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What Does It Mean To Say That God Is The Cause Of Evil

668 Words3 Pages

Assess this statement: “God is the cause of evil.”

God is the uncaused cause of everything. God is all good and therefore could not cause evil, it is contrary to His nature. If God can not create evil, and God created everything, then nothing created by Him is evil. Everything created by God is is therefore objectively good. Evil therefore is only a lack of good. Since evil is a lack of good and and God is all good then the rejection of God is inherently evil. “For what is that which we call evil but the absence of good? In the bodies of animals, disease and wounds mean nothing but the absence of health; for when a cure is effected, that does not mean that the evils which were present—namely, the diseases and wounds—go away from the body and dwell elsewhere: they altogether cease to exist; for the wound or disease is not a substance, but a defect in the fleshly substance,—the flesh itself being a substance, and therefore something good, of which those evils—that is, privations of the good which we call health—are accidents. Just in the same way, what are called vices in the soul are nothing but privations of natural good. And when they are cured, they are not transferred …show more content…

He created everything in existence and therefore is the first cause [material cause] of everything in existence. God also creates the fourth and final cause for everything in existence which is the purpose for the creation of the being or substance. Our final cause as humans is to know love and serve God in this life and too be with him in the next. God also creates our third cause [formal cause] for us that is specific plan He has for us it is unique to everyone and can be rejected do to our free will. We can choose to reject this third cause with our freewill which gives us control of the second cause [ Efficient cause]. When we choose to reject God with our freewill we are causing a lack of good and so creating

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