The Problem of Evil Essay examples

Does the problem of evil pose a challenge for theists and the existence of God? The problem of evil argues that there is so much suffering in the world that an all-good and all powerful God would not allow such suffering to exist. Therefore, a God with those characteristics does not exist. Unless the suffering is necessary for an adequate reason. Some people argue that suffering is necessary for there to be good and for us to able to understand what good is. In this paper, I will argue that suffering does not need to exist in order for good to exist, because the existence of good does not depend on suffering. I will then argue that good and suffering are not logical opposites. Finally, I will conclude that since evil is not justified, then the God that we defined does not exist.

Part A) 'Evil and suffering is the result of a malevolent God' discuss the problem of evil and suffering in light of this quote. (6 marks)

Important point: Evil does not mean God does NOT exist, but only implies that God’s probably has a lesser chance of existing.

J.L. Mackie a modern philosopher had a similar approach to Hume and he believed that God could not be both omnibenevolent and omnipotent if evil exists. He labelled this the inconsistent triad and believed that you could not have all three conflicting claims at once.

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 Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion Philo Presents an interesting argument, which is referred to as the argument from evil. The basic idea of the argument is that because there is so much evil and pain in this world there is no way there is an omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent God. The purpose of this paper is to show that the argument fails, by defending a view on which the presence of evil is completely compatible with this type of God that has been described.

To what extent is the so-called ‘problem of evil’ a problem for anyone who believes in God? The problem of evil as suffering is a problem of what to do with the obstacle facing the believer and also this as a challenge to unbeliever for them to converge because they do not think it harmonising. Its contradict compatibility, an atheist often suggested that the present of evil entails the absence of God. Atheist argued that, if God exists, then he is an omnipotent, and able to prevent the evil occurrence. For omniscient, it implies that under any circumstances evil will occur if he does not act. Then, being perfectly good, he will prevent its occurrence and so evil will not exist. Based on this above proclamation, the existence of God does not compatible with the evil of whatever kind. However, theists response to this logical problem of evil by an atheist is that necessarily perfectly good being, foreseeing the occurrence of evil and able to prevent it, will prevent evil. The essay will first define what problem of evil according to Swinburne as one of the philosophers of religion. Second, Swinburne four categories of evil will be discussed (Physical evil, mental evil, state evil, moral evil). Third, Phillip logical and existential problem evil will be discussed, what impact do these have on the failure to distinguish the logical and the existential problem of evil for both theist and atheist. Fourth, how will all these above assertions (definition of evil, for categories of

What is evil? What is suffering? Religions all over the world have been trying to answer these questions for centuries. This essay will examine their responses, and briefly look at the practical application of the Christian response to suffering.

Evil and suffering are two very similar terms. Dating back to the creation of the universe, evil and suffering have influenced our existence as human being. Many factors are responsible for how humans cope with, experience, and perceive evil and suffering. Evil can be defined as a moral or natural suffering that affects human beings (Reuter, 29 August 2016). Furthermore suffering can be defined as "a response to threat to integrity of self" (McFarland, 12 September 2016). One of the greatest challenges with evil and sufferings is the differences humans share in dealing with these particular issues both from a Christian point of view and a non-Christian point of view [thesis].

Introduction: The problem of evil is, in my opinion, the best point of departure for a fruitful dialogue between Christianity, traditionally conceived, and those strands of modern philosophy which have been perceived--indeed, have sometimes perceived themselves--as a threat to that tradition. As such, I will attempt first, to outline the problem of evil in the starkest terms possible, presenting Augustine's approach to its solution followed by a critical analysis; second, to present an alternative approach to the questions which give rise to the problem--an approach derived in large part from Spinoza and Nietzsche; and, third, to show how this more philosophically acceptable alternative can be expressed

I recognize that God can work in mysterious ways and there must be a reason to why there is still evil in this world. I believe that God takes part in, both, good and evil and is still infinitely powerful, wise, and good. It is true that God has the power to remove evil acts but the problem with this possibility is that there would be no one left and God would have to remove us all since we all sin and commit evil acts. Ultimately, all evil causes harm to others whether it is people who are more evil or people who are less evil. God could change everyone’s personality so that they cannot sin but this would also mean that we would not have a free will.

Good and evil are relative terms, like up and down or past and future. It is not possible to have one or the other, you have to have both. When it comes to natural disaster or natural evil, the existence of evil allows for good to oppose evil. It opens up possibilities for bravery and compassion in helping one another in such tragedies Free Will Another problem with evil and the reason of why we see it today, is of the existence of free will. Free will is the ability to choose between different possible courses of action.

The problem of evil and suffering has been around for the thousands of years. It remains an expressive debate today as it is used as one of the main arguments by Atheists to state that God does not exist. It is said that the nature of God can be explained in three ways that God is omnipotent which means that he is all powerful, that God is omniscient which means he is all knowing and omnibenevolent which means that god is all loving. These statements cannot be true because evil exists in this world and if God was all powerful then he will be able to stop evil from happening and if God was all loving then he would try his best to stop something bad from happening this is known as the inconsistent triad because if evil and suffering exists,

I went through a lot of different stages during my deconversion from Christianity when I was a teenager and into my early university days. I spent quite a large portion of my life questioning Christianity while still believing in a somewhat deistic concept of God. I still held onto a somewhat liberal concept of God. I still saw God as a personal creator being guiding the evolution of the universe through some divine consciousness. I still believed, even, that God was involved in our lives in some way, so I wasn’t entirely a deist. I was more of a theist with no religion. However, I was very open to new ideas of God.

In my opinion God is not the creator of evil and suffering. This is implied in the bible, in Genesis 1:31, when it says; “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” Therefore, everything that he had made was good, thus He could not possibly be the author of evil. So where did suffering come from? God wanted a genuine relationship with us. He wanted us to sincerely love him, like he already loved us. However, this would not have been possible without the freedom of choice, otherwise we would just be like robots, programmed to love God, rather than actually experiencing it (Dickson, 2001). However, when God gave Adam and Eve this freedom, we, as humans, betrayed him and chose to eat the fruit from the tree that we were forbidden not too. We abused the free will that he gave us and walked away from Him. This, in my opinion, is the reason that good people suffer. Because when we walked away from God, we also brought natural and moral evil into the world. Moral evil is the suffering that occurs as a result of our own uncaring, selfish, and hateful actions. For example, if we look at famine, the world produces enough food for everyone to have 3,000 calories a day; however, it is a result of our own self-centeredness that thousands of people around the world starve. It is a result of our own free will. Furthermore, natural evil can also be explained