Evil and Suffering Flashcards
What is the logical problem of evil?
Epicurus : Is God willing but not able?
Mackie- Atheist developed his ideas.
If a God of Classical thiesm is omnipotent omniscient and omnibenevolent, how can evil exist logically?
What is the evidential problem of evil?
That even if evil was necessary, say, to develop our souls, ( Irenaus/ Hick argue this ) the quantity and quality of evil makes the existence of a God improbable - Rowe: fawn in forest fire dies alone
Two types of evil
Natural and Moral
Hicks soul making theodicy
The world a “ Vale of soul making” We are made and born in the image of God but we must become his likeness, and to do that we need characteristics like courage and resilience which we can only get by suffering. Hick says we will all be rewarded eventually when our bodies are replicated ( replica theory ) in heaven. WHERE WE WILL BE CHILDREN OF GOD once again. He believes everyone will eventually be saved because human sin could never be bad enough to invoke eternal torment, and an omnibenevolent God would not do this. A Belief called Universalization.
Why did Hick argue God couldn’t intervene to stop evil?
Hick argued for the Epistemic distance. This means that we cannot truly know of God’s existence. If God did make himself known to us, we would follow his commands out of obedience to his authority instead of following them because we had figured out that they were the right thing to do.
Plantingas free will Defence
Evil is necessary in order for humans to have true free will. If God was always there to prevent it, he would be controlling human actions forcing us to choose good and we wouldn’t be free.
“ A world with God in it is enourmously more valuable “
Evaluation of FWD
Mackie claims that it is logically possible for a world of humans who have free will to always make good choices. In that case, God could have created such a world. The fact that God did not do that suggests he is either not powerful enough or not loving enough to do it.
Planting replies, that is not freewill. We would be robotic.
But still doesnt adress evedential problem of evil, or natural evil.
What 3 essential Christian aspects of God does Griffin reject
That God is omnipotent and transcendent
That God created the world ex nihilo, evidence he claims from a mistranslation of genesis suggesting the universe already existed as a black void
Griffin and whitehead
Whitehead created process theology, and Griffin developed it as a physicist
What is process theology.
The belief that God ‘ persuaded ‘ chaotic matter into existence, that his power is tied to this chaos and that God is not transcendent but here on earth the fellow suferer who understands. God and the universe are one- a panenthieistic approach. God is the ‘ soul of the universe’
Whitehead quote on God’s suffering
“God is the fellow sufferer who understands “
What does Roth say about Griffin’s God and what does Griffi reply?
ROTH A God that’s so small is “ weak and pathetic “ and not worthy of worship
And Griffin replies that a God able to stop the holocaust but doesn’t is “ gross” .
Mackies own free will defence
