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Judaism and the Prophetical Tradition, Biblical Themes: The Problem of Evil

Question 1

Religious doctrines contain special messages meant to educate, direct and promote understanding of new issues that surpass normal or unaided comprehension. Evidently, religious communication ought to guide different institutions in not only ensuring that people follow the transcribed messages but also guaranteeing social justice among earth occupants. Despite several attempts to ensure these elements remain at the helm of success, many actions around the world show similarity to those manifested by Amos in the bible from verse two. According to Amos, Northern kings of Israel have exceeded religious expectations, instead transforming to personal and private interests. Some of the activities that Amos brings to the attention of believers include pretence and adultery among other human derailing traits.

Based on a personal assessment, religious institutions are walking backwards with regards to solutions towards social inequality, injustice, poverty and other life problems. As a matter of fact, contemporary religious institutions work more towards encouraging what Amos warned against. Instead of helping the poor, religious institutions are in the verge of collapsing the society. It is the poor that contribute a lot of funds in religious facilities. They support a lot of programs ranging from pre-burial schedules to contributions that support the welfare of institutional leaders. In terms of discouraging social inequality and injustice, it is evident that some of the religious groups limit given activities. They control what their followers do, eat, and even the level of education. Marriage is not left out in the many problems that subject people to great problems hence a key issue that require redress from religious institutions.

Question 2

The source of evil and the actual reason for existence has been a subject of discussion from many quotas including Epicurus (Fish & Sanders, 2011). The question that grapples people’s mind is why God allows evil to be in the world he has the ability to totally eliminate it from the world. When these questions passes across one’s mind, it is vital to ask several questions. For example, what could be the world be like without evil? How do one separate good from bad things without making mistakes? And most importantly, it is inevitable to ask the reason the existence of evil in the first place. Answers to these questions can either justify whether evil is vital or is just part of a complicated plan by God to make people suffer. Notably, just by a word, God can create enough food, initiate peace, relieve pain, and other evil activities.

However, these are not possible for man who strives on competition and massive acquisition of wealth at the expense of others. The scenario is evident not only in religious books such as the bible but also in the contemporary world characterised by Ponzi schemes. From this perspective evil does not pose any challenge to the normal life of individuals but only acts a solution. Interestingly, this is part of God’s wise plans that ensure only good people with humility, faith, and proficient deeds reach the final destination (Fish & Sanders, 2011). In this light, pain and suffering come in form of evil but sustain God’s plan of sieving only pure people for the next world free of evil.

References

Fish, J., & Sanders, K. R. (2011). Epicurus and the Epicurean tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.