...world. First you must understand the difference between moral and natural evil. Moral evil is something one is responsible for; including crime, discrimination, slavery, genocide and other injustices. Whereas nature evil is evil that is unexpected or just happens. This could be destructive events, being diagnosed with a sickness or something as simple as a flat tire. When natural evil happens, that is usually when one asks God “Why me? What did I do to deserve this evil?” Hard to remember that God does not make evil happen to us, however; He may allow it to happen in order for us to grow stronger with Him. At times when evil has brought us down to our knees, all we can do is ask God for help, and that is why He allows evil to happen. THEODICY Everyday people are experience a form of personal evil which disturb their relationship with God. As I said previously majority of the time when evil happens to us we ask God “Why me? What did I do to deserve this evil?”. We have to remember that God has a plan for us and the evil can be for a couple different reasons. The evil may be to detour you to your future destination, show you your calling to help others, may seem evil to you but you are actually being protected from worse evil that may have happened if you were not in...
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...What is meant by the problem of suffering for religious believers? Examine two solutions to this problem. The concept of evil and suffering is generally seen as a serious problem for religious believers. Evil and suffering can be seen to pose strong challenges against the existence of a God, more specifically an omnipotent and omnibenevolent God. Whilst John Hick describes evil and suffering as “physical pain, mental suffering and moral wickedness”, the problem is widely seen to refer to the existence of both natural evil, such as natural disasters, and moral evil, heartless actions such as murder, along with the suffering that is often a result of these. Perhaps one of the most significant aspects of the problem of suffering, the issue suggests that only two of the three features of the God of classical theism can be possible. If God is omniscient, he is all knowing and is knowledgeable of the suffering that exists. If God is omnipotent, then he must have the power to stop this suffering, and if he is an omnibenevolent, all-loving God, he must wish to stop this suffering. The existence of suffering suggests that God cannot be omniscient and omnipotent and still be omnibenevolent in agreement. As David Hume describes, God must be either malevolent or powerless for the other two features to remain applicable. Aquinas also argued this case, but referred to the idea that “the name of God means that He is infinite goodness”, which signifies that a God that did not meet...
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...It is a plain and simple fact, evil exists and it can be seen every where in today’s society. No matter how old or young, no matter where we look, whether it is in our textbooks or comic books, on TV or in our video games, evil is always there. There is evil of different types, with different causes and effects, with one event being more evil and has the power to stir up different emotions than the last. By examining opinions offered by people like John Hick, we can understand why God allows evil and the reasons extreme cases of destruction, as in “The Star” by Arthur C. Clarke to exist in our world or anywhere. There is no denying that evil has a tight grasp around the world we live in. It is this simple fact which defines the problem of evil. However, to understand this problem one must first understand evil itself. Webster’s English Dictionary defines evil as morally objectionable behaviour which causes harm, destruction, or misfortune. That being said, there are two different types of evil, moral and natural evil, each of which having their own unique characteristics. Moral evil, or wickedness, is the pain and suffering which is a direct result brought about from human action. Since humans are free to choose and act as they wish, they are free to choose to do good or they can choose to do evil. Most crimes and sinful act which cause pain and suffering, such as rape, murdered, and war are all considered morally evil acts. The second category of evil is natural evil....
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...When Bad Things Happen to Good People By: Harold Kushner Pablo Falcon Spring 2010 When Bad Things Happen to Good People Written by: H. Kushner “When Bad Things Happen to Good People” is a very personal book. The author talks about his belief in God and how people perceive the situations they get in as an act of God himself. The author explains that when unfortunate happenings occur people tend to blame it on God or the simple fact that the unfortunate happened because “the person must have deserved it”. The author also reflects upon the feelings that many people have when something bad happens to them or a loved one. They begin to question their faith. Why didn’t God answer my prayers? Is God real? What is God her for anyway? The main point the author illustrates is that the things that happen are not God’s doing. There is one point in the book that Kushner makes about how flight 205 crashed instead of flight 209. The plane crash caused people to die. God did not choose what families to afflict tragedy and pain on. If it was God’s choice he wouldn’t have had any of the planes crash. God gave flight 205’s families the courage to live on and look forward to the future. He did not cause the plane crash. Kushner says that, “Adam and Eve ate from the ‘forbidden tree’, also known as the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil”. Adam and Eve were given a test to see if they were going to be human or animal. Humans face choices. Animals have instincts. Adam and Eve became...
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...In Eleonore Stump’s “Mirror of Evil”, she presents how the evil in the world acts as a mirror by telling us things about ourselves. Stump discerns between two types of evil that are found in the world, which are real wickedness and garden-variety moral evil. “Real wickedness” is explained as sharp and felt immediately, while “garden variety” evil is felt much less than this. For Stump all of us have a way to determine what is evil or not, and this is our moral faculty. Moral faculty allows us to know what evil is but also what true goodness is. Our moral faculty states that we know things are evil or truly good solely on our intuition, which is unaffected by our memory, reason or perception. Stump presents many good reasons to believe that many of our perceptions on real wickedness are based on our intuition but there are many cases in which a person committed an evil act and their intuition did not stop them from going through with this act. In this paper I will argue against Stump’s claim that moral faculty-in the case of garden-variety evil- is not affected by our memory, reason or perception. I will present arguments that prove that Stump’s idea of intuition fails to explain how people continue on to commit these horrible crimes while knowing these acts are evil. I will also argue that there are many factors in which our memory and reason give each individual a different perception of what is evil is to them. Stump beings to explain how contemplating human suffering results...
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... Throughout the month I have learned about multiple points and arguments regarding the topic of evil and whether God why God would allow it to exist. The two points that have intrigued me the most are the types of evil and the use of evil to create virtuous character. These points have caused me to rethink my views on evil as well as how other people view evil. Until the topic lecture, I have never categorized evil into different typologies. Previously, I have always thought of evil as one generic category instead of multiple categories. The typologies that evil is divided into are are moral evil, natural evil, and radical evil. Moral evil is person-to-person evil. It is intentional and is bent on the person's detriment. When people here the word "evil," this is usually what some to mind. Moral evil includes acts that are meant to intentionally hurt someone such as lying, attacking, gossiping, etc. Natural evil is the evil that is free from human agency, and consists of natural disasters. Natural disasters are natural evil because they cause pain and suffering, however, there is no human agency causing them. The final type of evil is radical evil. Radical evil is extreme, gratuitous, and beyond normal experience. A perfect example of radical evil is the Holocaust because many people were killed based on their appearance, heritage, or beliefs. I have always considered evil as one category, however, typologies of evil gave me a new, different perspective on evil. Another...
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...While John Hicks makes a number of great arguments for soul-making and why God let evil exist, I disagree with his point of good having no point if evil does not exist. Starting on page 177 of the reading, John Hicks provides an argument that boils down to evil must exist in order for good to exist, since nothing can be comparatively good if no evil exists. Specifically, Hicks argues that if God prevents all evils, then nothing we do would be considered evil, thus defeating the whole purpose of defining what’s good. There would also be no way to benefit others, since no one would ever be in need of help. However, I find this argument to be inadequate because if God prevented all evils, then situations described by Hicks would not exist in...
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...may be explained by the contrast theodicy that God may have reasons for evil in society. An example of a contrast theodicy would be that bad things happen to good people and is the connection between evil and God’s intent of good. People also question why God does not take away the suffering of people from the world. Again, a theodicy can give an explanation to this question. The big-plan theodicy explains that suffering may be part of God’s big plan and needs to happen for good of humanity. There are two...
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...The primary idea of The Problem of Evil, is that the main goal of Christianity is to create a union with God, not to avoid suffering/ evil. From this, comes an argument for Atheism from evil. This explains that, “There is unnecessary evil. The existence of God is incompatible with the existence of unnecessary evil. So, God doesn’t exist.” This is believed due to the idea that if there is an omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent God, they would see to it that no unnecessary evil existed. However, it in fact does. The problem considers two types of evil. These are moral evil and natural evil. Moral evil is defined as evil that is caused by humans, Natural evil is described as the opposite, any evil that is not caused by humans. Stump goes...
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...GOD’S PLAN FOR SUFFERING A PAPER PRESENTED TO IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR BY GOD’S PLAN FOR SUFFERING The Desire for Answers When exploring the major hurdles of the Christian faith, Lee Strobel appointed George Barna to create a survey that inquired of respondents a single question they would ask God if they were guaranteed to receive a response. The leading question asked by those surveyed was, without surprise, “Why is there suffering and pain in our world?” The occurrence of evil – demonstrated through suffering, pain, moral wickedness, and other similar things– signifies a challenging subject for anyone desiring to defend the existence of a true God. For non-believers, suffering and evil present an intimidating blockade to ever recognizing the reality of a God whom is both all-good and all-powerful. This is what William Lane Craig states as being “atheism’s killer argument” . For Christians, the issue of pain and evil has great prospective ability to upset the faith of the most proven saint, particularly when pain lands directly on them or their loved ones. How can a God who declares to be the epitome of love, all-good, and all-powerful allow pain and suffering to, ostensibly, have such power on this earth and affect those who seem innocent or those He calls His children? This issue, for the believer, becomes one of not if a God exists, but what type of God exists. While it is uncertain that an easy answer will ever be found that fulfill...
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...Bible, The Book of Job details a conflict between man and God within a poetic structure, and is the only book in the Bible to take on the problem of suffering as its main purpose. Throughout the book, Job pleads to God for all of the misfortunes that have befallen him. This type of discourse found in Job cannot be found anywhere else in scripture. Upon examination of the roles of protagonist and antagonist, it becomes apparent that the roles may be alternated between Job and Satan. Moreover, different conclusions and interpretations of the book can be made. Theological complications due to the existence of evil in a world ruled by an omnipotent, omniscient, and benevolent god will be attempted to be reconciled by theodicy. As coined by Gottfried Leibniz, theodicy is a branch of apologetics which attempts to reconcile the apparent evil in the world with God’s benevolent nature. Job’s nature and wealth is described in the first three verses of the book. He is depicted as “perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil” (Job 1:1). It would seem unlikely that Job would ever find himself on the negative side of God, but this seems to be exactly what has happened. In the dialogue between God and Satan (Job 1:7-12), a contest is put forth to test Job’s devotion to God. Satan argues that Job will turn from God if all of his wealth is taken from him. God’s role throughout the narrative is one of an overseer or mediator. God sets the stage and all of the actions...
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...Pain and Pleasure:An Evidential for Theists Problem PAUL DRAPER FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY I. THE NATURE OF THE PROBLEM I will argue in this paper that our knowledge about pain and pleasure creates an epistemic problem for theists. The problem is not that some proposition about pain and pleasure can be shown to be both true and logically inconsistent with theism. Rather, the problem is evidential. A statement reporting the observations and testimony upon which our knowledge about pain and pleasure is based bears a certain significant negative evidential relation to theism.' And because of this, we have a prima facie good epistemic reason to reject theism-that is, a reason that is sufficient for rejecting theism unless overridden by other reasons for not rejecting theism. By "theism" I mean the following statement: There exists an omnipotent, omniscient, and morally perfect person who created the Universe. I will use the word "God" as a title rather than as a proper name, and I will stipulate that necessary and sufficient conditions for bearing this title are that one be an omnipotent, omniscient, and morally perfect person who created the Universe. Given this (probably technical) use of the term "God," theism is the statement that God exists. Some philosophers believe that the evils we find in the world create an evidential problem for theists because theism fails to explain these evils (or most of what we know about them). (See, for example, (Hare 1968).) This position...
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...What is the “Problem of Evil”? What is the difference, if there is a difference, between so-called “moral evil” and “natural evil”? How exactly does John Hick, in his essay “Problem of Evil”, solve the problem of both “Moral evil” and “natural evil”? Do you think that either or both, of Hick’s solutions is really able to solve what appears to be a unique problem of evil in Arthur C. Clarke’s short story, “The Star”? Unhappiness, as a whole, is a challenge to the idea of good. When one hears or discovers about the disasters or the pain and suffering of wars, violence, earthquakes and killings it is safe to ask one’s self, what the problem of evil is. Investigating the short story “Problem of Evil” written by John Hick the author talks about the differences in “moral evil” and “natural evil” while defining the main question with god and evil. Furthermore in “moral evil” and “natural evil” John Hicks explanations are studied throughout the short story titled The Star by Arthur C. Clark. The problem that is most debated among believers and non-believers of God is the problem of evil. This debate is due to the belief of the omnipotence of God, saying how he is all loving, all powerful and all knowing. For all these meanings of God, there is a major defect, if the almighty is capable of revealing these abilities then how could he let evil enter into the world. If he is all- loving, then why is there so much hatred revolving around us and ultimately, If he is all-powerful, then should...
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...Name: Lauren Abbe Writing Style Used: MLA Course and Section Number: THEO 202: B16 Essay on Hamartiology: The Problem of Evil (Theodicy) Evil is something that has existed since the beginning of time and is hard to understand its depths because we are so immune to it. God gave us free will and the power to choose, but we continue to choose sin. This paper will seek to explain why there is sin and what the real root of it is. It will help explain why bad things happen and how it might affect one’s relationship with God. The problem of evil happened when Eve believed Satan and ate the fruit from the tree. God does not cause evil and never will. This problem has caused many people to think that our God would want us to suffer and go through pain, but that in fact is not the case. God hates to see us in these types of states, but there is nothing He can do when we choose it for ourselves. We are a selfish and independent world that thinks we can survive and live a blessed life without God or the help of someone greater than ourselves. Without God and without listening to the Holy Spirit, there is no way the problem of evil will get any better; yet it will continue to decline. There are two different types of evil: moral and natural. Natural evil is the consequence of moral evil. Moral evil would be something deliberate such as stealing or murder. Because of these deliberate acts of evil, natural evil occurs. A form of natural evil would be something...
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...LIBERTY THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY THEODICY/ THE PROBLEM OF EVIL: A RESULT OF GOD’S DIVINE PLAN OR AN ACT OF MAN’S FREE WILL A PAPER SUBMITTED TO DR. TODD S. BUCK IN PARTIAL FULFILLLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE CLASS SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY I THEO 525 BY JOHN S. POPE JR LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA May 11, 2013 Table of Contents Introduction Definition of Theodicy……………………………………………………………………….2 Divine Providence..............…………………………………………………………………..3 God’s Sovereignty/Man’s Free Will………………………………………………………...5 Conclusion…...………………......……………………………………………………….....10 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………...12 The human race is afflicted by kidnappings, poverty, murder and oppression. The question men have struggled with is how can a good God allow such evil to continue? On a moral level, an even better question would be is the evil man experiences at the hands of other men, a result of God’s divine plan or the effect of man’s free will? Answering these questions is important because uncovering the reason for ongoing evil has challenged some to the point, they have denied their faith and joined a corps of atheists who promote the idea that the presence of suffering, pain and evil are the best testament to a non-existent God. When arguing against the existence of God, one might be presented with attempts to use His divine attributes of omnipotence (all powerful), omniscience (all knowing) and omnibenevolence (all good) against Him....
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