Suffering Brings People Closer To God

Question 1

Catholics

Answer 1

.suffering is sometimes necessary
.prove commitment to faith
.for example Jesus suffered and died on the cross

Question 2

John hick

Answer 2

. God created the world with evil and suffering on purpose
. It helps people grow and develop
. It’s how we respond to evil that is important
. Called soul making
. All part of god’s plan

Question 3

St Augustine

Answer 3

.Evil and suffering help people appreciate the good in the world
.’we enjoy and value good more when we compare it to evil’
.god allows evil and suffering on purpose

Question 4

Pope John Paul II

Answer 4

Wrote a letter to Catholics and the world (an encyclical) in 1980’s called Salvofici Doloris which means ‘the beauty of suffering’

Question 5

William Rowe and John Stuart mill

Answer 5

.the world is too unfair for there to be a God

.for example a fawn in a forest fire - what is the point of this suffering?

Question 6

Richard Dawkins

Answer 6

.the world contains too much suffering for their to be a God
.a digger wasp lays it’s eggs in other insects which then hatch and kill the insect
.Dawkins says a good God would not have created this

Question 7

Beliefs in God

Answer 7

God is meant to be omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent
If God had all these abilities he would and could prevent suffering
Therefore as evil and suffering happens so much in the world then God must not exist

Question 8

John Mackie

Answer 8

.the existence of evil and suffering proves God is not powerful and loving
.the inconsistent triad
.the three ideas contradict each other which proves God does not exist