evil + suffering Flashcards
What are examples of natural evil?
Tsunamis, wild fires, diseases
What are examples of moral evil?
Murder, arson, genocide
What’s the logical problem of evil?
- God is omnipotent
- Got is omnibenevolent
- Evil exists
What’s the first solution to denying 1 of the 3 statements?
Denying God’s omnipotence (Process Theology)
What’s the second solution to denying 1 of the 3 statements?
Denying God’s omnibenevolence
What’s the third solution to denying 1 of the 3 statements?
Denying that evil exists
What is the free will defence?
Argues that God has to allow evil in order to preserve free will
If God controlled evil, there’d be no freedom
What is John Hick’s eschatological solution?
In the end everyone reaches God’s Kingdom; evil is a necessary part of the process to become fit for heaven
What’s the evidential problem of evil?
There are known facts about evil that are evidence against God’s existence
- Evil is overwhelmingly in quantity + quality
- Evil is pointless; serves no purpose
What’s evidence of evil thats overwhelming in quantity + quality?
Mass genocides
What is an example of pointless, purposeless evil? Who gave this example?
Rowe’s example of a fawn suffering a slow, painful death in a forest; it dies alone wo anyones knowledge
What is the evidential problem + God’s omniscience?
God is omnipotent; God is omnibenevolent; God is omniscient; Evil exists
What would an omniscient being know?
They would know, at the point of creating the universe that both overwhelming + pointless evils would occur
Which scholar goes with first, second, third + fourth order good/evil?
John Mackie
What are first order good/evils?
The experience in life of happiness/misery + pleasure/pain
e.g. eating cake/breaking a limb
What are second order good/evils?
We can respond to suffering w compassion/cruelty
What does second order good do?
Maximise first order good + minimise first order evil
What does second order evil do?
Maximise first order evil + minimise first order good
What is third order good?
Free will allows ppl to choose bet 2 things
Pain + suffering helps us develop capacity for sympathy to morally grow
What is fourth order good?
God creates humans w free will, which teaches us to be morally responsible
What is Mackie’s rejection of the Free Will Defence?
It’s logically possible for a person to make free, good choices
God could’ve created humans so they would only make good, free choices
But God didn’t
What does Mackie’s rejection of the FWD mean?
Either God lacks power
Or God isn’t loving enough to stop evil
Either way the FWD fails
Concl: God doesn’t exist
Why did Mackie set out his example of the FWD?
In order to disprove it
What are Plantinga’s 3 possible worlds?
- The world as it is; evil + suffering w ‘morally sig free will’ no causal det. from God
- The world wo ‘morally sig free will’ but God’s causal det. makes ppl choose good so no evil
- Both ‘morally sig. free will’ + God’s causal set. to make ppl choose good
What is Plantinga’s deduction of his 3 possible worlds?
- The 1st is logically possible
- The 2nd is logically possible BUT would make humans robots
- The 3rd is logically possible; gen. free will is incompatible w causal det. so Mackie’s arg fails
What is the response to Natural evil in terms of Plantinga’s defence?
- Tied up w punishment for the Fall
- Logically possible that God created or allowed natural evil bc of human sin in Eden
What’s a strength of the FWD from Plantinga? What’s a counter to this?
Shows that FWD is logically possible in relation to both types of evil + Mackie’s suggestion isn’t
But this doesn’t mean its true
What’s a strength of the FWD in terms of what is addresses?
FWD addresses the issue of natural evil bc nature has to be free in order to follow its laws of operation
What’s a strength of the FWD?
A world w genuine free will has more value than one wo it where humans would be robots
What does Augustine’s say about evil?
- God created all good things
- Evil isn’t good
- Therefore god didn’t create evil; so evil is not a thing
- Evil is just the absence of good
What does Augustine say evil comes from?
All evil comes from humans, starting w Adam + Eve
This is the reason for infant baptism
What does Augustine say happened when Adam + Eve disobeyed God?
They disrupted the harmony so even the natural world is corrupt
What is the name of Augustine’s theodicy?
Soul-deciding theodicy
Why is it called the soul-deciding theodicy?
If humans decide to do good then their soul will be saved
What is the name of Hick’s theodicy?
Soul-making theodicy
What does Hick say about what happened in Genesis 1 + what this means?
Humans are made in imago dei
We have God’s image, but not likeness (omnibenevolence, kindness etc)
What does Hick say about what God gave us?
God gave us teaching + scriptures; but God was also so nice that he gave us evil so we can use scriptures to develop
What does Hick say about free will?
Free will is necessary; we learn from mistakes + God must maintain an epistemic distance
What does Hick say about moral + natural evil?
Moral evil is a result of free will
Natural evil is ‘God given opportunities’ to develop
Who is the scholar for Process Theology?
Griffin
What do process theologians believe about God?
God isn’t omnipotent or transcendent + God changes
God is ‘becoming’ rather than ‘being’ - we should treat God similar to humans
What do process theologians say about the Bible?
The bible wasn’t the word of God but people expressing beliefs about him
E.g. one of the Gospels was written nearly 200 years after Jesus’ resurrection
Its not factual
What due Process Theologians say about God’s creation? What bible quote is used as evidence?
God didn’t create the universe out of nothing; but he rearranged preexisting material
Genesis 1:1 “earth was without form”
What may weakness 1 of Hicks Soul Making theodicy be?
Why’s there sm awful evil (evidential prob); evil doesn’t have to be so extensive to teach humans good
What example from Mackie supports weakness 1 on Hicks Soul Making theodicy?
To teach a child the colour yellow, he only needs to show a small amount of yellow
To teach compassion, God only needs to make them experience a little bit
What is weakness 2 of Hick’s soul making theodicy?
There’s no doctrinal evidence to support Hick’s belief that everyone gets to heaven
E.g. it doesn’t seem fair that Hitler would get to the same afterlife as Anne Frank
What are 2 more weaknesses of Hick’s soul making theodicy?
Why should people who don’t care/believe in heaven have to suffer?
If we all reach God’s kingdom what’s the point in the journey?
What are 2 strengths of Hick’s soul making theodicy?
Fits w current scientific thinking on evolution
Epistemic distance justifies all kinds of evil; the means are justified if the end is heaven
What are 2 strengths of Hick’s process theodicy?
- Fits w current scientific knowledge
- Concept of God as a ‘fellow sufferer’ bc the entire universes sensory experience is ‘in’ him means those who suffer are assured that God understands
What are 2 weaknesses of Hick’s process theodicy?
- Some theists claim we can’t be sure of the correct translation of Genesis 1:1
