Discuss the Problem of Evil

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Aamir Kaderbhai

~The problem of evil~

“In a world in which billions of innocent people suffer, it makes little sense claiming that there is a good and all-powerful god”

I do not believe this sentence is true or makes sense to me as there has been many philosophers who have come up with arguments called Theodicy’s which are arguments that oppose the sentence above as they are arguments that endeavor to prove the existence of an Omnibenevolent (all loving), Omnipotent (all powerful) and Omniscient (All Knowing) God in an evil world.  The word Theodicy comes from the Greek words (Θεος) Theos meaning God and (∆ικε) Dike meaning justice and the meaning is an attempt to show how it is reasonable to believe both in a loving God and in the painful facts of life. In the following essay I will be explaining how I have used some of these famous theodicy’s to come up with an argument that opposes the theory above that god cannot exist in an evil world.

(Throughout this essay all my theories will be based on the fact that god created evil. I have come to the conclusion that this is true because if god is omnipotent and omniscient then he has to have created evil. There is no way that god wouldn’t know that evil would occur when he created the world and there would be no way he wouldn’t be able to stop it occurring. The only logical solution is that god created evil)

One theodicy and reason why I disagree with the latter statement is the Irenaean theodicy.  This is the basic summary

P1.A world of moral individuals is a good thing.

P2. Individuals have to learn how to be moral.

P3. Suffering and evil are necessary in order to learn how to be moral.

P4. God desires to create a world of moral individuals.

C. God must therefore allow suffering and evil in order to bring about the good of a world of moral individuals.

This theodicy comes in two parts. The first comes from St Irenaeus (130-202 AD), a Father of the early Christian Church, who thought that humans was not created perfect, but that they required growth in order to reach perfection

The philosopher John Hick has developed this view further. Hick agrees with Irenaeus that God created us with the potential for growth. However, Hick then sees the process of 'soul making' (as he calls it) to be a response to the evil in the world. So, if cancer did not exist, or the evil actions of others, then we would not have the means of which it would be possible for us to develop spiritually. Also, Hick argues, there exists what he calls an 'epistemic distance' between human beings and God, so that we are not born knowing of his existence, and it is not something which it is easy to gain certain knowledge of. Therefore, the process of soul making also involves a battle to find religious faith. Islamic philosophy also sees the world as John Hick did and believes that god cares for us not by making a paradise to live in, but an evil world full of challenges which lets us grow into beings of much more intelligence and worth in gods mind. Evil is only there for us to overcome and by facing evil, learn from it: The most painful mistakes we make are normally the ones that teach us the greatest lessons (e.g. Madeline McKan’s kidnapping taught thousands  of people to be more careful when leaving young children on their own). This implies therefore that there can be no true good without evil as making the good choices in life involves overcoming the evil ones. (e.g. someone pressurizing you into drugs and you having the courage to say no). Muslims also believe that once someone has faced these challenges of life, it has opened up ones soul enough that god can judge them according to how they have faced up to evil in their life and decide whether they go to heaven or hell.

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Another theodicy is the free will argument. This is the basic summary

P1.  God wants everyone to have the right to make their own decisions as to judge their true character

P2. If this free will existed then there is nothing stopping us from making morally evil decisions

P3. Free will exists

C. Therefore evil exists

St Augustine argues that it is impossible for evil no to exist in a world were humanity has free will. If humans were programmed to only make the right decisions then they would be no better than robots, as everybody would ...

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