Problem Of Evil Flashcards
What is the problem of evil?
It is a justification of the righteousness of God, which attempts to solve the theological problem of the existence of God
Where does moral and natural evil come from?
Moral and natural evil come from moral choice. People choose what they do and the actions and behaviour (free will)
What is privation?
A privation is an absence or lack of something, therefore evil is a privation due to an absence or lack of good
What is Mackies inconsistent triad?
It is a triangle which contains three facts. These facts are; evil exists, God is all loving and God is all powerful.
However, all three of the statements can’t be true at the same time. God can’t be all loving or he would keep us from all suffering, he can’t be all powerful or he would not allow suffering and would stop it and evil does exist so God can’t have both those qualities
Who is Epicurus?
A Greek philosopher who created the epicurean paradox which was breaking down into steps as to why God may not be real or all loving/all-powerful. He argues that if God is willing to help suffering, but he is not able, then he is not omnipotent. If he is able, but not willing, and he is not omnibenevolent, instead he is malevolent. If God is able and willing, why is there such thing as evil in the world? Surely, and all loving, all-powerful God would change this?
Who is Mackie?
Mackie was an Australian philosopher who came up with the inconsistent triad. Macke believed that three statements about god could not all logically be true, without any of them are contradicting, all at the same time. The three statements being; God is all good, God is all powerful and evil exists. These three statements cannot all be true at the same time without contradiction. Mackie argues that if God is willing to get rid of evil and God is able to get rid of evil, then evil would not exist but yet evil does still exist which leads to the conclusion that God does not exist
Who is Rowe?
A philosopher who argued that whilst it was still reasonable forgot to allow some suffering to occur to allow humans to grow and develop, he could not accept God allowing ‘intense’ suffering such as animal suffering as it is pointless.
He used an example of a fawn trapped in a forest fire as an example of pointless animal suffering.
He argued that an omnipotence and omniscient being would know when pointless suffering was about to take place so such a being should prevent suffering from happening.
He carried on to argue that an all loving being would probably prevent all evil and suffering that had no purpose and was pointless suffering.
However, this evil does still exist and goes on every day without being stopped so therefore, God probably does not exist.
Who is Paul and what does he argue?
Paul argues the death of so many innocent children challenges the existence of God. He estimated that since the time of God first spoke to man, over 50 million children have died naturally. Paul calls this the Holocaust of the children.
Using this information that he had collected, he argued that millions of innocent children suffer and die every year from both natural and evil causes.
These children are too young to be able to make choices about God so they have no reason to be suffering.
Paul adds that no all loving, all powerful being should be allowing this suffering, so therefore, god does not exist
Give some examples of natural evil
- earthquakes
- tsunamis
- droughts
- storms
- tornados
Give some examples of moral evil
- bullying
- raping
- murder
- theft
- terrorist attacks
- oppression
- war
