Challenges to Religious Belief- the Problem of Evil and Suffering

Question 1

Moral evil

Answer 1

Caused by free will agents. Eg. murder, rape, terrorism.

Question 2

Natural evil

Answer 2

Caused by nature. Eg. earthquakes, tsunamis, disease, forest fires.

Question 3

The logical problem of evil (classical- Epicurus)

Answer 3

A deductive argument which claims that the existence of evil proves that an all knowing, all powerful and all loving God can’t exist. So a God of classical theism can’t exist.
“either God wants to abolish evil and cannot, he is impotent; or he can but does not want to, he is wicked. “

Question 4

Hume on the classical problem

Answer 4

Hume gave a similar version of Epicurus. “Is he willing to prevent evil, but not able? he is impotent. Is he able but not willing? he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? then why is there evil.

Question 5

Mackie’s modern development (inconsistent triad)

Answer 5

Inconsistent triad: God is omnipotent (all powerful), God is omnibenevolent (all loving), evil exists. He argues that these 3 are logically inconsistent, it is impossible for all 3 to be true at the same time. So God is either not all powerful, not all loving or does not exist.

Question 6

Mackie’s paradox of omnipotence

Answer 6

“can God make beings he cannot control?” If yes, then his powers are limited because he can’t control those beings. If no, then his powers are limited because there is something he can’t do. Either way, God is not all powerful.

Question 7

The evidential problem of evil (modern)

Answer 7

Inductive version of the problem, it argues that existence of evil shows that God is improbable. The more evidence of evil there is, the less likely it is that God exists. There are 2 versions: Rowe and Paul.

Question 8

Rowe’s evidential problem

Answer 8

Rowe argues that it seems reasonable that God would allow some limited suffering so humans can grow/develop. God would not allow intense suffering (rape and murder of a child/ death of a fawn in a forest fire). An omnipotent and omniscient God would know when intense suffering was about to take place and would be able to prevent it, an all loving being would prevent all evil/suffering therefore probably God does not exist.

Question 9

Paul’s evidential problem

Answer 9

God would not allow so many premature deaths. 50 billion children have died before reaching the age of mature consent and 300 billion humans have died prenatally (before birth). He argues that millions of innocent children suffer and die every year and these children are too young to make choices about God- no free will. No all loving/ all powerful being would permit such suffering, so God doesn’t exist.

Question 10

Answering the problem of evil

Answer 10

Augustinian type theodicies- evil does not really exist, things that look like evil to us is the result of misusing our free will.
Iranaean type theodicies- evil is necessary for our development into better human beings.

Question 11

Augustinian theodicy key points

Answer 11

Evil is a consequence of sin.
Evil is a privation of good.
The fall of humans and creation led to evil.
The cross overcomes evil.
A soul deciding theodicy.

Question 12

Augustinian- evil is a consequence of sin

Answer 12

Augustine bases his theodicy on a literal interpretation of the genesis creation story, he believed God’s creation of the universe was originally perfect, free from evil until the first sin of angels and humans. God gave use free will and it is misuse of freewill that creates evil. Responsibility for evil therefore lies with us, not God.

Question 13

Augustinian- evil is a privation

Answer 13

Since God is all loving, he would not create evil, evil is not a ‘substance’ it is a privation- a lack of goodness. God made every good thing, but it has the potential to be corrupted, the fact it can be corrupted means it is good as if something can’t have less goodness than it does, it doesn’t have any goodness to begin with.

Question 14

Augustinian- the fall of human beings and creation

Answer 14

Adam and Eve used their free will to turn away from God. This was the original sin which lead to the fall of creation. We share Adam’s guilt and sin as we are descended from him. “seminally present in the loins of Adam”. All moral evil is caused by misuse of free will and all natural evil is caused by the fall of creation.

Question 15

Augustinian- the cross overcomes evil; soul deciding

Answer 15

Christians refer to the fall as a happy mistake as without it, it wouldn’t have been necessary for God to send Jesus into the world to save it from sin. Those who freely choose to accept Jesus as their saviour will be redeemed and when they die, they will be reunited with God in heaven.

Question 16

Strengths of Augustine’s theodicy

Answer 16

It logically makes sense if you see the genesis story as literally true, it’s supported by biblical evidence.
Evil is a privation claim is believable and supported by his example of wounds and disease. It provides an explanation for the existence of moral and natural evil and the logical and evidential problems of evil.

Question 17

Challenges of Augustine’s theodicy

Answer 17

Sin can’t be passed down through genetics, and also it is impossible according to modern genetics for the whole human race to be descended from 2 humans. There is no physical evidence to suggest that the world ever existed in a perfect state, modern geology tells us that natural disasters have always existed.
God wouldn’t create hell. And God is ultimately responsible for evil since he knew they would turn against him so he could have prevented it.

Question 18

Irenaean type theodicies

Answer 18

Irenaeus believed that the existence of evil is the deliberate action of an all loving God, who wanted his creation to become spiritually perfect. He believed that God created us in his image, with the intention that we should develop ourselves into his likeness.

Question 19

Iranaean- becoming in God’s likeness

Answer 19

Irenaeus believed that to achieve God’s likeness we need to develop second order good’s (sympathy, courage, compassion, forgiveness). To do this we have to use our free will to make the correct moral choices. We can only make these choices through difficult situations-suffering of ourselves/others.
First order good’s are pleasure and happiness.

Question 20

Irenaean- evil is necessary for human development

Answer 20

If there wasn’t any evil, we wouldn’t have the opportunities to develop morally and spiritually. Suffering allows people to become a stronger person and to develop second order goods.

Question 21

Irenaean- craftsman analogy

Answer 21

Uses God as a craftsman working with humans as his material. We should allow God to mould us into perfection but those who resist him would be punished by God and go to hell.

Question 22

Irenaean- Hick’s irenaean theodicy

Answer 22

He describes Irenaean throdicies as ‘soul making’ as the world is a proving ground for people to earn their salvation through working through the challenges of everyday life. Although God could have created people in his likeness, he chose not to as Hick believe’s that it is better to be created flawed and achieve perfection from great effort, than to be created perfect.

Question 23

Irenaean- Hick- epistemic distance

Answer 23

In order for us to have free will, God must be at an epistemic distance, which means we need to live in a world which God may or may not exist. If the evidence showed that God definitely existed, we wouldn’t have a choice about whether to believe in and follow him.

Question 24

Irenaean- Hick- epistemic distance example

Answer 24

Gives the example of driving in a car and deciding whether or not to go through a red traffic light. If the police was sitting next to us, we wouldn’t drive through it. If God revealed himself to us, he would be effectively taking away our free will because we’d feel obliged to follow him.

Question 25

Irenaean- Hick- eschatological justification

Answer 25

Hick believes that everyone goes to heaven eventually, but only once they are perfect. Most people will need to continue the soul making process in the afterlife. Any evil we do suffer in life is justified by our entry to heaven and eternal happiness there.

Question 26

Strengths of Irenaean type theodicies

Answer 26

Slightly compatible with evolution as Hick’s theodicy is saying that the process of soul making required our species to evolve to the point of having morality and free will. It doesn’t blame all humans for all evil. His concept of epistemic distance is why God chooses not to intervene.

Question 27

Weaknesses of Irenaean type theodicies

Answer 27

Universal salvation is unjust- could have committed murder in the past. Deliberately creating suffering is not the action of a truly loving God, He should be able to find better ways to allow soul making. Some people experience extreme pain that they do not benefit at all, God is unjustly favouring some people over others. (unfair).