Evil and Suffering Flashcards
describe natural evil
that which the world does to us. ranges fro skin irritation caused by bed bugs to full scale disasters obliterating the population
why is natural evil a problem for christianity
- natural evil is the most difficult form of evil for religious people to accept because moral evil can always be attributed to free will, but natural evil can’t be blamed on Humans
- the obvious seat of blame is god, because it should be easy for an omnipotent god to control the forces of nature, particularly since most christians believe god created the laws of nature in the first place
- for chirsitnas the issue is particularly hard to understand because in the Bible, god uses natural evil to punish people - eg the plagues in exodus to persuade pharaoh to free the Israelites
- if god could control natural evil back then, why not now? q
describe jesus’s answer to the problem of natural evil
- Jesus seems to answer this question in John 9;1-13 when the disciples came across a blind man and asked if his blindness as his fault because he’d sinned. Jesus said: ‘it was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of god might be made manifest for him’ thus shifting the question to the purpose of suffering - it gives god an opportunity to act, so he heals the men
describe moral evil
evil which is caused by humans - why wouldn’t god intervene if he was omnibenevolent
describe the religious response to the problem of moral evil and evaluate it
- god has a plan by which all suffering will eventually lead to the perfect harmony of life in heaven , but this isn’t necessarily a satisfactory response as it doesn’t justify animal suffering (where is god’s love for creation and animals don’t go to haven) and what parent would buy the future harmony of heaven at the price of letting their child die in the hokocause
describe Dostoyevsky’s conclusion via Ivan Karamazov about the existence of. moral evil
- god asks too high a price now for the harmony of heaven in the future - it is beyond our means. this is the essence of Ivan’s rebellion against god - he wants no part in heaven.
- Ivan’s complaint against god doesn’t just apply to the evidential problem of evil, but all types.
define the problem of evil
- a philosophical and theological issue that questions how an all powerful, all knowing and perfectly good god can exist in a world containing evil and suffering
describe the evidential problem of evil
- a posterori, inductive
this version acknowledges that the existence of god may not outright disprove god, and can logically coexist with him, but argues that the sheer amount/speciific types of evil; 9eg intense suffering) makes god’s existence highly unlikely. it focuses on the evidence of evil to suggest that it is improbable for a benevolent and omnipotent god to allow such suffering. - scholars who support this argument examine evil and suffering in the world and determine how this affects the probability of god’s existence
- these arguments don’t offer absolute proofs, bit rather increase the likelihood that evil can’ be explained by god. the quantity and quality of evil.
- William Rowe gives the example of pointless evil - a fawn dies a slow, agonising death from burns in a forest = this death does not impact human free will nor build human character by developing virtues, so it is pointless, and questions fod’s attributes
describe the logical problem of evil
- claims that the very existence of evil is incompatible with the existence of an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-good god. in other words, if god truly is all good, he’d want to eliminate evil, and ion he was all-powerful, he’d be able to do so. the fact evil exists seems to contradict the idea of such a god.
logical problem of evil: describe the inconsistent triad as presented by Mackie and Epicurus
Mackie: god is a) omnipotent) omnibeveolent but c) evil exists, therefore either a) or b) is logically inconsistent and therefore wrong
Epicurus: ‘is god willing to prevent evil, but not able? then he is not omnipotent. is he able but not willing? then he is malevolent. is he both able and willing? then whence evil?’
Give religious responses to the Evidential problem of evil
1) some suffering is good
2) some suffering brings out the best in human nature
3) all suffering will eventually lead to the perfect harmony of life in heaven
describe the solution to the PoE that denies god’s omnipotence
- if god isn’t omnipotent he can’t control evil so can’t be blamed for its continued existence
- this is the preferred solution of process theodicy
describe the solution to the PoE that denies god’s omnipotence: what are the problems with this approach?
- for most believers, a god who isn’t omnipotent wouldn’t be worthy of worship, and a non-omnipotent god wouldn’t be god - as god’s omnipotence is central to his identity
describe the problems with the solution to the PoE that denies god’s omnibevevolence
for ,most christians this is unthinkable as the belief that for is good and loving is a support to those who experience evil and the basis of future hope for life in heaven
‘god will wipe away every tear from their eyes’
describe the solution to the poe that demises evil exists
- proposed by st Augustine
- contends that evil is a privation of good an doesn’t exist in its own right
describe the solution to the poe that denies evil exists: what are the positives of this approach
- if evil is just the absence of good, there is no logical ‘problem’ to be solved
describe the solution to the poe that denies evil exists: what are the negatives of this approach
- denying the reality of evil doesn’t seem to be a acceptable solution most people have experienced the power of evil and see it being as tangible as goodness
describe what Mary baker eddy said about evil
‘god is completely good as that only goodness was real. evil and suffering are simply the failure to understand the loving nature of god’
describe the augustinian theodicy
- his theodicy discusses the idea that not only does god exist, but so do evil and suffering. in fact, all are necessary in this world. god is right to allow evil and suffering as they play an important part in our nature and development as humans. for Augustine, god is just and allows suffering to happen as a punishment for human sin.
- augustine argied that when god created the world, he made it perfect therefore evil didn’t come from god, bit rather the decisions made by humans. humans misused their gift of free will, and chose to turn from god, so our naturally disobedient natures mean we sin
- evil isn’t a thing in itself but rather a privation of good
- humans inherited original sin therefore are naturally prone to immorality and we experience immoral things as punishment
give the moral criticisms of the augustinian theodicy
how can a loving god allow suffering and make us pay for Adam’s mistkaes
give the logical criticisms of the augustinian theodicy from Schliermacher
- it is a logical contradiction to say that a perfect world could go wrong
- if god had created a perfectly goos world then it could never go wrong. if humans were able to choose evil, evil must have existed in the first place - this would mean the world wasn’t perfect, so god is to blame for evil
- in nature, suffering it vital for survival, as things must die so others can live - god use have made the world this way
- god is unjust in allowing humans to be punished for Adam’s sin
- the existence go hell as a place of eternal punishment contradicts the existence of an all-loving god.
- if hell was part of the design o the universe and god knew the world would go wrong anay, why did he create it?
give the scientific criticisms of augustinian theodicy
- belief in the genesis creation story is strongly challenged by evolution - is the idea that we were ‘seminally present’ in Adam biologically sound? no.
describe the irenaean theodicy
- an upwards and soul-making theodicy - it offers the opportunity for humans to improve themselves and work up to perfection. humanity is on a learning curve, striving towards perfection/ suffering has the benefit of creating an environment where desirable characteristics can be developed by mankind.
- irenaeus: ‘ a world without problems… would be morally static, for moral growth comes through responses to challenges’
- irenaeus also argues that suffering serves the purpose of showing us the things we wouldn’t automatically know - eg body pain
- god created us imperfect and the world so that we could develop into perfection, creating humans with the intention of allowing them to develop. if he simply made us perfect wouldn’t have the chance to choose to be imperfect - god has to give humans free will and permit evil and suffering to occur so we can develop perfection ourslkcs
- through natural and moral evil we develop spiritually so they are necessary and help us undertsntd the world as a place of soul making
Romans 5:3: ‘we rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance, character and hope.’
