God And The Problem Of Evil
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.
Two types of evil exist in our world today. Natural evil occurs when earthquakes, hurricanes,
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There is no guarantee that a free moral agent will never choose wrongly. For a person to say that God should not have created people with the ability to choose sin, is saying he should not have created people at all. J.L. Mackie contends that God could have indeed created beings that would act freely (but always right). If this had happened we would not be free, but more like robots. If God had created creatures of superior moral character but lacking the ability to choose, these creatures would not be what we call human beings.
How we view the presence of God and evil depends on why we believe the world was created. If man is a fully created creature then the world was created for him to live in, a comfortable, pleasant place. Our world is obviously filled with suffering, danger, hardship of all kinds, so an all-powerful God could not have created it. To Christians the world is not a paradise where one can experience the maximum of pleasure and a minimum of pain. The world is a place of “soul making” or person making. As we try and understand the challenges of our lives, and our environment we may become “Children Of God”.
How different our lives would be if we lived in a world with no pain and no suffering. No one could ever again injure another person. The person with a gun filled with anger intent on killing another would find his bullets harmless. The drunk driver would no longer kill
The "Problem of Evil" is a philosophical stumbling block for many people. There are various explanations for the evil and suffering in the world. Theodicy, which is the vindication of divine goodness and providence in view of the existence of evil explains this. Ultimate Questions by Nils Ch. Rauhut mentions eight different types of theodicy: Big-Plan, Punishment, Suffering-Builds-Character, Limits-of-Human-Knowledge, Contrast, Devil, Test, and Free Will. Many of these explanations have several similarities, although I believe that Limits-of-Human Knowledge Theodicy best fits my understanding of the world. This type has the basic idea that God is the perfect being, and therefore he has infinite knowledge as an infinite being. We simply are
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
Evil can take different forms in different context. How evil is responded to depend on which form it takes. God responds to evil by overcoming it, and turning it into something virtuous. Why or when he chooses to overcome it, is something that is unknown. Humans can be agents or victims of evil. They can be the reason evil takes place, or they can affected by someone else’s evil. Evil done by humans is not malicious, but it has a negative effect on humanity. The world is a victim because it’s inability to choose between right and wrong, good and evil. The world is a victim of humankind’s evil actions. Evil is responded to in different ways, because evil has not one definite shape, but an infinite amount.
Problem of Evil Throughout our lives, we experience and observe occurrences that seem to be good and others that seem to be evil. Some of us grew up in church and believed that God has a purpose or plan for all the circumstances that we experience, good or bad. Others don’t believe in a creator or God and instead live with the assumption that life is great at times and at other times is terrible, without rhyme or reason. The problem of evil seems to ultimately criticise God and christian beliefs.
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
In a world of chaos, he who lives, lives by his own laws and values. Who is to say that the death of millions is any worse or better, for that matter, than injuring a cockroach. And in the case of an existing power in the form of God, who is presumed to be all which is good, presiding and ruling an organized universe, why then does evil exist? The prosaic response of "without evil, there is no good" no longer holds any validity in this argument as the admitted goal of good is to reach an existence without evil. So even if a God does exist, I think it is fair, at this point, to say that he is the embodiment of both good and evil. And if humoring those who would answer the previous question with the response that there can be no good
The problem of evil is honestly one of the greatest obstacles to believe of the existence of God. Their are times I sit and think of all the suffering in the world, and wonder if whether it is caused by mans inhumanity to one another or natural disasters. Though I can honestly say I find it hard to believe in a God at times. Then again, I think there comes a time when some people feel the same way.
Important point: Evil does not mean God does NOT exist, but only implies that God’s probably has a lesser chance of existing.
God created things which had free will. That means creatures which can go wrong or right. Some people think they can imagine a creature which was free but had no possibility of going wrong, but I
Evil in this context is regarding to all suffering, pain and horror. Evil can be categorized as natural evil and moral evil. Natural evil is that which occurs by natural means e.g. earthquakes, tsunamis etc. Moral evil is that which is imposed on humans by humans e.g.
Is it possible to exist in this world without evil? We have no problem saying yes to this question when it means to put an end to rape and murder. But, what we must understand is that evil does not only exist in actions but also in thoughts. Thinking something evil is still allowing it to subsist in this world. It is destructive and ruinous whether or not it is acted upon. So, if God were to rid the world of evil, in doing so he would be taking away our freedom of thought. We would no longer be able to think and do as we please. Therefore, we can conclude that it is possible that God allows evil into the world in order to protect man’s free
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
evil shouldn’t exist. But because evil does exist in this world, God is not all-good and
As we all know, evil exists. In some way, shape, or form, you’ve been affected by it; no matter what you call it. Some people have been affected more significantly than others, but regardless, it’s a part of everyone’s life. There are two forms of evil that exists: Moral Evil, and Natural Evil. Moral Evil concerns what people do to people. (Murder, slavery, rape, etc.) Then on the other hand, we have Natural Evil, which concerns what nature does to people. (Natural disasters, disease, etc.) Both these forms of evil have affected everyone, and that leaves us to ask the following question: why?
When a small amount of evil is seen yet disregarded, the ignorance breathes life. The evil grows and strengthens, gradually taking over any good that may be left. But when evil is all around and good is hard to come by, does that same evil now become normal? During a time of war, good people become killers and bad people become customary. The fine line between good and evil becomes blurred into a senseless smudge in the eye of reality. The good people now, whilst protecting their freedom and family, are simultaneously destroying the families of those unknown individuals who become numbered fatalities. Ignoring evil allows it to happen, but there comes a time when evil overpowers any good that may try to stop it. Like a single person