Evil + Suffering Flashcards
Evil and Suffering:
2 problems of evil
LOGICAL PROBLEM OF EVIL: a priori (deductive argument which questions the existence of God)
Mackie argues evil, benevolence, omnipotence, forms an inconsistent triad as they can’t all exist at the same time.
ST augustine “either God cannot or will not abolish evil” thus he is either not powerful or not loving.
EVIDENTIAL PROBLEM OF EVIL: a posteriori (inductive argument- given the huge amount of evil + suffering God is not all-loving etc.
WILLIAM ROWE: uses evidence of evil + suffering in world to form inductive argument against gods existence.
No good comes out of suffering, the intensity, duration + distribution of evil in world, goes against the existence of classical theism
evil and suffering
The concepts of natural evil
Natural: accidents/ tsunamis/ death
More difficult form of evil for religious people to accept, as the obvious blame is God as He can easily control the forces of nature being OMNIPOTENT.
For Christians the issue is hard to understand in Bible, EXODUS 6 God uses natural evils to punish people, the flood to punish everyone supposedly evil-minded, except Noah and EXODUS 7 where God set a plague on Egyptian pharaoh to set Israelites free.
some people only interpret the Bible
N.T: Jesus performs miracles over world of nature : His resurrection, conquering death
Jesus heals the blind man JOHN.9: “it was not the sins of his parents- but that the works of God might be made tp manifest him”
evil and suffering
The concepts of moral evil
Can be blamed on human free-will.
Humans regarded as “moral agents” ( ability to choose right + wrong)
Refers to action where the moral agent uses their will to bring about bad consequences or inaction e.g.: not getting medical assistance to someone who needs it.
Holocaust: 20% chosen to work, dies in unimaginable misery or were worked to death. Survivor of Auschwitz jack Adler his reaction to his experience was a lack of understanding why?
evil and suffering
arguments why God allows evil to exist
“free will” defence
God has to allow evil to preserve free will.
As good has to be chosen freely.
If God controlled evil there would be no freedom, thus people are responsible for moral evil.
John Hick’s eschatological solution:
Hick suggests, God has all the time he wants to bring people to freely love the good, so in the end everyone will reach God’s kingdom (heaven)
Heaven is necessary so we can become fit for heaven.
evil and suffering
the evidential problem of evil
evil is overwhelming in quantity + quality.
evil is pointless because it serves no useful purpose.
