SECTION 1 CHRISTIANITY- TOPIC 1.1.7 THE PROBLEM OF EVIL AND SUFFERING

Question 1

Evil and suffering can take two forms:

Answer 1

moral suffering and natural
suffering

Question 2

Moral suffering-

+example

Answer 2

is caused by humans misusing their free
will (the human ability to make choices)

War,Rape, murder and burglary-Wars cause large amounts of suffering, alongside killing innocent people

Question 3

SOWAA FOR acts of moral evil sins

Answer 3

10 Commandments
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not give false testimony …
You shall not covet

Question 4

Natural suffering-

Answer 4

suffering which is caused by nature and
has nothing to do with humans

Question 5

Evil and suffering may cause people to…?

Answer 5

question or reject belief in God
believe that a good God would have designed a world
that contained natural evils. They find it easier to believe that natural disasters are a result of the earth being formed by accident from the Big Bang and so they question or reject God’s existence.

Question 6

Omnipotent –

Answer 6

–the belief that God is all-powerful

Question 7

Omnibenevolent –

Answer 7

–the belief that God is all-good

Question 8

Omniscient –

Answer 8

–the belief that God knows everything that has happened and everything that is going to happen

Question 9

Why does EVIL AND SUFFERING raise problems for Christian beliefs about the
nature of God?

3

Answer 9

-If God is omnipotent (all-powerful), he must be able to remove evil and suffering from the world.

-If God is omnibenevolent (all-good), he must want to remove evil and suffering from the world because they cause so much unhappiness.

-If God is omniscient (knows everything that is going to happen), he must have known all the evil and suffering that would come from creating the universe in the way he
did. Therefore, he should have created the universe in a different way to avoid evil and
suffering.

Question 10

Conclusions of—–> Why does EVIL AND SUFFERING raise problems for Christian beliefs about the
nature of God?

Answer 10

It follows that, if God exists, there should be no evil or suffering in the world.

As there is evil and suffering in the world, either God is not omnipotent, nor God is not
omnibenevolent, nor God is not omniscient, or God does not exist.

Question 11

SOWAA FOR GOD BEING OMNIBENEVOLENT

Answer 11

“The Lord is compassionate”
pslams

Question 12

FINAL CONCLUSIVE BELIEFS ABOUT THE CHALLENGES CHRISTIANS FACE.

Answer 12

the existence of evil and suffering challenges their beliefs about God, and as these beliefs
come from their holy book and creeds, it challenges the whole of their religion.

For many religious believers,
evil and suffering only become a
problem when they come into contact with them. (experienced evil or suffering) the problem can sometimes lead believers into
rejecting religion and becoming atheist or agnostic.