FWD Strengths

Question 1

A world with genuine free will is much more valuable than one without, where humans are in effect robots.

Answer 1

Augustine wrote, ‘a runaway horse is better than a stone’. Evil and suffering is therefore the ‘price’ that is paid for the greater good of genuine free will

Question 2

It satisfactorily explains moral evil - the criminal justice system works on the assumption we have free will.

Answer 2

The defence satisfactorily explains the existence of moral evil as the result of human free choices. This is consistent with the legal system, which holds people accountable for what are understood as freely chosen actions. People are held criminally liable for their actions, suggesting they are personally responsible for them.

Question 3

The fall

Answer 3

It is consistent with St Augustine’s traditional teachings on the cause of Natural Evil (The Fall)…