Theologians have long struggled over the philosophical problem of evil. The existence of evil logically challenges the theistic conceptions of God and his assumed powers. The classical notion of God implies that he is all-powerful, all-knowing and perfectly good. Furthermore, theism maintains that God is a personal force who presently intervenes in the world. To be clear I take evil to mean anything harmful, malicious, or immoral.
Philosophy 2000 The Problem of Evil Epicurus, an ancient philosopher, was the first to argue the problem of evil, attempting to understand how evil exists if a morally perfect being also exists. To understand the complex problem of evil we have to understand what God is believed to be and how that plays into the evil in this world. God is a being of which no greater can be conceived. This God or deity would be morally perfect in everyway. 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.
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?
An omnipotent God would be able to prevent evil if he wanted to. A God both omnipotent and omnibenevolent would both want to and be able to prevent evil. P2 states that evil and suffering do exist, making it apparent that an all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good Gods existence would be almost impossible. If a tri-omni god existed, then evil would not be able to exist The biggest weakness of the argument will be P1 that if an all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-good God exists, then evil and suffering would not exist. 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.
Augustine replies back to him which kind of evil is Ev talking about: the evil that men do and the evil that men suffer. Ev responds to him saying, “I want to know about both kinds of evil.” Aug begins to define while conversing with Ev by explaining that God gives justly to the righteous and the wicked what they deserve. The explanation is clear. God gives the righteous their rewards and the wicked he punishes justly, but the way we experience His justice is through suffering. 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.
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.
Second, he asks the following question, if God created evil and goodness, why can he simply make evil disappear? In a conclusion taken from the Euthyphro dilemma, this question demonstrates a limitation in God’s power, which is indicating a mayor flaw in the Divine Command Theory. Because the Divine Command Theory is based on faith, Mortimer, the main proponent of this theory, could find difficult to respond to John Arthur’s arguments. In other words, faith does not have a scientific explanation which makes it hard to be understood by some individuals. But one of Mortimer’s strongest arguments could be that the DCT is the only theory that explains and distinguishes between right and wrong in a simple and clear
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
Why God Allows Evil I. Introduction: An approach to explain why an all-good God tolerates the existence of evils. A. Theodicy: A vindication of God’s goodness and justice in the face of the existence of evil. This is the basis Swinburne uses in justifying his reasoning on the possible co-existence of both God and Evil. B. Swinburne claims that if there is a God, the occurrence of evils is to be expected.
2 Timothy 1:7 For the Spirit God does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. God says that Satan only comes to "steal, and to kill, and to destroy" (John 10:10). And that is what the spirit of fear is sent out to do. Verses Fear of The Lord. Ps 111:10 says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and they who live by it grow in understanding... Prov 16:6 says that fear of the Lord makes men turn from evil.