evil and suffering

Question 1

what are the two types of evil

Answer 1

• natural
• moral

Question 2

examples of natural evil

Answer 2

• a small child dying from a disfiguring and agonising cancer
• the 2004 boxing day tsunami that killed 230,000 people in 14 countries
• animals caught in a forest fire with no way to escape

Question 3

examples of god using nature to wreak havoc in the old testament

Answer 3

• the flood was his punishment for the total corruption of humankind
• the plagues were inflicted on the egyptians to force the Pharaoh’s hand
• the exodus resulted in the escape of the Israelites but the drowning of many Egyptians

Question 4

what is an example of natural evil in the new testament

Answer 4

• when asked on one occasion about the cause of a mans blindness, jesus turned the question to the purpose of the mans suffering, saying that is was a chance for gods power to be seen

Question 5

what is the problem of moral evil

Answer 5

• moral evil becomes a problem when horrendous acts of evil are committed
  
  • holocaust
  • pedophilia
• it raises the question of why god permitted such evils to be carried out

Question 6

what are the two forms of the problem of evil

Answer 6

• evidential
• logical

Question 7

what is the logical problem of evil

Answer 7

• based on logic
• based on two traditional christian teachings about god and one observed fact
  
  • god is omnipotent
  • god is benevolent
  • evil exists
• epicurus came up with the inconsistent triad which shows that all three cannot be true

Question 8

what is the evidential problem of evil

Answer 8

• based on evidence from the world around
• the sheer quantity of natural and moral evil is overwhelming
• the pointlessness of so much evil that serves no purpose
  
  • rowes example of a fawn suffering a slow
    and agonising death in a forest fire
• calls into question gods omniscience as he must have known the pain caused by laws of nature and humans

Question 9

what are the three responses to the problem of evil and suffering

Answer 9

• john mackies free will defence
• john hicks soul making theodicy
• griffins process theology

Question 10

what is john mackies free will defence

Answer 10

• needs to show that humans cannot have free will without the existence of moral evil and that having free will is worth the cost of suffering
• first order good – experience of pain/pleasure
• 2nd order good – how we respond to pain
• 3rd order good – free will allows humans to
  choose between two things
• 4th order good – god creates humans with
  free will which teaches moral
  responsibility

Question 11

what is mackies rejection of the free will defence

Answer 11

• logically it is possible for someone to freely choose good at every point of choice
• therefore god could have made people so they have true free choice yet always choose good
• he didnt so, so he
  
  • lacks power, or
  • lacks love, or
  • does not exist

Question 12

what is plantinga’s defence of the free will defence

Answer 12

• three possible worlds
  
  • free will + no determination = evil exists
  • no free will + determination = no evil
  • free will + determination = no evil
• the first is logically possible
• second is possible but we would be robots
• third is logically impossible
• natural evil is a punishment for the fall

Question 13

strengths of the free will defence

Answer 13

• plantinga shows that the free will defence approach is logically impossible in relation to both types of evil
• a world with genuine free will has much more value than one without it

Question 14

weaknesses of the free will defence

Answer 14

• plantinga does not prove gods existence
• we cannot prove that libertarianism is true
• is free will worth the amount of suffering

Question 15

what are the key points of hicks soul making theodicy

Answer 15

• humans are at the high point of evolution (a long evolutionary process willed by God)
• the world is a vale of soul making
• two stage concept of humanity
• god set an epistemic distance between himself and humanity
• sin is inevitable
• hick was a universalist

Question 16

what is hicks two stage concept of humanity

Answer 16

• creation in gods image means that humans have a special character
• people have the potential for a conscious and personal relationship with god
• that potential is fulfilled in the afterlife

Question 17

what is the human telos and how is it achieved

Answer 17

• to have a conscious and personal relationship with god
• this can be achieved only through a free and willing response based on experience of the world with all its good and evil

Question 18

what does it mean that the world is a vale of soul making

Answer 18

• it is a world that enables spiritual growth rather than a soul deciding world where humans choice of good or evil decides their eternal fate
• the world is geared to enable spiritual growth; it is therefore not a ‘paradise of pets’ but one which will enable humans to become the children of god

Question 19

what is epistemic distance and how does it apply to hicks soul making theodicy

Answer 19

• the distance that god set between himself and humanity
• the world is religiously ambiguous (as if there is no god)
• this is to allow humans full freedom to choose to have a personal relationship with god
• a loving relationship is only authentic and only has value if it is freely chosen
• this means the world has to contain the full range of moral and natural evils, allowing humans to develop the second order virtues

Question 20

why does Hick believe sin to be inevitable

Answer 20

• sin is a failure to live in the right relationship with god, which effects all human relationships with god, fellow humans and the rest of creation
• alienation from god is a result of the struggle for survival in an often hostile environment
• god permits this out of respect for human freedom but only he can put things right
• this was done through christs redeeming life and death

Question 21

what does it mean to be universalist to hick

Answer 21

• he rejected ideas of hell and eternal damnation as incompatible with the omnipotence and omnibenevolence of god
• a final rejection of god that led to eternal seperation from him would mean that gods power and goodness had been defeated

Question 22

what are some objections to hicks theodicy

Answer 22

• does not address the issue of animal suffering, since animals cannot develop spirituality
• the concept of epistemic distance does not resolve the problem of the purposelessness of evil
• the theodicy does not justify the very worst of evils

Question 23

what are hicks responses to the objections to his theodicy

Answer 23

• pain is needed to warn animals of danger. unlike humans they do not fear future harm or death
• the purpose of evil has to remain a mystery or the epistemic distance will not work
• if the worst evils were removed then the next worst evils become the most evil. the more evils that are removed the less free humans are

Question 24

strengths of hicks theodicy

Answer 24

• fits with current scientific thinking of evolution
• epistemic distance justifies all kinds of evil and its extent
• the claim that the concept of eternal damnation in hell is a defeat for the love of god males sense

Question 25

weaknesses of hicks theodicy

Answer 25

- if humans are evolved animals, how is it that they are in the image of god - hicks attempted justification of animal suffering is weak. the end does not justify the means - many christians reject his rejection of hell as against traditional beliefs about the work of christ

Question 26

what are the key points in griffins process theology

Answer 26

- both god and the universe have necessary, pantheistic and eternal existence - god is not transcendent - griffin uses the analogy of humans as embodied minds - god then is the soul of the universe - the universe is in god both existing necessarily and eternally as god and a world

Question 27

how does process theology explain the problem of evil

Answer 27

- just as the human mind cannot control how the body works, god cant control the universe - over billions of years god persuaded chaos into order - had god avoided the process of what could lead to evil the result would be a world without value

Question 28

strengths of process theology

Answer 28

- fits with our current scientific knowledge and with biblical criticism - the concept of god as a fellow sufferer means those who suffer have the assurance that god knows what they are going through - rejection of gods omnipotence means there is no conflict between the existence of an all loving god and the reality of evil

Question 29

weaknesses of process theology

Answer 29

- some theists claim we cant be sure of the correct translation and interpretation of genesis - for many theists, such a god is unworthy of worship