The Problem Of Evil

Question 1

Moral Evil

Answer 1

evil caused by the actions of human beings

Question 2

Natural Evil

Answer 2

evil which humans have no influence over, but which occurs naturally in the world e.g. volcanoes, earthquakes etc

Question 3

Epicurus - classical logical problem of evil

Answer 3

God is benevolent, omnipotent and omniscient, meaning he wants to and can stop evil, and can predict evil. If God was all of this, then evil wouldn’t exist in the world, however it still does. If God does exist then he is not what we think, or he doesn’t exist at all.

Question 4

J.L. Mackie - the modern logical problem of evil

Answer 4

inconsistent triad - God is omnipotent, God is omnibenevolent, evil exists
these three statements are logically inconsistent - it is not God’s nature or God doesn’t exist

Question 5

John Rowe - evidential problem of evil

Answer 5

there is too much intense and severe suffering in the world to argue that God is creating it for humans to grow and develop
‘a fawn is injured and burnt in a forest fire and there are no witnesses. It takes three days for the fawn to die’ - pointless suffering

Question 6

Gregory Paul - evidential problem of evil

Answer 6

things that happen to humans call the existence of a benevolent God into question
the Holocaust of the children - throughout history over 50 billion children have died before reaching the age of ‘mature consent’

Question 7

Augustinian theodicy - evil is a privation of good

Answer 7

the fact that something can be corrupted shows that it is good. Humans have the potential to become corrupt but God cannot, evil occurs as a consequence of sin - ‘all evil is sin or the punishment of sin’

Question 8

Felix culpa

Answer 8

happy mistake

Question 9

Irenaean Theodicy - image to likeness

Answer 9

humans were created with the potential to become spiritually perfect as they were born in God’s image but needed to develop the ability to act more like God, to grow into his likeness. They can only do this through responding well to suffering - evil is necessary for human development

Question 10

Irenaean Theodicy - craftsman analogy

Answer 10

God crafts us - throwing evil at us to make us better, like a craftsman chisels his work

Question 11

John Hick - Irenaean Theodicy

Answer 11

Hick argues that free choice is better than compulsion, and in order for us to have free will, God has to be at an epistemic distance. This means we live in a world where evidence shows that God may or may not exist. If God was proven to exist we wouldn’t have a choice to believe in or follow him

Question 12

Universal Salvation - Hick

Answer 12

everyone goes to heaven eventually, but only once they are perfect

Question 13

Epistemic Distance

Answer 13

a distance of knowledge