Why is there evil and suffering in the world? Flashcards
key concept:
Evil
- The absence of good and the impulse to seek our own desires.
- This is at the expense of others which can often result in suffering.
what is natural evil
This is suffering caused by events that had nothing to do with humans and are to do with how the way he world is e.g. volcanoes, hurricanes
what is moral evil
This is suffering caused by human actions e.g. murder , theft
What does St. Augustine mean when he says evil is the privation of good
ARGUMENT 1
God created all things good
“ God saw all that he had made and it was good” therefore God did not create evil and it is not a thing itself but in fact the absence (privation() of good
What does St. Augustine mean when he says evil is the privation of good
ARGUMENT 2
God gave humans free will when we choose to disobey God, that creates an absence of good.
What does St. Augustine’s theodicy mean for Catholics
This mean that
“All evil is either sin or the punishment for sin”
God gives us the consequences of our sin because he is both fair and just. He is also all loving as he sent his son Jesus to die for us
What does St. Augustine theodicy mean for Catholics
This means that God created the world perfect and Adam and Eve’s “original sin” destroyed that state of perfection. (The doctrine of the fall of mankind)
Therefore all humans are guilty of disobedience (The doctrine of original sin)
What is original sin
Prior to Genesis 3 God creates Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden he gives them a direct instruction:
“You are free to at the fruit of any tree except the tree that gives knowledge of Good and Evil for you will surely die”
The serpent tempts Eve, Eve eats the fruit and give it to Adam and they are given understanding:
“Their eyes were opened and they realised they were naked”
God visited the garden and realised they ate form the forbidden tree. He the banished Adam and Eve
Arguments FOR St. Augustine’s argument for privation
- The idea that evil comes from mis-using their free will fits in with what we see in our world around us
- Alvin Plantinga argues that if God designed us to always choose good, our decisions would actually be predetermined like programmed robots (American philosopher)
Arguments AGAINST St. Augustine’s argument for privation
- Theory that humans began perfect goes against evolution
- German scholar Schleirermacher said that if God had created a perfectly good world then it could never go wrong. If humans were able to choose evil, then evil must have existed in the first place
- Privation of evil doesn’t always work e.g Natural evil
what does original sin tell Catholics about human nature
All human are built with an inbuilt desire to do evil and disobey God
Genesis three (original sin) tells us that we all share responsibility for the evil and suffering in the world
Adam and Eve represent mankind in our original state
Jewish viewpoint on original sin
They do not believe that humans have a natural desire to do evil however we are born free to do good or evil
Yetzer ha tov is the impulse to do good
Yetzer ha ra is the impulse to do evil
The Torah teaches that God has given human beings choices but it is important to struggle against the inclination to do evil by giving obedience to God
Ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom kippur people atone for the times that they gave in to their evil inclinations
Key concept: Goodness
- The quality of being like God
2. Seeking out the well being of others selflessly
How does Genesis show the goodness of God
God is the cause of goodness in others
God is good because the world he created is good
Jewish viewpoint: the goodness of God in Genesis
Many similarities between the Catholic viewpoint and the catholic viewpoint
For Jews, God is the source of all life and is referred to throughout the Torah as the sole creator. As the sole creator, since everything He created is good, he in turn is good.
