God's Evil Argument Analysis

The problem of evil has been a major concern in the human race with various attempts being made to reconcile the belief in God with the existence of evil in this world. The Christian conception of God as supremely good and powerful has made the problem of evil to be very difficult simply because such a being will make the world a better place than it is by preventing evil from causing pain and suffering to humanity. Both Christianity and Judaism face a great challenge to solve the issue of evil and its existence because of the impact of evil that the holocaust caused on millions of people. Scholars have devoted their time to account for the horrifying events that took place during the holocaust by examining different theodicy

—This passage hopes for the existence of a fair comparison between a creator with understanding of the how to the Created works and the Created. He claims to suffer a fate than no one ever suffered, but religious doctrine shows the necessary endurance that God must have had in order to let humanity be after realizes the

There are two main ways in which natural evil operates to give humans those choices. First of all, natural evil provides chance for humans to learn how to bring the evil. For example, I can choose to ignore my sick friends instead of showing compassion towards the sufferer. If I get sick, I can either choose to spread it to others or subdue to disease and prevent it from spreading. Humans have the free will to choose to be good or evil. The other reason in which natural evil operates to give humans their freedom is that it makes possible certain kinds of action towards it between which genets can choose (Swinburne, p.95). For instance, sicknesses provide humans chance to find the cure and help other patients in the future. If there is no sickness, this choice does not exist at all. It is a way in which we learn how to bring about good and evil. The natural evil allows us to perform at our best and interact with out fellows at the deepest level. Animals also need to endure pain, which gives them value to life. For instance, a mother rabbits cannot save her bunnies from the wolves without trying. Her heroic actions cannot be done unless danger

The problem of evil takes into account three defining features of God: all-good, all-knowing, and all-powerful and questions whether such a God would permit evil and not interfere. Sinnott-Armstrong discusses his stance by countering responses he coins as the Glorious Response, the Modest Response, and the Overriding Response. Whereas, Craig counters the arguments made by Sinnott-Armstrong.

The existence of God has been presented by a multitude of philosophers. However, this has led to profound criticism and arguments of God’s inexistence. The strongest argument in contradiction to God’s existence is the Problem of Evil, presented by J.L Mackie. In this paper, I aim to describe the problem of evil, analyse the objection of the Paradox of Omnipotence and provide rebuttals to this objection. Thus, highlighting my support for Mackie’s Problem of evil.

“The Problem of Evil” is simply the question, why does God allow evil to happen? God is omnipotent, omniscient, all-loving, and rational, therefore why does evil exist? There is either no God or he is not what we think he is, since evil could be prevented by him with no risk. Atheists and anti-theodicist see a problem with the idea that God could prevent evil. They believe that because God is so powerful and perfect, that he would not allow such immoral actions to be done. On the other hand, theists like Swinburne, believe that evil is necessary for important reasons such as that it helps us grow and improve. In this paper I will argue that the theist is right, because the good of the evil in this specific case on problems beyond one’s control, outweighs the bad that comes from it.

Through out history evil has been best depicted as the absence of goodness and goodness as the absence of evil. With goodness being comprehended as the direct opposite of evil. It is under speculation that maybe there can 't exist only one general meaning of good vs. evil. I trust this, in light of the fact that any one individual 's perception of good or evil is without a doubt directed by one 's social comprehension of certain qualities and ethics within their culture, i.e. the power of social conformity (Muncaster-Social Psychology Lecture, 2016). Yes, there can be cases of evil that is seen as malevolent all over the world but due to the ethnocentric component of the perception of cultural morals and values, one is unable to categorize another individual as evil or good based upon their own cultural understanding of this notion. As they have been socially and culturally influenced to believe contrary to the fact.

In this reading reflection I will be discussing Richard Swinburne’s argument on “Why God Allows Evil” which starts on page 254 in “Exploring Philosophy: An Anthology” by Steven M. Cahn. This was also discussed in class on 9/15/16.

The question that is asked time and time again is whether or not god exists. It is evident that people hold different beliefs. It is evident that through some of the beliefs of J.L. Mackie that it could be argued that God does not actually exist. I find this argument to be more agreeable. In Mackie’s Evil and Omnipotence, he argues many points to support why it should be believed that god does not exist. At the beginning of the article, Mackie states that the initial issue with God’s existence is that, “God is omnipotent; God is wholly good; and yet evil exists” (Mackie, Paragraph 3). If god is such a pure and good being, then he should be able to combat all evil.

Hume (textbook, p. 305) develops, in detail, what is presumably the most grounded contention against the presence of God in a valid deductive argument. He states, “Is he willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then is he impotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then is he malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil?” In a similar vein: If God exists, he is all-knowing, omnipotent, and ethically flawless. If God were all-knowing, God would know about all the terrible occasions that occur in our reality. If God were omnipotent, God would have the capacity to do something. Furthermore, if God were ethically flawless, then unquestionably God would want to do something about all the evil and suffering. But, yet there are still countless instances of evil that fills our world. Concluding, since God does not prevent or eliminate all unnecessary suffering, logically, God does not exist. Hume concludes that if you want to make sense of all the evil randomness of the universe with the sense of God’s attributes, “You must prove these pure, unmixed, and uncontrollable attributes from the present mixed and confused phenomena, and from these alone. A hopeful undertaking!”

The Cross and the Lynching tree is a recent work from James H. Cone. Currently a Systematic Theology professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York, he is renowned as a founder of black liberation theology. In this book, he reflects on the most brutal chapter of white racism in the 20th century America where 5,000 innocent blacks were lynched to death by white mobs. And he tells us how blacks were able to survive the unspeakable reality of violence and torture with faith and hope in Christ. As a witness for blacks who were voiceless and ignored, he speaks out against the white church for saying little about slavery and racial justice. His passion for social justice comes from growing up in Arkansas in the Jim Crow era. The memories of his father and lynch mobs never left him. Black church comforted him, but made him wonder. “If the white churches are Christian, how come they segregate us? And if God is God, why is He letting us suffer?” (1) The lifelong quest for answers to these questions shaped his theology

There are passages in the Bible that contradict even other passages that are meant to describe how one can be good enough to get to Heaven. There is no pure version of good in the world today, because good is always accompanied by evil. In the novel Not Wanted on the Voyage by Timothy Findley both Christian symbols for good an evil are present in the form of Yaweh and Lucy. These characters are imitations of the Christians symbolic deity’s of God and the Devil. However, in this novel their roles in the debate of good and evil are questionable and will be discussed in this paper. Even though centuries of human nature say otherwise, the vision of good that is used today is unrealistic because good is demonstrated in the Bible as an unrealistic feat and in the novel Not Wanted on the Voyage by Timothy

“It is probably the same in the universe. God created things which had free will… if a thing is free to be good it is also free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible. Why then did God give them free will?” I agree with this concept, if something is a free to be a good it is also free to be bad. The reason why, is because we have the free will for free speech; which is a good thing. But it can also be a bad thing when it is abused. For instant, screaming “fire” in a crowded movie theater and there wasn’t any. Is free will being misused.

The first question we may ask is: What is the nature of God? It can be difficult for us to see that God is both infinite and personal. He is all knowing and powerful, yet still able to communicate with His creation. God has always been, and will always be. He transcends the earthly plane of existence and exists beyond time. The laws of nature do not apply to Him, for He is the creator of all. He possesses all power and can act out His will as He sees fit. All of this might seem overwhelming to someone who does not know God, but He does not use His omnipotence for evil. He is good, loving, and just. He did not create evil, only the choice for His creation. His goodness shows through His creation, and His personal being is shown through man. He created man in His image, so through man we see a sliver of

For millennia, what has been a dilemma to philosophy has also relentlessly threatened Christian theology and affects the daily lives of human beings. People are regularly faced with questions of morality that may resonate with the strict guidelines of laws or religious doctrine. A majority of individuals align with their respective traditional societal norms. Others, however, may commit acts that are not in accordance with the rest of society. Contingent upon the severity of the deed, it may be considered immoral, sinful, or outright evil. This raises questions such as: what drives humans to do wrong? Are they innately bad, or is it learned? If they are naturally good, what was their undoing?