The Problem Of Evil Flashcards
What is the inconsistent triad?
God is all loving, god is all powerful, yet there is evil
The phrase was first coined by J.L.Mackie
What are the two types of evil?
Moral- caused by human sin and faults
Natural- natural disasters, unable to avoid
What is the logical problem of evil?
- If God knows everything and is powerful enough to stop evil and is all loving, then why does he not intervene and stop evil from happening in the world, both moral and natural?
- the inconsistent triad- term coined by J.L Mackie but idea from Epicurus
- if God is all powerful then he should be able to stop evil and if he is all loving her should want to stop evil and suffering for us
- evil in the world contradicts our idea of the god of classical theism
What is the evidential problem of evil?
What is known about evil and suffering is evidence against God (but not proof).
It is accumulative evidence that suggests God is improbable. The logical argument is an analytical assertion which states it is logically impossible to believe in God. William Rowe and Paul Draper have presented this argument.
William Rowe argued that if greater good came from evil then it would be acceptable yet as there isn’t any good, then it is just malicious.
-animal and child suffering has no purpose- Rowe’s examples of fawn in the forest fire dying slowly and child raped and murdered
-the brothers karamazov- child is chased by a pack of hounds and killed because a stone hit the rich man’s favourite hounds paw
-why has god created to destroy
-the intensity and quantity of evil is unjustifiable
-animals and babies cannot comprehend a higher meaning of suffering and evil so why do they suffer
-the Rwandan genocide and the holocaust are examples of extreme suffering in high quantities so why is this needed so intensely and so much of it
Augustine’s Theodicy
Augustine- 354 AD- 2430 AD
God is wholly good and created everything so he cannot be responsible for evil.
Evil is a privation of good rather than a substance in itself
Evil therefore lies with humans who have become corrupted and chosen evil over good
Good created the world perfectly and then humans caused evil through their corruption.
God created nature in terms of lesser and greater goods and allowed diversity in nature in his principle of plentitude
Evil occurs when things stop doing what they are supposed to be
Moral evil is this actions of humans humans turning away from God, the earliest example is Adam and Eve
Moral evil is due to humans’ free will and is either the sin of people or punishment for Eve’s fall because we are all present in Adams loinsm
Moral evil is also as a result of the fall of the angels because it is a disruption
Natural evil is also a result of the equilibrium being unbalanced by sin
Human perception is limited so we cannot see what God has intended for nature to do
Natural evil is also punishment for moral evil, God does not intervene
God gave us Jesus for redemption as a reaction to evil in the world and this was positive as it brought us closer to God. He redeemed the world for good therefore god is also merciful
Augustine also argues that evil allows us to see and appreciate the good in the world by comparing it to the bad.
Strengths of Augustine
If God made us all and all substance then he must have made evil, so evil cannot be a substance
If God gives us free will, we are capable of moral evil
Plantinga says if God made us believe in God all of the time then we would not truly have free will to make decisions
Augustine calls Adam and Eve ‘oh happy fault’
Weaknesses of Augustine
Schleiermacher says- there is a logical contradiction in saying that evil is a privation of good and that the world just went wrong because evil therefore still exists as part of the universe.
If people who don’t understand good and evil can do evil then it must have been given by God
Scientific problem as Augustine rejects the idea of evolution
Biological problem- we cannot all have Adam present within us
God would be unjust to punish everyone for one person’s moral evil
Process Theodicy- definition of evil
Charles Hartshorne and A N White
David Griffin
The basic idea is that God is not all powerful, which rejects part of the inconsistent triad
They believe in infinite regression
The universe isn’t an entity, but an organic process which is continually changing that’s always been there.
He was part of the creative process within the universe not outside of it, so he is subject to our physiological laws therefore is not all powerful
God created the universe but not the materials which may already have been corrupt, therefore it was not his fault
He agrees that evil does exist just not that God was responsible for it
There are two forces at work within nature:
Disharmony (meaningless chaos which God is trying to take control of and out into order)and triviality (when God fails to get things in order and nature is corrupted)
God triggered the evolutionary process by becoming involved in the creative process of the world
Griffin argues it is better to have the world the way it is than not at all
Humans are a result of the evolutionary process and have Free will to engage in evil acts. However, God cannot stop humans because he can only persuade us not to do evil, not make us because he is not all powerful.
Evil is what happens when God cannot persuade humanity and nature to do good.
Process Theodicy- evolutionary process and reason for death/ evil
The materials which make up the universe are capable of self-determination and to influence matters around them. Therefore, God started off the process of evolution but the materials used were not created by him.
Things in the universe are influenced by 4 values:
-ability for something to experience goodness
-to be able to suffer evil
-the power of self determination
-the power to influence others
The universe is therefore a hierarchy. Things that are less complex and less likely to go wrong. Increased complexity means increased ability to suffer
He did not believe in Genesis literally, God did not create evil, the complexity of nature did.
He also rejected the fall story
He also believed that God suffered with us and felt our pain. Jesus was the live example.
Strengths of Process Theodicy
It removes the issue of an all loving God creating evil or being able to stop evil because he can’t if he isn’t all powerful.
If God suffers with us then we have a closer bond and a deeper relationship with him.
Encourages people to be proactive against evil because God isn’t going to stop it so they must instead, there is no guarantee of a final triumph
It accepts evolution so has scientific backing
Underlines the role of the pain and suffering of Jesus while he was on earth
Weaknesses of process Theodicy
It isn’t a proper Theodicy because it doesn’t fulfil the inconsistent triad
It completely redefines God
It raises questions as to whether this is a God we should worship
The idea that God cannot help us could bring despair rather than a new proactive feeling
Does God truly suffer with us? Or is it just a form of mental anguish
It may not help people who have suffered to know that there was a reason for their suffering
It totally redefines God in all religions
Free Will Defence- explain overview
21st century liberal Theodicy stemming from Augustinian and Iranaean ideas
The idea that evil comes from free will of humans has been developed into its own Theodicy
God gave us free will so that we could find God ourselves rather than being like robots
We need evil in the world in order for genuine free will because if we lived in a perfect world without evil, God’s existence would be too positive
The terrible extent of evil throughout history way be necessary for our free will because it explains why God does not step in and stop it
Richard Swinburne-
Believed that the reason God doesn’t intervene in evil is because we need it for true human freedom and if he did it would take away the opportunity for development and responsibility
God cannot intervene even in awful evil e.g. 6 million Jews dead in the Holocaust because it jeopardises human freedom
While God is omnipotent, he has to do logical things only so cannot take away all evil and suffering while also giving us free will
John Hick-
If we start to discuss which evils are too much then we begin to get into a relative debate about what is truly too much evil
Our understanding of evil is based on our experience only, so we do not what terrible suffering God could give us and decides not to because we have not experienced it
Strengths of the Free Will Defence
Logical reason for moral evil linked to humanity rather than God
Genuine free will entails having genuine evil in the world -we cannot make free choices of good if there is not the option of evil
Benefits of free will outweigh the evil as free will brings unity with God in heaven
It can also account for natural evil as Swinburne argues for the advantages of death
The Free will Defence is able to explain death and natural evils which are necessary to facilitate death
Weaknesses of the Free Will Defence
Peter Vardy- it doesn’t explain natural evil
J.L Mackie- God had two choices: make a perfect world free from suffering or have evil as a real thing but have free will. He suggests God omnipotent so could have taken the best parts of each option
William Rowe- many natural evils do not bring greater good
Plantinga says fallen angels are the route of all evil, not humans or God
Explain Irenaeus’s Theodicy
Irenaeus argued that we were created imperfect so that we could freely choose to become good and turn to God. We were made at a distance from God – a distance of knowledge – an epistemic distance. Moral evil was that result of our having the freedom to grow and develop into a child of God. God did not necessarily intend evil to be part of this growth, only a challenging environment in which to follow his laws.
Irenaeus saw the world as a ‘soul-making place’. Here we could complete our development into a child of God. Evil was necessary to aid this development. Natural evil such as famine had a divine purpose – to develop qualities such as compassion. He therefore admitted that evil was a real thing.
Irenaeus saw evil as a necessary part of life, something that will eventually make us into better people. It is a process of deification. We choose god instead of our base instincts. At death, some of us will proceed into heaven. Those who have not completed their development will continue their soul making journey after death but will then enter the kingdom of heaven.
He believed that we are made in the image of God as it states in Genesis. But, Adam had the form, not the content of God, so was made imperfect. Adam and Eve were thrown from the garden of Eden because they were immature so needed to develop. They were a raw material for a further stage of God’s creative work.
