This being would be omnipotent or all-powerful, he would be omniscient or all knowing, he would be omnibenevolent or all good, and finally he would be omnipresent or everywhere you could imagine. By definition then if all of these factors make up God then evil will not and cannot exist. Alas there is evil in this world we live in from minor evils like cheating on a test to major evils such as murder and terrorism. A God who is omnipotent has the power to stop all evil from even being conceived. A God who is omniscient would know everyway evil could come into existence and would know how to stop every form of these evils.
A. Based on the theodical “free-will defense,” it is possible for a God to possess the properties of being “benevolent, omnipotent, and omniscient” while at the same time allowing the existence of evils; therefore, the two should not be contradictory. B. Set aside all the legislative, judicial and government regulatory systems, it is an indisputable fact that the all-loving God has given us, humans, free-will, which is defined as a “free and responsible choice” by Swinburne. The “choice” here represents a decision between good and evil, which implies that there is always an inevitable non-predetermined possibility (of either evil or good or both), which may substantially harm or (and) benefit the others, the initiator (one who makes the choice), and perhaps, the world, that comes with this privileged free-will.
If God is all knowing and all powerful and all good, therefore god would not want us to suffer and not put evil on earth. I believe that evil and suffering does exist because of the simple fact that we wouldn’t know the difference between good and bad, sad and happiness, love and hate. We wouldn’t know to appreciate god and everything he does for us. God being an all tri-omni god would not put anything on earth that he knew we couldn’t handle. There are two varieties of evil, moral and natural evil.
All types of evil have the potential to cause contradiction between reality and the established conception of a personal God. In the following I will examine the problem of evil and attempt to establish why the presence of evil is the most potent argument against theism. The classical notion of a monotheistic God ascribes certain divine qualities to Him and I will proceed with the assumption that he possesses these qualities. God is conceived as an ultimate perfectly good being, with the unique characteristics of omnipotence and omniscience. God is the knower of all things past and present and has the divine power to do anything.
He is malevolent. Is God both able and willing? Then whence commeth the evil. If he is neither able nor willing then why call him god?” This is called the inconsistent triad; if God has all these Omni qualities then why does evil still remain on earth? Augustine’s soul deciding theodicy was the demonstration that God is not responsible for the existence of evil.
He speaks of how a world with humans is better than a world without, and because of this it is just does not make sense to have a world without evil. But this could also just lead us back to the original problem, bringing to mind the thought that if God is able to do anything and everything, then he should be able to create a perfect world with no evil. The fifth premise states simply “But, there’s evil.” Laurence distinguishes between the two different kinds of evil when explaining this argument. He says that natural evil can
It typically fashions itself in a question such as this. How can a good God allow so much evil to take place if He loves us? This is often asked by but not limited to someone who has been hurt while serving God faithfully or by someone who has no significant knowledge of who God truly is. The problem of evil also presents itself as more of a statement rather than a question as well. If God is all powerful and in complete control why does he allow such evil things to take place?
He further explains that the evil deeds that we perform are of our own accord, and that we are punished by God’s justice because they are done out of our own free will. This argument leads perfectly into the question of free will because, like Aug, I agree that we are not taught evil. Aug explains to Ev that it is impossible to learn evil deeds. It is impossible to learn something evil because our intelligence is inherently good. Since our intelligence is inherently good it is not possible to take away from something that is good, something that is evil.
Sam Harris uses this idea in one of his quotes saying that “Either God can do nothing to stop catastrophes or he doesn’t care to or he doesn’t exist. God is either: impotent, evil or imaginary. Take your pick and choose wisely.” This can speak to many of those who don’t believe in God as this shows how even with this earth God didn’t create it perfectly which leads to natural disasters and if he did create this earth then he must be evil to have created it imperfectly and if a perfect being wants to create something imperfect when he can create it perfectly how is this justifiable? Some people also say that if we are a
In an attempt to assess the implications of miracles for the problem of evil, we must look at what the problem of evil consists of. God is said to be wholly benevolent and omnipotent however there is evil and suffering in the world. If God is all loving and all powerful, He has the power to stop evil because He loves His creation yet it still exists. C.S Lewis states that “If God was good, He would wish to make his creatures perfectly happy and if God were almighty He would be able to do what He wished. But the creatures are not happy.