C1.7 The Problem of Evil and Suffering

Question 1

define moral suffering

Answer 1

caused by actions done by humans

Question 2

define natural suffering

Answer 2

caused by nature and has nothing to do with humans

Question 3

what other word do Christians call moral suffering?

Answer 3

sins

Question 4

why do Christians call moral suffering sins?

Answer 4

they go against what God wants us to do. These can be seen in the 10 commandments.

Question 5

how can natural suffering make people question the existence of god?

Answer 5

People cannot believe that god created a world with natural evil (can be countered by the concept that when Adam and Eve ate the apple then all evil was released into Earth)
Find it easier to believe that natural disasters are there because earth was created on accident by the Big Bang
Find it hard to believe that god will allows humans to cause suffering and evil when he can easily stop it
If god exists then he could intervene with big disasters like the holocaust
Existence of suffering ma mean that god does not exist

Question 6

why does moral suffering raise questions about Christian beliefs?

Answer 6

If god is omnipotent then he should be able to remove all suffering from the world
If god is omnibenevolent then he must want to remove all suffering because it causes so much pain
If god is omniscient then she should know about such pain and suffering and when creating the world, he should have avoided the evil from the start
As there is evil and suffering in this world then god cant possess all these qualities so he doesn’t exist