Theories of Life after Death do not provide a solution to the problem of evil Discuss.

by meganmurphy1 (student)

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

Megan Murphy

“Theories of Life after Death do not provide a solution to the problem of evil” Discuss.

The problem of evil is believed by Christians to have begun with the story of Adam and Eve. This is because Adam ate the forbidden fruit which showed to God that Adam was sinful and had an evil streak in him with which he would betray people as long as he got what he wanted. Adam was easily influenced by the snake and this aspect of evil has now been passed through to everyone in the world as we all stemmed from Adam and Eve. This is an aspect of moral evil as Adam influenced it himself and this is believed to have been passed down to all humans which allows us to have evil characteristics within our natures. However, Christians also believe that “good” people are rewarded in the afterlife, and people who have behaved badly are punished.

Justice is not always served in this lifetime so people now believe it must be served in the afterlife, therefore suggesting that there is an afterlife and a part of us goes to it to be rewarded. This would suggest that the statement is wrong as theories of life after death do allow belief that there is a solution for the problem of evil. It also suggest that more people might strive to do the right things in life so that they get rewarded in the afterlife, this would also cut the crime rates and make people better and more virtuous.

Some people struggle to believe that God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent as he allows there to be both moral evil and natural evil. If God is all powerful then he should be able to control natural disasters and not allow them to happen, he would also limit the amount of evil people there are in the world and would punish them for it in this life as well as the afterlife. This proves to be the problem for most people in believing in God, as they do not see the point as he does not reward the good people as no one can be sure there is defiantly an afterlife anyway. David Hume then from this argument considers the suggestion that God does not actually exist as this evil exists in life which we know as a fact, but no one actually knows whether God exists or not.

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Irenaeus believed that evil was put into the world by God to help us appreciate the goodness in life. If there were no evils then we would not have felt some of the emotions which are common today, such as, compassion and sadness. He also believed that man was created immature and that we choose our own paths in life, so if we choose to worship God then that is the right thing to do, and you will get rewarded. He argued God created humans imperfect so we choose to become good without any influences from God, therefore we have freewill. However, he also believed that everyone goes to heaven which would suggest even those who are immoral would. This suggest that those who behave good throughout life will not get any better a reward than those who are pure evil. Therefore this would be in agreement of the statement as life after death would not be a solution to the problem of evil.

St. Augustine thought God only put good into the world but evil was brought about by a privation of good. He believed that the “snake” was the original source of evil which tempted Adam and Eve to misuse their freewill, and that now every human is born with original sin from “Adams loins”. He strongly believes that natural evil was punishment for sins as God only designed a perfect world rid of evil. However it is difficult to believe this as God made the whole world so he had an influence on what happened in it, so he could have prevented Adam from eating that forbidden fruit, and if he is all knowing then he would have known that was going to happen and he could of stopped it before it took place. Therefore, from Augustine’s point of view, life after death would solve the problem of evil, as people who behave badly do go to hell in the afterlife, but this is also contradictory as in Augustine’s opinion, God didn’t bring evil to the world so where did hell come from as God established both heaven and hell and therefore he expected people to go to both of those categories.

Natural evil includes aspects such as volcanoes and earthquakes which can ruin people’s lives but there is nothing anyone can do to stop them as they are uncommon natural occurrences. These are aspects of evil but they are not caused by anyone in particular so who gets punished for these? – No one. Does this suggest that the afterlife will be without these natural occurrences as they are evil and the afterlife is where the good get rewarded? If so then the afterlife will be the perfect parallel world of this world, as it will have qualities which aren’t apparent now.

Hick believed that God had a plan for humans which was to reach perfection, but he believed it is not possible to reach it in this life so there must be an afterlife. He designed the replica theory where he believes once we die we are replicated in a parallel universe which is the resurrection world. However, he believed that the body is important to be bale to distinguish between each individual person. Therefore he may believe that it is not just the soul which is resurrected in the afterlife but the body instead/as well. As Hick believed that God’s plan for us is to achieve perfection, he would believe that people who don’t will not go to heaven or even any sort of afterlife as they have not been good throughout their lives.

Plato believed the soul was immortal so it is the soul which is resurrected in the afterlife as that is what has all the knowledge and is the second highest thing other than God. Plato believed that our bodily desires did pull us towards evil but our soul keeps us on track and aims to do good. Therefore Plato believes that the soul is good and that the soul is the part of a human which is resurrected so only good people go to the afterlife.

Richard Dawkins does not believe in life after death as he is an atheist and believes that life on earth is a natural consequence of evolution. Therefore he would not believe that the afterlife provides a solution to the problem of evil, but that the problem of evil should be resolved in this world as this is the only world there is.

So in conclusion, theories of life after death vary to the degree that they support or go against the view that it is a solution to the problem of evil. In my opinion, life after death will never be properly known as to whether it is real or not as no one can go there and come back. Although some people say they have had NDE’s we cannot totally believe what people say is true so, we are no closer to finding out the truth about life after death. Ideally everyone would like to believe there is a life after death as it gives reassurance that it is not the last of you once you die, and that justice is served so that people in life get what they deserve. However, no one can tell that this will defiantly happen so maybe we should rely on justice being served in this life then it would be certain and there wouldn’t be as much evil in the world.