Solutions To The Problem Of Evil

Question 1

What does theodicy mean?

Answer 1

-it means to “Justify God”
-an attempt to explain how the existence of evil is compatible with the existence of suffering and evil (solutions to the problem of evil)

Question 2

What are examples of 4 different theodicies?

Answer 2

-Denying God’s omnipotence
-Denying God’s omni-benevolence
-Denying that evil exists
-The Augustinian theodicy

Question 3

What are the strengths and weaknesses of denying God’s omnipotence?

Answer 3

Strength:
-would support the idea that God is all loving (he wants to stop evil and suffering but he can’t because he is not powerful enough)

Weakness:
-contradictory to scripture: “you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm nothing is too hard for you” (from the biblical book of Jeremiah)

Question 4

What are the strengths and weaknesses of denying God’s omni-benevolence?

Answer 4

Strengths:
-would support the idea that he is all powerful (he is powerful enough to stop evil but he does not care enough or love is enough to do so)

Weaknesses:
-for most Christians this is unthinkable, the belief that God is all loving is support to those suffering for a better life in heaven

Question 5

What are the strengths and weaknesses of denying that evil exists?

Answer 5

Strengths:
-Dark is clearly the absence of light so perhaps evil is just the absence of good and if so there would be no logical problem to solve
-Mary Barker Eddie (founder of the Christian Science society) said that evil does not exist but rather people fail to fully understand good

Weaknesses:
-Most people have experienced the power of evil and see it as being just as tangible as goodness

Question 6

What is the Augustinian theodicy?

Answer 6

-The Augustinian theodicy argues that while God created a perfect world, evil and suffering arose through human free will and disobedience, not from God.
-Evil is seen as a privation of good, and humans, due to original sin doctrine , are prone to immorality.
-However, through Jesus Christ, salvation and the hope of overcoming sin and death are offered to those who believe.

Question 7

What are the 5 Key points of Augustinian theodicy?

Answer 7

1)God Created the World Perfect: God created the world in a perfect state without natural or moral evil” In Genesis it says “God saw all he had made and it was good “

2)The Role of Free Will: humans were given the gift of free will, meaning they could choose to obey or disobey God opening the possibility to sin while also being central to human nature. Augustine believed that God did not create evil; rather, evil resulted from humanity’s misuse of this free will.

3)The Fall and Original Sin: when the first humans, Adam and Eve disobeyed God and brought sin into the world. As a result, all of Adam’s descendants inherited this “original sin,” meaning humans are born with a sinful nature, prone to immoral actions and disobedience to God (doctrine of original sin). Evil and suffering in the world, therefore, are not caused by God, but are the consequences of human choices to turn away from God’s perfect plan (God is punishing us as we were all seminally present)

4)Evil as a Privation of Good: Augustine argued that evil is not a thing in itself but rather that it is a privation of good (“privatio boni”)

5)Redemption through Jesus Christ: Despite the fall, Augustine believed that God’s love for humanity remained. As an all-loving God, He sent His son, Jesus Christ, to atone for human sins.

Question 8

What are some criticisms of Augustinian theodicy?

Answer 8

1)German theologian Schleiermarcher (1768-1834) argued that a perfectly good world could not go wrong therefore either world was not perfect or God enabled it to go wrong
2)if humans were able to choose evil then evil must have existed in the first place therefore the earth was not perfect to start with and God created evil
3)it’s not scientifically possible that we were all seminally present