Theodicy Vs Religion

The problem of reconciling an omnipotent, perfectly just, perfectly benevolent god with a world full of evil and suffering has plagued believers since the beginning of religious thought. Atheists often site this paradox in order to demonstrate that such a god cannot exist and, therefore, that theism is an invalid position. Theodicy is a branch of philosophy that seeks to defend religion by reconciling the supposed existence of an omnipotent, perfectly just God with the presence of evil and suffering in the world. In fact, the word “theodicy” consists of the Greek words “theos,” or God, and “dike,” or justice (Knox 1981, 1). Thus, theodicy seeks to find a sense of divine justice in a

Religion was created to inspire and give people hope for a better life by worshiping a supernatural deity. However, in today’s society the world has manipulated and shaped the concept of religion into something other than a type of betterment of the human race. Humans are born into this world untouched, it is not until they become a certain age when they are lead into the manipulative cycle of religion. Religion has morphed from hope and explanations to an excuse for violence, an excuse for exploitation, and an excuse to ignore factual, scientific, evidence.

the role of religion as a haven for the soul to be a relentless fight

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

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).

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

Humanity is constantly searching for inclusion. Everyone has an innate and incurable desire to feel like, to feel wanted, to feel needed. For many people, religion is a tool to achieving that goal. Religion is like an open door to a group of peers who are often accepting and loving all all strangers who seek embrace. However, the problem of religion arises when it becomes too self serving and the original purpose of religion is forgotten, the morality and kindness that God embodies. Illuminating the undeniable similarities between all forms of religion, religious wars become insignificant, proving the human desire to achieve superiority and dominance with their social group.

The basic problem with most religions in the world has always been that they presuppose faith; that is one cannot be reasoned into believing in a religion, if such was not the case then we would have seen a huge migration to one religion or another. In any given religion, the main proof of God’s

In this paper I will discuss the Christian theistic worldview against the atheistic view that God is a myth and generated in the minds of people. There are many assumptions on both sides regarding the creation of the world, including but not limited to an actual “creator” who may be behind the scenes controlling the universe. A theistic worldview holds God as the supreme Creator whose character and will for his creation is revealed in the Scripture. Further, it is through the Scripture we find the biblical principles that answer life’s most challenging issues. In contrast, the atheistic worldview holds that “man” has the answers and explanation of our existence, which simply defines and confines the universe to matter and energy. Further, all answers to mankind can be resolved within the boundaries

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

The question of God’s existence has been challenged by many philosophers and non-philosophers alike over the years. Arguments that have been used to support the existence of a divine being includes; the cosmological argument and the theological argument. However, there are some who oppose these arguments and philosopher H.J. McCloskey is among this group. In the article “On Being an Atheist” written by H.J. McCloskey, he argues that both these arguments are false and insufficient as it relates to “proof” of God’s existence. McCloskey believes that without proper proof, we must completely dismiss the idea of God’s existence. In his well-written article, he offers a few reasons why he believes that atheism is a much more comfortable belief versus, a belief in a God who allows the suffering of his people. He suggested that the problem of evil and the fact that evil exists meant that God could not exist. McCloskey urges that people should just help each other rather than, placing their faith in a God that is clearly imperfect due to the imperfect world that he has created. Credible as McCloskey may be, I saw many errors in his theory. It is my opinion that his attempt to define God is completely unsound, and his philosophy is at best debatable. In this response paper, I will be carefully examining each argument and also presenting a counter argument. I will be taking the stance from the perspective of a minimal theism who

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.

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.

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.