Theodicy Vs Religion

One of the fundamental questions that religions seek to answer is that of origin. How was man put on earth? Why and from what was he created? Who created him? What does his creation imply about the status of human beings? Some or all of these questions are answered by a religion’s creation stories. Every religion’s creation myths attempt to give solutions to problems present to that religious society. Because of this, each religion may have one or more creation stories, each of those different from one another in the questions they ask and the answers they give.

Ever have an unfortunate event happen to you and then think to yourself, why me, why did this happen to me, what did I do to deserve this punishment? When something bad happens to us, we turn to god and question him, if he truly is watching out for us then why did he let such a bad thing occur in my life? Theodicy, before taking this course I had never really heard of this word before, and even as this assignment came up I had no clue what it meant either. Theodicy means a justification of the divine attributes, particularly holiness and justice, in establishing or allowing the existence of physical and moral evil. Why does god allow evil in the world? It all comes out to a balance in the world, if there is a god there is the devil, if there

Communities all over the world use religion to rationalize the devastation they feel, and to find reason among it. This is the common history Eliade refers to. In all religions, there is some sort of struggle whether there is good versus evil or overcoming adversity. Throughout the chapters in “The Myth of The Eternal Return”, the reasoning behind religion is that there must be a bigger picture. If not, why would people harm and kill others if there wasn't someone making it happen? This is where the thought of a God occurred. An all-knowing being must be behind the continuous cycle of chaos in the cosmos, “struggles, conflicts, and wars for the most part have a ritual cause and function. They are a stimulating opposition between the two halves of a clan, or a struggle between the representatives of two divinities (for example, in Egypt, the combat between two groups representing Osiris and Set); but this always commemorates an episode of

Religion is constructed on faith and belief of an individual even though it is the individual choice to follow it or not. It has stirred a lot of debates for years; those who are trying to prove that God exists throughout history and follow to modern day. While, those who are atheist are trying to prove their point of God does not exist. There are still more and more theories and debate over the subject of religious view. It is a matter of theism versus atheism; new and old philosophers have joined the debate and all with different sides to another philosopher’s theory or view on the matter. In this paper, I will attempt to illustrate the reasons given by Louis Pojman of why religion is good or bad, as well as evaluating Bertrand Russell argument about religion. This can define the meaning of life and the creation of life as we know it. It can change views or switch sides for there is always another explanation to exactly what religion is all about and having a superior ruler that created all.

One of the main topic in the philosophy of religion is the discussion between theists and skeptics on the existence of God. Atheists say that there is a logical inconsistency between the existence of evil and the existence of God. However, theists believe that the mere existence of evil is not sufficient enough to completely dismiss the possibility of a morally perfect being existing This paper will discuss the logical inconsistencies between God and the “problem of evil” as well as the theist 's response to this argument through the free-will defense. In response, the atheist will address the problems evil that the free-will defense did not address, like natural evils. an argument that the thiests will attempt to dismiss using the “expanded free-will defense” which touches on humans primordial estrangement from God. Nonetheless, I feel the theist 's response fails to defend the existence of God because it does not fully address gratuitous evils or suffering from nonhuman beings.

Theodicy attempts to explain why evil and suffering persists in the world. There are multiple theodicies ranging, from Augustine’s free will defense to Maimonides rejection of human suffering altogether as a state of mind. However, a simpler and perhaps easier stance to hold is that, evil and suffering exist and that there is no God that responsible for it, since no God exists. Christopher Hitchens would use Occam’s razor and conclude that his answer is most likely to be correct due to its simplicity (Hitchens 87). Theodicies while often eloquent, are often long-winded, complex and always leave some questions unanswered. The Irenaean theodicy as outlined by John Hick explains that suffering experienced by humanity is a way that humanity is molded and shaped towards perfection (Hick 44). The Irenaean theodicy fails at explaining great calamities and assumes too optimistically that humanity can learn from their suffering. In fact, great suffering is perhaps even more capable of destroying character than building it. In times of disaster, desperation sets in and humans act more selfishly, causing looting and crime to skyrocket. In the interest of national security, we have deployed nuclear weapons and napalm and employed torture and extrajudicial executions of US citizens. Sometimes in response to human evil we

Furthermore, the very nature of mankind is to bring about violence as a means of revenge against the unjust. Ultimately, this painful reality is met with a God of sovereign justice. Many societies firmly believe that extinguishing the reaches of God would cause violence to decrease. On the contrary, once one realizes that the great evils of the world will not be judged at the end of it all, humanity must then take the charge to right the wrongs

The belief in Gods has always existed throughout human’s recored history. Whether it be the Greek Gods: Apollo, and Zeus, or the Judeo-Christian God, believed by Christians in modern day society. The belief of God has always existed among humans, however, assuming God does not exist, what explains the cultural evolution of such a false belief, namely religion? I shall argue that the reason this false belief is successful is because it manipulates human nature better than any other belief by these three points: an avoidance of death (the soul), a sense of worth (knowledge), and a sense, or need of belief (faith).

According to this view, the meeting point of these two important elements, is what is called religion. Within religion the world-view and the ethos are melted in a coherent experience, especially in religious act, or ritual. Inside the ritual the world-view becomes evident and real, while, on the other hand, it is possible to experience the indissoluble link with the lines of acceptable conduct and evaluation, because it is

Other areas of psychology suggest that humans believe God(s) exist(s) because they are simply used to having an entity watch over them, and because personalities desire the security and growth found from a supervisory relationship. Often in religion there are rules that shall not be disobeyed, or punishment that one would wish to avoid. In the Bible, one should act righteously by the commandments, lest they risk their eternal damnation in the pits of hell. In Greek mythology, cruel and unethical behavior may lead to the fields of punishment. And Hinduism’s cycle of rebirth and karma dictates that if one acts unrighteously within this life, they shall surely be reborn as a being whose very existence is viewed as unpleasant, such as a barnacle. Varying takes on punishment aside, it is clear that religion and mythology have their own views on morality and the relative consequence of one’s actions. But the fact remains that such stories exist to remind society as a whole that it should not behave in an immoral fashion. This being the case, it could be said that the deciding forces, Karma, God, and gods exist to supervise people, much as a parent or teacher would. Such myths and religious ideals exist to prevent conflict, and regardless of religious conflict in the world today, ideas such as the Ten Commandments remind humanity as a whole that the true aim of religion was truly to discourage conflict and encourage harmony. “Have respect for life. The commandment ‘You shall not kill’ means an obligation for a culture of non-violence.” (Kässmann, M.

"Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1). Since the beginning of Christianity, there has been erratic controversy about the existence of an all-powerful God. There is a good portion of people who are convinced there is not a God with scientific reasoning, and another good portion who base their belief of a God on faith. Those who do not believe in God and those who do are tested by the same question; how did life start? Although both answers are debatable, I believe, undoubtedly, that God is not dead.

Religion is a personal belief or faith in God or different Gods. The different perspectives of seeing God has been a controversy for centuries. Different religions and doctrines have had a great impact in our society. Many have suffered for various ways to worship God. Others are still wondering what to believe in, while important philosophers have their own conclusions over what religion consists of. Therefore, Christians have their faith and hope in the God who sent his only child to die for our sins. Good and evil exist and we observe it on a daily basis. Religion takes obedience which is shown in the painting “The Ladder of Divine Ascent,” by St. John Climacus illustrating the idea that people knew what is right and wrong when following God but for some it was hard to obey Him. I chose my topic on Mandates of Heaven by Lapham’s Quarterly because it is a compelling topic for our ancestors and for these current times. Throughout my analysis I will state why I feel that the overall issue will continue to go unsolved unless one puts a practice to the test by building a relationship with God.

What is theodicy? Theodicy is the defense of God’s goodness and omnipotence and the view of the existence of evil. The creation of things we know as the, heavens and earth is due to God, the creator. Everything that occurs in the universe is under divine providence.

The Existential questions which are important to ask are, Why do we suffer? What happens after we die? and does god exist? Many religions will have answers for these questions, however the comparison between the Catholic viewpoint and the Secular Humanist viewpoint will be argued in this report.

Finding the purpose of life has always been a constant in human history and religions have been the predominant answer to this need for a long period of time. Believing in an all-powerful God therefore being part of a universal plan for eternal salvation requires faith in God and the following of his message contained in a sacred text. However, a common theme among scriptures of various religion is the clear division between “the chosen ones” and the “not chosen ones” depending on our stance about the scriptures. These groups respectively lead to eternal salvation or condemnation. While we could define the chosen ones as the good people, fearful of God and his teachings, the other group is harder to describe since it is subject to personal interpretation: it refers to individuals ignorant about the truth, refusing it consciously or not or pursuing the opposite of the truth, either sin or another religion. This concept, called religious exclusivism affirm that only one particular religion is true. Since every religion claims to be the right one this situation creates competing universal claims that do not leave space for compromise, leaving the individual either on one side or another. Disagreement without compromise automatically leads to conflict, especially in the case of religions.