The Problem of Evil
Key ideas surronding the problem of evil
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?- Created by: Bethany
- Created on: 16-11-14 14:28
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- The Problem of Evil
- Augustine
- Book = Confessions
- When God created the world - he created it perfectly good "And God saw that it was good" Genesis 1:27
- Evil is not a substance in its own right but is merely the absence of good = privation
- Angels and Humans deliberately chose to turn away from God (FREE WILL)
- "The cause of evil is the defection of the will of a being who is mutably good" (mutably = can change)
- Only God is perfect (other things are susceptible to change)
- Everyone is guilty because they were present in Adams loins so can be punished
- "All of humanity is therefore implicated in his sin"
- Natural evil is because human actions have destroyed the natural order, God saves some through Christ.
- "All evil is either sin or punishment for sin"
- Believes in judgement (heaven and hell)
- Book = Confessions
- J.S. Mill
- Mill first came up with the inconsistent triad
- Omnipotent - he doesn't have the power to do anything about it
- Omniscient - he doesn't know anything is wrong
- Omnibenevolent - doesn't love us enough to do anything about it (protest atheist)
- Any evil that humans can do nature can do better (or worse).
- "Nature has no mercy or justice"
- "Nearly all the things which men are hanged for or imprisoned for doing to one another are natures everyday performances
- 'Evil'
- What is it?
- Moral Suffering - People have free will to choose to behave in a way that hurts others, as a result of how people act
- Natural Suffering - Caused by natural events eg. earthquakes and tornados, this is just as a result of the way the earth developed and not much can be done about it
- Does suffering have a purpose?
- 1) Suffering is necessary to keep us alive and well as pain tells us something is wrong.
- 2) Suffering helps us to appreciate what we've got
- 3) Suffering can make us a stronger person if we show courage to get through a difficult time
- 5) Religious people may see suffering as a test of faith
- 4) Sometimes we suffer to achieve a goal
- 6) Religious people may say suffering is a part of God's big plan which we can't yet understand
- What is it?
- Irenaeus
- The world is deliberatley created with a mixture of goodness and evil - this is so we can develop and grow as human beings into a mature and free relationship with God
- There has to be evil in order to appreciate good
- How if we had no knowledge of the contrary, could we have instruction in that which is good"
- We grow as individuals through tackling problems, making mistakes, persevering and being patient, suffering is a part of Gods original intention
- "That which does not kill us makes us stronger" - Friedrich Nietzsche
- God created us in his image and likeness and he included free will in this so humans can make good or bad choices - so we are not puppets.
- "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness" Genesis 1:26
- Alternative Views
- Swinburne
- A world where humans can create others (birth) and improve their world is better than a static world and a world where people can die is better than a world where people can't die.
- The young would never have a chance
- Death makes us remember yolo
- No possibility of an absolute sacrifice - or there would be a different form of harm
- A world where humans can create others (birth) and improve their world is better than a static world and a world where people can die is better than a world where people can't die.
- Peter Vardy
- Book = The Puzzle of Evil
- Swinburne is obscene - in the face of torture of innocent people or children you cannot maintain the argument.
- Book = The Puzzle of Evil
- John Mackie
- Modal logic - God may have created a world where everyone made the 'right' decision - but failure to actualise this means he isn't wholly good
- If God is omnitemporal then it may not be he should know what happens and not to create such a world.
- If God isn't omnitemporal then he may have had to take a risk in that moment so he didn't know what would happen NOT OMNIPOTENT
- Modal logic - God may have created a world where everyone made the 'right' decision - but failure to actualise this means he isn't wholly good
- Descartes and Aquinas
- Aquinas
- God can do everything that is absolutely possible (logically possible)
- God can't have created humans which have complete free will and always make the right decisions
- God can do everything that is absolutely possible (logically possible)
- Descartes
- God can do absolutely everything we shouldn't limit him because we don't know - epistemic distance
- There may be a reason for the evil that we just don't know
- God can do absolutely everything we shouldn't limit him because we don't know - epistemic distance
- Aquinas
- Dostoyevsky
- Book = The Brothers Karamazov, character Ivan Karamazov
- Ivan says "nothing is worth the suffering of innocent children"
- Book = The Brothers Karamazov, character Ivan Karamazov
- Swinburne
- Augustine
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