Problem of Evil

Question 1

‘Natural evil has no purpose.’ Discuss. [40] 2023 A Level.

Answer 1

Para 1: Augustine is ineffective in giving natural evil a purpose

Para 2: John Hicks is slightly better

Para 3: Both fail to explain why

Question 2

‘Natural evil has no purpose.’ Discuss. [40] 2023 A Level.

Para 1

Answer 2

Augustine is ineffective in giving natural evil a purpose

WV
- He says it is as a punishment
- After the angels rebelled against God under Satan’s lead it created disharmony in the natural world
- After the fall of man this disharmony continued and acted as a punishment
- Fair that people should be punished for their actions and not trusting God
SV
- Unfair to make us suffer for the actions of angels
- You wouldn’t punish the criminals family
- Augustine’s whole argument is woven with logical problems and contradictions
- Why God make an imperfect world?
- Not biologically coherent to say we were seminally present in the loins of Adam
- Need literalist interpretation of Genesis

Question 3

‘Natural evil has no purpose.’ Discuss. [40] 2023 A Level.

Para 2

Answer 3

John Hicks is slightly better

WV
- Sometimes people do bad things due to suffering e.g. Charles Manson
- J. S. Mill: natural evil causes more evil than moral evil as it commits all the worst atrocities that moral evil does everyday and poses more of an issue to the God of classical theism
SV
- “Vale of soul-making”
- The world is not intrinsically good but instead instrumentally good and meant to help us to grow
- Through natural evil people can come together as a community and slowly come into God’s likeness as we develop virtues such as compassion
- If God did intervene then we would know of his existence as follow him out of fear which would not be true love (analogy of the therapist hypnotizing their patient) and so creates an epistemic distance to we can choose God through our own free will
- Brings communities together e.g. Hebden boxing day floods 2015

Question 4

‘Natural evil has no purpose.’ Discuss. [40] 2023 A Level.

Para 3

Answer 4

Both fail to explain why

WV
- G. E. Moore’s open question argument (metaphysics) “is suffering bad?” is not a closed question and therefore we cannot equate the two
- Suffering teaches what is dangerous e.g. burning yourself
- Evil can bring us good just as painful labor gives us life
SV
- Why couldn’t we be taught this through positive reinforcement?
- Evidential problem – the problem is the quantity of pain
- William Rowe – fawn in a forest fire
- Big difference between a flood is a small middle class community and a 50m tsunami hitting multiple developing nations killing over 230, 000
- What is the point of endless human suffering? That does not seem like the God of classical theism

Question 5

Augustine’s theodicy justifies evils in the world.’ Discuss. [40] 2022 A Level

Answer 5

Para 1: Unsuccessful in overcoming logical problem and is riddled with fallacies

Para 2: Scientifically incompatible

Para 3: Points to unloving God

Question 6

Augustine’s theodicy justifies evils in the world.’ Discuss. [40] 2022 A Level

Para 1

Answer 6

Unsuccessful in overcoming logical problem and is riddled with fallacies

WV
- Due to the fall, we experience suffering as a punishment
- Evil does not exist; it is simply an absence of good (privatio boni) - privation of good (in the same way that blindness is a lack of sight) so God is not accountable as it is a privation and came about from our own sin
- If evil doesn’t exist, then the inconsistent triad fails
SV
- This is inconsiderate – what about the 7 million that died from COVID and their families
- Saying that evil does not exist is an oversimplification of the world – very convenient
- If Adam and Eve were perfect, why did they sin?

Question 7

Augustine’s theodicy justifies evils in the world.’ Discuss. [40] 2022 A Level

Para 2

Answer 7

Scientifically incompatible

WV
- We suffer as a punishment for original sin
- OS is passed seminally
- We were seminally present in the loins of Adam
- The world was created in seven days
- Natural evil exists as a result of the fall of the angels and as punishment for our sin, it remains – it created disharmony in nature
SV
- Relies on fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible
- Plate tectonics create natural disasters, not the fall of the angels
- Biologically incoherent to say that we were seminally present in the loins of Adam
- Slap pull/ridge push

Question 8

Augustine’s theodicy justifies evils in the world.’ Discuss. [40] 2022 A Level

Para 3

Answer 8

Points to unloving God

WV