Evil and suffering

Question 1

Samsara meaning

Answer 1

Living a life that causes other people to suffer which means you will have a lower rebirth. It is a cycle of rebirth

Question 2

What are the three poisons

Answer 2

Greed, hatred and delusion

Question 3

Enlightenment definition

Answer 3

To understand spiritual teachings

Question 4

Nibanna definiton

Answer 4

To blow/ go out. It is freedom from the cycle of samsara.

Question 5

Summarise the Fall

Answer 5

The Fall is a story in Christianity. God created Eve for Adam because he was feeling lonely but none of them could eat from the fruit tree. One day, a snake tempted Eve to eat the fruit so she did and told Adam to do the same. The consequences were death, women have painful birth, expulsion of the Garden of Eden and men have to work to get food.

Question 6

Who made the inconsistent triad

Answer 6

David Hume

Question 7

Who is David Hume

Answer 7

He was an atheist and he thought evil did exist or the Christian understanding of God is wrong. He created the inconsistent triad to demonstrate that evil is definitely a factor of god and only one of omnipotent and omnibenevolent are not.

Question 8

What are the three points of the inconsistent triad

Answer 8

Omnibenevolent, omnipotent and evil

Question 9

What does omnibenevolent mean

Answer 9

All kind

Question 10

What does omnipotent mean

Answer 10

All power

Question 11

What does inshallah mean

Answer 11

God willing

Question 12

Reasons in Islam why suffering happens

Answer 12

Allah has a plan, suffering is a test, good can come from suffering and Shaytan

Question 13

Explain ‘Allah has a plan’ in Islam

Answer 13

Everything happens in the will of God, including evil and suffering. It is impossible to understand his plan but Muslims have to maintain faith as Allah’s knowledge is better than humans.

Question 14

Explain ‘suffering is a test’ in Islam

Answer 14

Muslims believe on the day of judgment everyone will have a list of their deeds and sins and will be rewarded or punished accordingly. Suffering and difficulties could test whether someone could still trust Allah

Question 15

Explain ‘good can come from suffering’ in Islam

Answer 15

Suffering and difficulties could have a positive result such as studying hard for an exam but then getting great results

Question 16

Explain ‘Shaytan’ in Islam

Answer 16

This is the name for the devil. Iblis is the name of the angel who later became Shaytan after he refused to bow down to Adam and was cast out of heaven. For revenge, he would tempt humans to do evil.

Question 17

Baha’i beliefs about evil

Answer 17

Evil is not a substance or force but the absence of good. There are no spirits or entities and ‘Satan’ represents the bad characteristics of humans and that they should free themselves from it,

Question 18

Summarise Pandora’s box

Answer 18

There were two good brothers called Epimetheus and Prometheus. Prometheus god in trouble with Zeus because he stole fire from heaven to teach to humans how to keep warm and cook food. As punishment, Zeus chained Prometheus to a rock for many years. Zeus was still angry and wanted to take vengeance on the humans so he ordered Hephaestus to make a woman from clay. Zeus named her Pandora and gave her to Epimetheus to marry and Zeus gave them a locked box and gave Epimetheus the key to hang around his neck. One day, Pandora opened the box and bad things came out like hate, sickness, disease but before she could shut it hope came out too.

Question 19

Message of Pandoras box

Answer 19

Being too curious can be negative and positive so be cautious with what you do