free will defence Flashcards
theodicies
- theodicy: a justification for God’s qualities and existence
- successful: justifies both problems of evil, both types, all his attributes and existence
- theodicies usually include GODS REASONS for his actions
different theodicies for the E and L problems of evil
L: prove that the existence of God and the existence of Evil is compatible
E: need a new way to prove/justify God’s actions
what makes a successful theodicy
- internally coherent
- within the context of natural theology
- cohere with other theology
- personally convincing
Augustine of hippo background
- unfaithful married man who was wrapped up in sexual depravity and sin
- had a shift and ended realising his actions were wrong, but blamed them and all evil in the world on eve
- this is because of Eve and the fall
Genesis and Augustine’s theologian concepts
Genesis 1
- everything God makes is good –> God did not make evil
Gen 3
- the fall: the first sin is due to a thirst for knowledge
- original sin caused by eve the woman and the snake (evil nature of women)
- eve is weak and vulnerable, and lost her Edenic quality
Romans 5
- hope of Augustine’s theodicy is redemption through Jesus (‘bring eternal life through Jesus christ our lord)
the theodicy of augustine of Hippo
disharmony
- God is perfect and the world he created reflects his perfection –> ex nihilo, so shows his omnipotence
- humans were created with free will, showing his omnibenevolence
- sin and death entered the world due to the fall
- their disobedience caused disharmony in all creation and humanity –> they were immortal before (eat from the tree or you will die), and the sin brought death, pain etc
- we all experience this through the ‘loins of adam’ –> inherited sin as we are born with OG sin
- natural evil: disharmony in nature due to the fall
- GOD IS JUSTIFIED IN NOT INTERVENING AS SUFFERING IS THE CONSEQUENCE OF A HUMAN ACTION
augustine’s definition of evil
- humans had free will and all suffering comes from the abuse of it (natural and moral)
- evil is a perversion of God’s creation/perfection (PRIVATO BONI)
- evil is simply the absence of good and is not a substance in itself (deprivation of good)
- due to humanity’s continuous evil it has accumulated, causing the E problem of evil
how does augustine think we will be saved from evil
JESUS
- gods love for us is still demonstrated through RECONCILIATION made possible by jesus christ (John 3:16)
the free will defence and moral evil
- evil is caused by free will
- it is an essential part of humanity
- without it we would be robots –> the ability to have free will is BETTER than life as a robot, so evil is justified to preserve it
- therefore free will is sufficiently important to be worth the risk of evil
- genuine free will leads to the genuine possibility of evil
- if god removed the possibility of evil, it would limit free will, contradicting it –> this maintains god as omnipotent
- free will is necessary for humans to have a relationship with God
- to have a genuine relationship with god we need to be freely able to choose to love him
- humans have a choice to evil and we cannot hold God accountable for this
how does the free will defence work defend gods qualities
- omnipotence: god demonstrates love as he allows evil so we can develop a genuine relationship with him and can genuinely live our lives as we please with freedom
- omnipotence/omniscience: god can take evil away but doesnt to preserve free will
scholars and free will
but power, unlimited power, cannot command love –> Kierkegaard
the less god allows men to bring about large scale horrors, the less freedom and responsibility he gives them –> swinburne
Kierkegaard and the king & the maiden
- the king loves a maiden and decides to humble himself truly for the maiden to truly love him, not just for his riches
- the king could force her love, but it is not genuine and genuine love is greater than just love
- king is god/jesus and maiden is humanity
- jesus: ‘his raggedness became the very signature of his presence’
- free will is needed for genuine fellowship with God
the free will defence and natural evil
- Fallen angels: the devil caused evil by tempting humans causing moral evil and causes disease, natural disasters and accidents, as well as corrupting other creatures to produce carnivorous or poisonous animals
- fallen world: natural evil is due to moral evil of humans -> the fall changed human beings and caused corruption of the natural world and their relationship with it (emnity)
- giving birth and pain, working hard to survive in Gen 3 –> all evil caused by free will
- predictable environment: to exercise free will we need a pred environment to be aware of the consequences of our actions
- natural laws are needed otherwise choices are meaningless
- natural evil potential is built into the world where free will can be used
- pain and suffering of ourselves and others give us moral choices, and give us the opportunity to develop our moral virtues, reaching fellowship with god freely (more meaningful)
free will as a ‘higher order good’
why might it not be a higher order good
- theists claim god gave us free will and it is a very good thing to have a universe with free will rather than not
- free will is seen as a higher order good: it is good in itself but it also makes other good things possible
- any intervention from god in evil therefore inhibits free will and even if atrocities still occur, as a higher order good the preservation of free will matters more
HOWEVER:
- only for moral evil not natural
- miracles in religious texts are seen as interventions in free will, leading to free will becoming an incomplete theodicy
how does the free will defense support LPE and EPE
- logical: evil is not gods fault and he does demonstrate love by allowing evil because we can live freely, develop our virtues and reach true fellowship with him
- evidential: god cannot compromise freedom by removing any evil, so plenitude cannot be changed
