Who Is God? : A Christian Child Growing Up With An Awareness Of The Evil

In Evil and Omnipotence, J.L. Mackie is debating the idea of the existence of both good and evil. He claims that a “wholly good, and all powerful being (omnipotent) could not also allow evil to exist in the world.” Mackie explains that one of the three things must not be completely true. Either, God is not all powerful, wholly good, or evil is only an illusion. He goes on to state that “good” always eliminates evil as far as it can, and that there are no limits to what an omnipotent being can do.

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.

People wonder how an Omniscient God could allow such evil to take place in the world. When natural disasters strike and kill thousands of people and leave many more homeless, or when the dreaded cancer envelopes the nurturing mother of three kids and leaves the family grief stricken and in shambles; how could you muster up the faith to believe, No, there is a God. This has been at the root of all debates whether God exists or not. Atheists always pull this out of their sleeves when getting in heated arguments with theists about the existence of a God. “If He’s so Omnibenevolent, if He loves you so much, why does he make bad things happen?” The problem has been part of a lifelong argument. The problem of evil has left many theists running around like chickens with their heads cut off. It’s distressing for them to admit that either God allows evil or that He does not have all the Omnis. Evil exists, no doubt about it. The problem for a theist is, how do you prove the existence of an Omniscient God when such torment occurs in the world. How do you get them to see that it is a good thing? Can you?

There is a problem of evil because many believe that if God did exist there would not be evil present in the world because of his power and strength. The textbook presented two specific types of evil which include natural evil and moral evil. Natural evil is associated with natural disasters while moral disasters are associated with adversity cause by another individual purposely. These two types of evil negatively impact a number of people everyday, and it causes some of God’s supporters to question why God would allow it to happen. John Chaffee states that this causes individuals to believe that “God does not exist, at least as a personal Creator involved in human affairs. God is not all-powerful and so is unable to

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.

God allows evil to exist because evil is absorbed by greater good. (John Mackie). Specifically, if free will exists then people have the choice to either choose good or evil. The benefit of having free will outweighs the disadvantage of the possibility of the evil option being chosen, and thus allows for the existence of evil, supporting the reality of god. If we are free to choose, even though we may choose evil, the evil is absorbed by the benefit of free will. John Mackie presented the absorption argument, which was used to argue for the theist reply to the problem of evil.

Where WAS God? Where was He when my beloved uncle took those last few steps down the basement stairs to his doom? Where was He earlier when my Uncle first acquired the gun? He had it, he must have had an idea he would do this. Where WAS He when my uncle finally concluded that a life without him would be the best action?

I believe suffering results from our separation from God. He is holy, all-powerful, all-loving, all that is good. Each day I find myself doing things that move me away from Him. Every time I sin, the world becomes a little bit worse. I can do no good thing apart from God. The more I separate myself from Him, the more likely I am to cause someone else harm or pain.

John Hick discusses in his essay The Problem of Evil, the objections to the belief in the existence of God is the presence of evil in the world. He begins by posing the traditional challenge to theism in the form of the dilemma: That if God was perfectly loving, he must wish to abolish evil, and being all powerful, is able to perfectly do so as he will its. He then proceeds to present some views regarding this issue, giving insights from three point of views, that of contemporary Christian Science, the Boston Personalist school, and the theologian Augustine. The first opinion takes evil as an illusion, as a construct of the human mind. The second confers upon God finity, God as a struggling ruler,

On the topic of the existence of God, Ernest Nagel and Richard Swinburne have construct arguments that challenge one another. In Nagel’s article, “Does God Exist?” he argues that if God is all-powerful, omniscient, and benevolent; he would know when evil occurs and has the power to prevent it. Because evil occurs, God does not exist. This is the problem of evil. Challenging Nagel, the article by Swinburne, “Why God Allows Evil,” argues that God has the right to allow moral and natural evils to occur because those evils reap greater goods that make the lives of human-beings meaningful. He extends his argument to the idea that God seeks to provide human beings with goods such as freewill and responsibility of not only ourselves, but of the world and others. While Nagel utilizes the problem of evil as an objection to the existence of God, Swinburne employs it to show that God allows evil to occur to provide human beings with goods that go beyond moments of pleasure and joys of happiness.

William Rowe and John Hick: Why is there evil? John Hicks in his work There is a Reason Why God Allows Evil (adapted from his book Evil and the God of Love) starts the conversation regarding evil with the type of God that Christians believe and how this is not parallel to the evil that he perceives in the world. First the discussion on God; he talks about how it is hard to imagine a loving creator when the world is full of human suffering and pain (128). How can a God who is so in love with his creation sit far away and watch them be in pain without interfering?

Stephen Law conducted a thought experiment with a purpose of establishing the existence of an evil God, whereby he challenged those who believed in the presence of a kind and good God, doing nothing evil, and argued that the existent God is wicked indeed. The hypothesis developed into the challenge based on the argument that, if an omnibenevolent God is said to exist, yet there is so much evil in the world, then there is as well a possibility that an evil God exists, yet there is so much good. Law aimed to doubt not the fact of the existence of God, but the generally accepted assumption that the existing God is benevolent. Another researcher, Rowe, refutes this approach, arguing that the existence of a Supreme Being, who created people and hence cares for them, cannot be associated with evil. In fact, the presence of evil is a clear sign of the absence of a God. This paper seeks to take a position opposing to Law’s theory and prove that, despite the presence of evil, an omnibenevolent God still exists.

The problem of evil questions the nature of God and threatens his status as a figure worthy of worship. Surely human beings would not wish to worship a God that is neither all good nor all-powerful? The figure we call God is seen to be entirely perfect and flawless in every way. The problem of evil also questions God’s omniscience, in respects that he is all knowing. If God is omniscient then he must know the harm that evil does and the suffering it will cause. The attributes in question are the essence of the nature of God and without them he becomes more like a human than a God. If any of God’s characteristics are omitted, he

The theological problem of evil is a problem that many philosophers have tried to solve. The problem is stated as, "if one believes that god is omnipotent and wholly good, why does evil still exist?" In this writing I will discuss the solutions/propositions of John L. Mackie in his work, "Evil and Omnipotence." I will do this in order to illustrate the concept of free will for understanding or resolving the problem, and to reveal how and why Mackie arrives at his conclusions.

One argument that is often presented against the belief of Christians, more precisely that of the existence of God, is the problem of evil; and many apologists have continued to counter the questions and disputes. The problem of evil suggests that, if God truly exists, and is in fact good, then the evil we see in the world would not exist. How could a good God allow the rape of women and children? Or, how can a good God see the poverty and starvation of millions around the globe and do nothing? These are just a couple of questions among many. Two apologists, David Hart and Alvin Plantinga have addressed this issue that plagues many, both in the minds of unbelievers, as well as believers. To explore the approaches of each of these men, let