Problem of Evil and Suffering

Question 1

Epicurus

Answer 1

• Greek Philosopher
• inconsistent triad
• God is either not omnibenevolent/omnipotent or God does not exist
• logical aspect

Question 2

why does Mackie say the inconsistent triad is a logical problem

Answer 2

• theists have to show their beliefs make sense yet how is one to logically show suffering is consistent with this perfect God

Question 3

what is the evidential aspect

Answer 3

• the sheer quantity of evil that can be seen in the world appears to challenge the goodness of creation
• both moral and natural

Question 4

what is moral evil

Answer 4

evil created by humans through exercise of their free will and rational human thought

Question 5

what is natural evil

Answer 5

• events with evil consequences when experienced by human beings
• caused by the way the natural world works
• most people today don’t blame it on an evil spirit

Question 6

what is a theodicy

Answer 6

a theological theory that attempts to vindicate God’s existence in response to the problem of evil

Question 7

what are the two keys ways in which evil can be solved or accounted for

Answer 7

• creatures using their free will

- necessary to develop valuable moral qualities like compassion

Question 8

what’s the difference between absence and lack in terms of moral and natural evil

Answer 8

• if you cannot walk you lack the healthy you should have
• if you are mean you the lack the quality of charity
• both privations for Augustine
• but the first example is a privation for which you are not to blame - natural evil
• the second concerns a privation you are responsible for because of how you choose to behave - moral evil

Question 9

building blocks of Augustine

Answer 9

• all things created good as God is good and Genesis - but hierarchy of goodness in beings
• evil is privatio boni
• free will causes a turn away from goodness
• fallen angels cause natural evil
• evil only evil from our perspective
• evil in itself doesn’t exist

Question 10

what are the criticisms of Augustine

Answer 10

• plausibility in the light of science - he interpreted Genesis literally, no evidence angels exist - Hick says its implausible nowadays
• science - if you accept evolution our corrupt behaviour could be evidence of our animalistic nature that seeks survival at all costs not original sin
• science also explains natural evil
• human beings were scientifically not seminally present in Adam and so God is unjust to punish us
• how can a creature created good turn away from God - implausible
• if God is responsible for everything this doesn’t fit with our understanding.
• pre-destination

Question 11

what are the criticisms of Augustine in their most basic form

Answer 11

• plausibility
• science
• original sin
• hell
• God’s responsibility for natural evils
• how could a perfect world go wrong

Question 12

what are the building blocks of Hicks additions to the Irenean theodicy

Answer 12

• rejected belief humans are made perfect
• through their struggle, humans develop from image to likeness
• the only meaning of the fall is to describe how far apart God is from humanity
• epistemic distance is part of God’s plan to allow free will
• Vardy - king tries to win peasant girls love because love that is not freely given is not true love
• soul making - suffering helps us develop - mistake to see God’s love would be best displayed through a cosy world - parents and children
• moral evil is evidence of our immature animal nature
• natural evil is the stimulating challenging environment to aid development from image to likeness
• development incomplete during life - eschatological aspect - leads to support of universal salvation - doesn’t believe in hell but purgatory where soul making can continue

Question 13

what are the criticisms of the Iranian theodicy in their most basic form

Answer 13

• injustice
• the existence of suffering
• dysteleological suffering
• do the ends justify the means
• the epistemic distance

Question 14

what are the criticisms of Hick’s Irenean theodicy

Answer 14

• humans are responsible for their actions and God will judge them thus universal salvation seems unjust - you can do wrong in this life but it wont matter - implausible
• Hick - God responsible for creating world with natural disasters - clash with loving god
• dysteleological suffering does not seem just - if soul making means ours lives will be easier in the next life why do we have to experience it now - unsatisfactory that heaven can compensate for it - doesn’t seem to have a proper understanding of how hard suffering is
• developing into the likeness of God may not be seen as a big enough reward for suffering
• Many Christians reject that a loving God creates a world where evil happens so they can develop into likeness
• if God was more clearly visible then perhaps people would not do evil things - but then there goodness would not be real as it would be motivated by selfish means perhaps

Question 15

Augustine’s view of the origins of moral and natural evil IS enough to spare God from blame for the evil in the world

Answer 15

• never suggests God tolerates or wants evil
• Christian Scientists and Eddy try to suggest evil is an illusion but its hard to deny that pain exists - illusion is real enough to have symptoms like death of the ill- cannot be satisfactorily ignored
• perhaps God cannot see into the future - exists sempiternal way like Swinburne suggests and so could not see that the angels would turn away from him

Question 16

Augustine’s view of the origins of moral and natural evil IS NOT enough to spare God from blame for the evil in the world

Answer 16

• evil appears to be more serious than a privatio boni
• deliberate cruelty seems more than just a lack of goodness
• Christian Scientists and Eddy say evil is an illusion
• gives us not explanation of why God gave some of the angels too little grace that they fell
• even if we accept variety is good no need to give such variety that some angels fell
• Augustine does not always align with the Bible
• suggests God did not think ahead
• doesn’t say why God allowed lack of perfection
• Schleiermacher - impossible to find cause for angels to sin other than been created imperfectly
• evil would have had to come out of nowhere (it wasn’t nowhere it was satan CA)
• questions about omniscience - created us knowing what would happen

Question 17

the need to create a vale of soul making can justify the existence/extent of evil

Answer 17

• Irenaeus’ theodicy has been v influential among Christians
• God knows what he is doing - good will come even if difficult at the time
• Hick takes consequentialist view - end justifies the mean but Kant thought humans shouldnt be used as a means for an end - but if Hick is right then God allows suffering as a means for soul making

Question 18

the need to create a vale of soul making does not justify the existence/extent of evil

Answer 18

• some people suffer more than others - does God want some to grow into spiritual maturity more than others - unjust
• not everyone is able to benefit from suffering but still experience it
• an ill baby may not be capable of gaining insights from their experience
• animal suffering hard to explain especially if there’s no life after death for them
• people could learn from suffering of others - but some suffer alone with no one around
• suffering does not always teach - sometimes people lose their faith - CA - true Christian would never lose faith
• universal salvation undermines the whole value of Christianity - why would Christ die on cross if other ways to be saved
• too high a price to pay - Dostovesky - God shouldn’t have made the world at all - accepts God just returns his entrance ticket
• world suggests an evil God if evil planned in

Question 19

the logical aspect of the problem of evil pose the greatest challenge to belief

Answer 19

• premise 1 of omnibenevolent - Irenaeus/Hick - could be good reasons why god doesn’t eliminate suffering - necessary to give us free will/develop to relationship with God
• more loving to give us vale of soul making then bubble wrap us and have no freedom
• premise 2 - God can do everything possible - should give free will and have no evil - Swinburne says its a logical contradiction and is not an action at all- God cannot create a square circle because not a thing
• premise 3 - if evil and suffering exist in the world as part of God’s loving plan then perhaps evil should be considered good - Irenaeus

Question 20

the evidential aspect of the problem of evil poses the greatest challenge to belief

Answer 20

• their strength rests on the claim that our experience of evil makes the hypothesis of a good, loving God improbable when compared with that evil can happen by chance
• we need to know what would make it more probable
• the uniqueness of God leaves us without anything on which to base our calculations of probability
• we are finite - weak position to form a judgement