problem of evil. Augustine summed it up most effectively when he said, “Either God cannot abolish evil or he will not. If he cannot then he is not all-powerful. If he will not then he is not all good.” Augustine viewed evil as merely the absence of good just as dark is the absence of light, a non-being “a name for nothing but the want of good”. He looked to the Bible for an explanation for the existence of God and believed that the fall of humanity from grace, as shown in Genesis, showed the origin of evil. He believed that evil came into the world because human beings had deliberately turned away from God and his goodness. This suggests that both moral and natural evil is a result of original human sin.
A controversial question that is typically pushed under the rug in today’s society: Is God real? If so, why does so much evil take place in the world? I will argue that the problem of evil is a compelling argument against the existence of God. Using John Perry’s idea’s of moral evil to prove the existence of an omniscient (all-knowing), omnipotent (all-powerful), omnibenevolent (all- good) God does not exist.
One of the oldest dilemmas in philosophy is also one of the greatest threats to Christian theology. The problem of evil simultaneously perplexes the world’s greatest minds and yet remains palpably close to the hearts of the most common people. If God is good, then why is there evil? The following essay describes the problem of evil in relation to God, examines Christian responses to the problem, and concludes the existence of God and the existence of evil are fully compatible.
The laws of nature also attempt to defend God. A theist claims that the laws of nature creates evil, and it is irrational for God to intervene in every case of suffering and danger. If God did become involved, it would be impossible for anything to be predictable. In other words, nature and the cause and effect that people know would not be consistent or reliable. Johnson agrees that God’s involvement in every disaster would be wrong. As Johnson states, “To argue that continued miraculous intervention by God would be wrong is like insisting that one should never use salt because ingesting five pounds of it would be fatal” (Pojman 123). However, God should step in to stop or prevent the most horrific of disasters. Where is the line drawn, though? Johnson says it should be on the side of intervening more than not. Even if it is not known where to draw the line, no excuse should be made to not interfere in instances of pure evil. Thus, the laws of nature do not excuse the coexistence of God and evil.
Before we can dive into the problem of evil, we must define a term. Whenever the word “God” is used in this paper, it is referring to the classical theistic conception of God. In this view of God, God is that, “than which nothing greater can be conceived” in your mind. Any attributes or qualities that make a being great, God has to the maximum. This means that, among many other qualities, God is benevolent(all good), omnipotent(all powerful), and omniscient(all knowing). Furthermore, God is the creator of the universe and is personally connected to the human race.
Evil can be categorized into two forms, moral evil and natural evil. Moral evil is brought about by bad choices that stem from our free will. Natural evil is bad things that happen to people, whether they deserve them or not. The problem with evil is,
In the course of this essay I will argue that evil is not compatible with the existence of god. This means that evil and God cannot coexist because if god were present, the existence of evil would contradict all that god is believed to be. Abrahamic religions insist that God both created the world and that he preserves and maintains it. Christianity claims that God is all knowing and is boundless in his abilities. Religions claim that God is benevolent, and only wants the best for humanity and the universe, as his creations. If all of the above statements be true, then it is hard to understand why god would allow evil to thrive right from the beginning of time.
with some evil in it. Better? Why would God being so good and concerned about
Everyday it is possible to read a newspaper, or turn on TV or radio news and learn about evil going on in our world. Banks are robbed, cars are stolen, violent murders and rapes are committed. Somewhere in the world the aftershock of an earthquake is being felt. Cancer is killing millions of people each year, while other debilitating conditions continue to affect many with no cure to end their suffering. President Bush said that our country is fighting a war against evil. We all agree that evil is real and cannot be ignored; the problem comes when we try and rationalize the concept of God and evil coexisting.
To understand evil we must first understand the concept that good and evil are term or words referring to what one given individuals believes to be the right and wrong thing to do. Good, many times