Problem of evil Flashcards
(8 cards)
types of evil
moral and physical
Logical problem of evil
1)God is omnipotent
2)God is all loving
3)Evil exists in the universe
Evidential problem of evil
The existence of pointless evil counts against God’s existence
Plantinga’s free will defence
He tries to show that when you add the following:
“It was not within God’s power to create a world containing moral good but no moral evil”
-Beings must possess morally significant freedom meaning they can be praised or blamed for their actions
-God cannot cause a being with morally significant freedom to freely do what is right, logically impossible
-Satan and his cohorts cause physical evil
Against Plantinga
A-He should intervene sometimes, If we see a someone about to commit murder and do nothing about it, it is no defence to appeal how wonderful it is that the murderer has free will
R-God’s Regular interventions would devalue human freedom, we would also have little responsibility for others’ wellbeing as He would intervene before serious harm
A-We can deny that God has morally significant free will, God is incapable of doing or even wanting to do what is wrong, we could never praise him for his actions
Hick’s Soul making theodicy
Says that we were created imperfect beings, so that we could improve by facing evil, undergo spiritual growth, master temptations and develop morally to achieve fellowship with God
Against the soul making theodicy
A-He could have created us perfect, there would be no pointless suffering
R-Goodness that results from struggle is more valuable eg Martin could have easily given up
A-The world is not a good place for soul making, some people die young before they had any time to master temptations etc while others live a life of luxury where nothing challenges them
A- What is the point of animal pain, the world could have perfectly only contained humans and or herbivores
Extra AR against soul making
A- The ends don’t justify the means is it really acceptable to allow horrific pains and suffering just to enable us to mature spiritually eg holocaust
R- The ends do justify the means, could argue that the human race has developed greatly because of the presence of suffering, world war to united nations
