Thought and Belief 4

Question 1

What is the difference between the logical and the evidential problem of evil?

Answer 1

The logical problem is that it is said that if an omnipotent and omnibenevolent God does exist then there cannot be any evil in the world because he would prevent it. But there is obviously evil in the world so said God cannot exist. But the difference in the evidential problem is that some people say God may allow evil to exist for a greater good and therefore a God can exist. But the evidential problem says that maybe that is true, but people can easily list off some pointless evils in the world that have no greater good so therefore a God cannot exist.

Question 2

In “Rebellion” by Dostoevsky, Ivan discusses “loving one’s neighbor.” What does Ivan think about this, and why?

Answer 2

He thinks that it is highly difficult to do such a thing with all the irrational suffering in the world since one can only see the terrible things people do.

Question 3

Ivan reports near the end of the chapter that he just wants to “stick to the fact.” What fact is that?

Answer 3

That there is irrational suffering in the world.

Question 4

Dostoevsky discusses the issue of eternal harmony in our short excerpt. What does he mean by this expression?

Answer 4

That even with the existence with suffering there is a perfect balance between the two creating a utopian society of eternal harmony.

Question 5

What does Ivan mean when he claims that he must “give back [his] entrance ticket?” Why does he think this?

Answer 5

He is insinuating that he wants to give back his entrance ticket to life due to all the irrational suffering. He is rejecting the conditions of existence.

Question 6

Does Augustine believe that God is the cause of evil? Why or why not?

Answer 6

No he does not. Because if God is good, then he does no evil. And if God is just, then he punished the wicked that does the evil. Therefore God cannot be the cause because he punished the wicked who perform the evil.

Question 7

Why does Augustine think that evil cannot be learned?

Answer 7

Because if you learn then you understand, and if you understand then you choose the good. Therefore everyone who learns does the good.

Question 8

What is inordinate desire, and how does it relate to free will?

Answer 8

it is the desire for worldly things and non eternal desires. it relates because even if God sees it as wrong we have the free will to have inordinate desires

Question 9

How is inordinate desire related to the concept of vanity in Ecclesiastes?

Answer 9

because inordinate desires are meaningless and useless in the grand concept of the goal of eternal life.

Question 10

What kind of evil does Hume focus on in his writing? Explain Philo’s argument against the existence of God.

Answer 10

He focuses on the evil that is necessary in the world to prove that a deity can exist. there exists instances of human suffering and misery in the world and therefore a benevolent and omnipotent god cannot exist because he would not allow such things to exist.

Question 11

What is Demea’s counterexample to Philo’s argument?

Answer 11

That God would want to create a perfect world and in order to that some instances of moral suffering must be included. So the existence of suffering in this world does not disprove God’s existence.

Question 12

In the Dialogues, Philo explains in Part XI that there are four main sources of evil in the world. What are these sources, and how do they actually cause or bring evil?

Answer 12

i. The need for self preservation.
ii. The existence of general, natural laws.
iii. The frailty and frugality of creatures and their powers.
iv. The inaccurate workmanship of nature.

Question 13

If Philo is right, then what are we to conclude about the possible cause of the universe?

Answer 13

That the God whom created the universe has neither good nor malice.

Question 14

Know Kreeft’s four initial “solutions” to the problem of evil. Does he accept any of them? Why or why not?

Answer 14

1. Job is not Just
2. God is not Just
3. God is not omnipotent
4. God it not real
   No he does not. Because God is just and will reward the good and punish the evil. So if we are happy then we are rewarded. Job is unhappy, so he must be unjust, but we also know that this is false. This all contradicts the solutions.

Question 15

In the prologue to the Book of Job, what reasons are we given for thinking that Job is a “just” man?

Answer 15

In the prologue it says he is a blameless man with full integrity. He feared God and strayed from evil

Question 16

What are the two ways to describe temptation or trial (according to Thomas Aquinas)? Which one applies to Job?

Answer 16

With regard to doing the good; and
with regard to doing evil. The first applies to Job.

Question 17

Kreeft contends that the argument for the problem of evil in Job contains ambiguous terms. We narrowed his analysis down to the concept of justice. What were the two things we said about the concept of justice?

Answer 17

(a) a human application of ‘justice’ does not fit with a divine application of ‘justice.’
(b) justice is not the same thing as equality

Question 18

From Satan’s point of view, the question “Does Job fear God for nothing?” has an explicit and an implicit meaning. Explain those two meanings.

Answer 18

a) Explicit: Satan is openly claiming that Job serves or fears God only because of the material benefit it affords him. Hence the challenges.
(b) Implicit: Satan is secretly implying that there can be no good reason at all to serve God other than because it benefits them. Why would anyone want to serve anyone else if they got nothing out of it?

Question 19

What is the relationship between the two important questions we considered from the Book of Job (Why does God allow the just to suffer? and Does Job fear God for nothing?)

Answer 19

The relationship is they have the similar answer that God allows moral suffering as tests and the proving that Job fears God not only for benefits but because it is the right thing to do.