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 like hurricanes, poverty, etc. Natural evil is not specifically caused by someone, but results from a specific form of moral evil. As I stated earlier, the first thing we need to be clear about is that God does not cause evil to happen. He may cause us to go through hard times to bring us closer to Him or to help others who are going through similar situations, but there is always a greater purpose in the end. Difficult situations help us grow and make us stronger Christians because we can later see how God has His hand on us at all times. Natural and moral evil go hand in hand and only reflect our choices. Biblically this is sound because Romans 6:23 states that the “wages (moral evil) of sin is death (natural evil); but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” A theodicy is a term used to justify the ways of God to man (Elwell 1184). A theodicy that is effective will reveal that God has our best interests at heart and is all-loving despite the fall of man and existence of evil. First is Leibniz’s theodicy that states that God is lacking in power, knowledge and goodness because He could have omitted evil from the world. Instead He chose to create a world with evil; therefore He has not chosen the best. The Augustinian theodicy is more rational and says that our free will is the cause of evil and suffering. The Irenaean theodicy states that God is responsible for creating evil, but is not at fault. He is justified in it and is still probable to exist disregarding that evil exists. The free will theodicy states that the people God created are at fault for evil because of the abuse of free will. Theodicies must be internally consistent to avoid self-contradiction (Elwell 1187). The only view that makes sense to me as a whole is the free will theodicy. In the Old Testament, Eve had the free will to eat the fruit and sinned. Ever since then, the world has been full of sin and because of the free will we have. Experiencing something like death or anything we think we do not deserve can strain our relationship with God. We blame God and cannot see past the situation. What we fail to remember is that He has a greater purpose. I do not believe that someone can dispute a certain belief about God without attacking God Himself. It all stems back to Him, so if we do not agree with something God has deemed as right, then we are in fact questioning Him and His ability to direct us. In conclusion, God has remained faithful in the sight of evil and will continue to direct us as the world worsens. The only thing we can do is choose Him, even though we have the will to choose of the world. Evil will always exist and will always be a temptation, but we have to remember who we serve and His plan for our lives to be holy and pleasing to Him.

Word count: # 796

Bibliography
M.B Ahern, “Problem of Evil” Walter A. Elwell, 2nd ed. 1184-1187, 2001
Elwell, W. A. . Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. 2nd ed. Baker Publishing Group, 2001. print.