A) Explain Augustine’s theodicy (25marks) St Augustine (ad 354-430), both Augustine’s theodicy and his argument concerning evil were both originally based on the bible. Augustine himself had many beliefs, one of his main beliefs was that god had made the world and when making the world he had made it free from flaws. He believed very strongly that god is good, omnipotent and omniscience. As he believed for god to be these things he had a problem which was, if god is good and omnipotent and it was god that created the world why is there evil in the world? He solved this problem by saying that god is responsible for the evil in the world by defining evil as “privation”.
However since we already have an idea of God as this perfect and infinite being, he must exist. Furthermore, since the natural light clears deception as an imperfection as well as not existing, God is a non-deceiver, he exist and is perfect. After the cogito argument and natural light examination of the deceptive God, Descartes discards the hypothesis that God is a deceiver. Since God is all-good, he would not deceive us. For that reason, Descartes introduces the evil demon/genius instead.
5. Reconciling belief in the existence of God with the existence of evil is a grave problem for the theist. Among the responses to the two versions of the problem of evil include a defense of free will and the plausible reasons God may have for allowing evil to
And for morality to require God in such a way, there must be a direct link between the two. I believe that morality is defined by God, therefore immoral actions are wrong solely because God forbids them. Similarly, the “rightness” of moral actions is only because God has commanded them. In today's world things are defined as “right” or “wrong” or “moral” and “immoral.” This is because God, is the one that has allowed us to even understand what morality is. I believe that God is the creator and sustainer of all things, and that we would not even be self aware, let alone aware of right and wrong, if God had not created within us his image, and therefore the ability to make moral distinctions.
They say that God does not exist in an objective and real sense; they do not think he is a real human entity existing in the world. For the Deist, God is the creator of the universe. God really exists but he does not and cannot intervene within the world. And lastly, for the Atheist, there is no God to bring about any kind of miracle. I myself am an Atheist, and therefore in my opinion believe miracles are impossible as all miracles are by, definition impossible if they claim to be the action of a deity.
Examine and show the strengths of two solutions to the problem of suffering Evil and Suffering are in the world in two forms; Natural evil, which is the apparent malfunctioning of the natural world, such as disease and natural disasters and Moral evil, which is when humans commit acts of viciousness or injustice upon other humans or animals. The apologist Thomas Aquinas, as a ‘privation of goodness’, described suffering and John Hick described it as 'physical pain, mental suffering and moral wickedness.' St Augustine defined evil as 'that which we fear or the act of fearing itself. In this essay I will be looking at the different solutions to suffering, their strengths and commenting on the view that they are failures. Augustine provides one response to the problem of suffering which is known as the Augustine Theodicy.
The issues with this option mainly deal with the definition of a theistic God. If morality is independent of God and God’s commands only exist because the moralities of actions are predetermined, then God is no longer sovereign. If morals are independent of God’s commands then God is not sovereign over morality. This goes against the definition of a theistic God which defines God as the creator and ruler over everything. It also puts limits on God’s power.
PART A: Explain Mill’s challenge to the teleological argument. (25marks) The teleological argument claims that God designed the world with a purpose. God is often described to be omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent. Mill criticises the idea of the teleological argument, he doesn’t believe that the world is designed by a God because within nature there are cruelty and crimes that are unpunished. Mill argues that if God designed the universe he wouldn’t have created something containing any evil at all it wouldn’t fit in with his description.
(webspace.ship.edu/) An Epicurean mindset is that this life will be over and there is nothing else.With Epicurus's one constant problem with God was evil. This is Epicurus's argument when asked: Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
The problem of evil is also one of the most serious problems in the world. It is also one of the serious objections to the existence of God. In the philosophy of religion, the problem of evil is the question of how to explain evil if there exists a deity that is omnipotent and omniscient . Some philosophers have claimed that the existences of such a God and of evil are logically incompatible or unlikely.